Michigan
NCAA Great Lakes Regional
NCAA Postseason Begins Friday for Wolverine Women
11/12/2019 2:38:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
» The No. 11-ranked Wolverine women are looking to clinch an 18th straight trip to the NCAA Championships by virtue of a strong performance Friday at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional.
» Michigan will be going for a fifth straight regional title, led by All-Big Ten honorees Ericka VanderLende and Kathryn House.
THIS WEEK
Friday, Nov. 15 -- at NCAA Great Lakes Regional (Madison, Wis.), 11:30 a.m. CST
TV: FloTrack | Live Results | Live Video
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The national No. 11 University of Michigan women's cross country team begins its NCAA postseason run this Friday (Nov. 15) at the Great Lakes Regional in Madison, Wisconsin, with its 17-year streak of qualifying for the NCAA Championships on the line.
The Wolverine women will be looking to extend their active nationals qualifying streak -- the third-longest in the country -- as they race six kilometers (3.73 miles) at 11:30 a.m. CST over the grounds of the same Thomas Zimmer Championship Course where they finished fourth at the NCAA Championships in 2018.
Michigan has won four-straight NCAA Great Lakes Regional titles.
Coming off a hard-fought, but disappointing third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships two weekends ago, the Wolverines will once more face many of the teams that comprised the deepest field in conference championship history -- with only two earning automatic berths to the NCAA meet on Saturday, Nov. 23, in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Michigan will get rematches with national No. 6 Big Ten winner Michigan State and No. 7 Wisconsin, as well as a showdown against rival No. 16 Notre Dame from the ACC. Also in the field are No. 20 Ohio State, Big East winner No. 24 Butler and national-vote-receiving Indiana.
Just as no conference had more nationally ranked teams than the Big Ten's eight two weekends ago, no region in the country has more than the Great Lakes' six. Only the Mountain Region matches the Great Lakes with half a dozen of its own.
Leading the Wolverines into the qualifying battle will be Big Ten Freshman of the Year Ericka VanderLende and second team All-Big Ten honoree Kathryn House. They will be joined by former All-Region selections in Camille Davre, Anna West and Maddy Trevisan.
The top 25 finishers will earn All-Region honors from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
Seven runners will compete for each team. Those who could potentially run for Michigan include VanderLende, House, Davre, Trevisan, West, Micaela DeGenero, Alice Hill, Kayla Keane, Jena Metwalli, Raquel Powers, Faith Reynolds and Emma Sloan.
Fans can attend in-person, but should know that no on-site parking is available. A shuttle from the nearby Blackhawk Church (9620 Brader Way, Middleton, WI 53562) is available from 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. CST for a $5 round-trip fee.
The race also will be streamed online via FloTrack's subscription platform, with live results available for free via Primetime Timing.
The official Michigan track and field / cross country social media accounts will also be providing updates and behind-the-scenes content throughout the day.
The NCAA Championships Qualifying Process
If Michigan finishes first or second in the team race, it will be automatically put through to the NCAA Championships. Each of the nine regions around the country are allotted two automatic bids, accounting for 18 of the NCAA field's 31 entrants. The remaining 13 slots are filled on an at-large basis based on a combination of regular-season performance and finishing place at this weekend's regional meets.
Should the Wolverines not finish top-two in the region -- a possibility, as they enter ranked third in the latest USTFCCCA Regional Rankings -- they will be left to the NCAA Championships at-large qualifying process to secure their 18th-straight nationals bid.
Given the depth of the region and the number of impressive head-to-head wins the Wolverines have from the regular season, the squad will be in a strong position for an at-large bid should they finish third or fourth.
An official announcement of the at-large selections and the entire championships field will be made Saturday (Nov. 16) at 5 p.m. on NCAA.com.
Wolverine Bites
• VanderLende made her collegiate postseason debut at the Big Ten Championships two weekends ago, taking sixth overall in a talented field to earn first team All-Big Ten and Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. She became the 10th different woman under coach Mike McGuire to earn the award and the second-in-a-row after Anne Forsyth a year ago.
• House is coming off a career-best race at Big Tens, where she finished 10th overall for second team All-Big Ten honors. She has been Michigan's No. 2 runner in every race in which she has competed in 2019 and has become a legitimate contender to earn All-America honors later this month, should the Wolverines advance.
• Normally a strength for the Wolverine women, their depth was not quite there in a third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships. Michigan placed only three runners inside the top-25 in VanderLende, House and 19th-place West.
• Michigan is on the cusp of regaining that depth, as 26th-place Davre and 27th-place Sloan had their best races of the season. A continuation of their development, along with bounceback races for former top-five runners in Trevisan, DeGenero and Metwalli, could produce a return to the form the squad displayed earlier this season.
A Look Ahead
Saturday, Nov. 23 -- at NCAA Championships (Terre Haute, Ind.)
Players Mentioned
