Wolverines Take on Planet's Best at World XC Championships
3/30/2019 10:15:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
AARHUS, Denmark -- University of Michigan distance runners both past and present availed themselves well against the planet's best at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships on Saturday morning (March 30).
Current Wolverine freshman Anne Forsyth was 37th overall representing Canada in the six-kilometer (3.73-mile) women's U20 race on one of the world's most difficult courses, while fellow first-year U-M runner Gabe Mudel was 72nd in the eight-kilometer (4.97-mile) men's U20 competition for Team USA.
Forsyth covered three loops of the course -- which featured drastic elevation changes and artificial mud and sand pits -- in 22:58 to cross the line as Canada's No. 3 runner and one of its four scorers. Her effort helped boost Canada to a sixth-place finish in the 16-team overall standings.
Mudel traversed the circuit four times in 27:40 to finish as Team USA's No. 5 runner. His effort helped the Americans win a tiebreak for sixth place in the 16-team standings with Japan.
Former Michigan greats Shannon Osika and Mason Ferlic also excelled in their races for Team USA.
Osika, the school record-holder outdoors at 1,500 meters, ran a leg of Team USA's fourth-place mixed relay, in which teams of two men and two women compete. Each member ran a full loop of the two-kilometer (approximately 1.25-mile) course.
In the men's senior 10-kilometer (6.21-mile) race, former NCAA champion Ferlic finished 78th overall and sixth among American men. He crossed the line in 34:59.
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