Current, Past Wolverines to Compete at World Cross Country Championships
3/27/2019 1:00:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
THIS WEEK
Saturday, March 30 -- IAAF World Cross Country Championships (Aarhus, Denmark), 11 a.m. CET (6 a.m. EDT)
Meet Home | Live Results | TV: Olympic Channel (TV) | Live Stream: NBC Sports Gold
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan will be well-represented at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, on Saturday (March 30) with five current or former Wolverines set to participate.
Current first-year runners Gabe Mudel and Anne Forsyth will don the jerseys of Team USA and Team Canada, respectively, to compete in the men's and women's under-20 races; former Wolverines Mason Ferlic and Shannon Osika will run for USA in the senior men's and mixed-gender relay races; and 1997 NCAA cross country champion Katie McGregor will coach Team USA's U20 women's squad.
Mudel and Forsyth qualified to represent their teams by way of runner-up finishes at their countries' respective national championships.
The four athletes' respective races will be held on a two-kilometer (approximately 1.25-mile) course, with the number of loops around the course different based on the level of competition. Not only does the course feature long stretches of alternating incline and decline, it also houses such unique aspects as mud and sand pits, and a stretch that has competitors traversing steep climbs and descents atop the roof of a building built into one of the hills.
Osika will compete first on that Sunday, with the mixed relay -- in which each of the four competitors runs one loop before handing off to their teammates -- scheduled for 11 a.m. CET (6 a.m. EDT).
Forsyth, the 2018 Big Ten Freshman of the Year and nearly an NCAA All-American, will represent Canada in the U20 women's six-kilometer (3.73-mile) championship race at 11:35 a.m. CET (6:35 a.m. EDT). She will complete the challenging circuit three times in her competition.
Mudel will compete for Team USA in the U20 men's eight-kilometer race at 12:10 p.m. CET (7:10 a.m. EDT), totaling four laps around the course.
Ferlic, a former NCAA steeplechase champion and cross country All-American for the Wolverines, will represent the United States in the senior men's 10-kilometer (6.21-mile) race at 2 p.m. CET (9 a.m. EDT).
In each of the individual races, team scoring is determined by adding up the place finishes of the top four finishers from each squad. The team with the lowest total is declared the winner.
Players Mentioned
