Michigan
NCAA Championships
NCAA Championships Await Michigan Men
11/20/2019 5:14:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
» The No. 17-ranked University of Michigan men's cross country team will look to keep its postseason momentum going as it concludes its 2019 campaign at the NCAA Championships on Saturday (Nov. 23) at 12:15 p.m.
» Devin Meyrer, Isaac Harding and Jack Aho lead a deep Michigan roster into battle as the Wolverines aim for a fourth top-11 finish in the past six seasons.
THIS WEEK
Saturday, Nov. 23 -- at NCAA Championships (Terre Haute, Ind.), 12:15 p.m.
TV: FloTrack | Live Results | Live Video
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The No. 17-ranked University of Michigan men's cross country team has arrived at the culmination of its 2019 campaign with the NCAA Championships set for Saturday (Nov. 23) at Indiana State.
Michigan will toe the national championships starting line for the eighth time in the past nine seasons, aiming to bring home its fourth top-11 finish in the past six seasons. The Wolverines will race the nation's best starting at 12:15 p.m. over the course of 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) on the grounds of the LaVern Gibson Championship Course.
The team that arrives in Terre Haute, Indiana, this weekend is one that is picking up steam as the postseason progresses following back-to-back third-place finishes at the Big Ten Championships and NCAA Great Lakes Regionals.
Steady top runner Devin Meyrer has been joined up front by resurgent postseason performances by All-American Jack Aho and multiple-time NCAA competitors Isaac Harding and Jordy Hewitt, giving the Wolverines the most potent pack it has had all season long.
Those four could be in Michigan's seven-man lineup, as could Jacob Branch, Nick Foster, Ben Hill, Jacob Lee, Gabe Mudel and Joost Plaetinck.
Conditions at racetime are forecast to be cold -- with temperatures in the high-30s -- cloudy and slightly breezy.
Fans can attend in-person, with parking available at the course (599 S. Tabortown St., Terre Haute, IN 47803). Admission to the meet is $10 -- cash only -- at the gate, with no advance ticket sales available.
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.
How the Championships Work
A total of 31 schools qualified to compete at the NCAA Championships as full teams. Teams are allowed seven runners, with the top-five finishers for each school constituting the scoring lineup. Teams with fewer than five finishers will not be counted in the final team standings.
Points are awarded to each runner based on their order of finish. Only runners who are members of one of the 31 teams are eligible to score. An additional 38 runners qualified as individuals; they will not be assigned points for their finishes.
Once all the runners have finished the race, the team with the lowest score will be crowned the team champion.
While runners Nos. 6 and 7 for each team do not technically contribute to their own teams' scores, they serve the purpose of adding an additional point to all the runners who finish behind them.
Though not a facet of the team scoring, the top-40 finishers will earn All-America honors from the USTFCCCA.
Wolverine Bites
• Most recent race in Terre Haute (2018): The Wolverines finished third at the 2018 NCAA Great Lakes Regional, led by returning All-Region runners in Aho (10th) and Harding (11th). Also familiar with the course from that run are Hewitt (33rd), Hill (35th), Branch (52nd) and Lee (54th). Michigan went on to finish 19th at the NCAA Championships.
• Most recent NCAA Championships in Terre Haute (2014): In head coach Kevin Sullivan's first season at the helm, the Wolverines finished 11th overall, for what at the time was the best U-M showing at NCAAs since a ninth-place finish in 2003. Mason Ferlic led the way for Michigan with a 13th-place individual result.
• Harding is coming off the best race of his 2019 season with a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. In what will be his third NCAA Championships appearance, he is aiming to crack the top-100 for the first time and potentially make a run at All-America honors. He was 124th in 2017 and 175th a year ago.
• Though Meyrer did not lead the Wolverines at regionals as he had in each of the prior three races, he was more than happy to have company at the front of the race from Harding. Meyrer was just as impressive in an 11th-place showing, and his string of consistent races bodes well for another such performance in Terre Haute.
• Aho is clearly on the upswing and peaking at the right time, finishing with All-Region honors at the Great Lakes Regional in a 17th-place finish on the strength of an impressive closing kick. He had success at the 2018 NCAA Championships -- a 34th-place finish for All-America honors -- by putting himself out there in the front pack and holding on. He has run similar strategies at Big Tens and regionals this season.
• Hewitt, too, is performing his best at the right time. He was side-by-side with Aho in the closing stretch at regionals, and another team-up between those two at nationals could yield a big reduction in Michigan's team score. Hewitt has the extra motivation of this being his final race in a Michigan uniform, given that he has exhausted his track eligibility.
» Plaetinck could be a significant X-factor for Michigan like he was at Big Tens, coming through as Michigan's No. 4 runner to contribute to the team score. Like Meyrer, he was strong late, running the field's eighth-fastest closing kilometer despite finishing 17th. Such closing strength will be even more valuable with the extra two kilometers added on.
» Veterans Hill and Lee provided strong depth for the Wolverines with 25th- and 26th-place finishes at Big Tens, respectively. Similar performances or steps forward for each of them at nationals would only bolster the Wolverines' depth.
Players Mentioned
