Women's Cross Country 2019 Schedule Announced
7/1/2019 1:11:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
• 2019 U-M Women's Cross Country Schedule
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The reigning national fourth-place University of Michigan women's cross country team announced Monday (July 1) the eight-race schedule for its 2019 campaign, which features at least one regular-season trip to two of the venues that will host postseason competition.
Head coach Mike McGuire and his Michigan squad will compete three times in Terre Haute, Indiana, throughout the fall, culminating with the NCAA Championships finish on Nov. 23 and will run in Columbus, Ohio, twice. In Columbus, the Wolverines aim to extend their streak of Big Ten team titles to four in a row on Nov. 3.
The only postseason course the Wolverines will not see during the regular season is that of the NCAA Great Lakes Regional in Madison, Wisconsin, which will be run on Nov. 15. Familiarity with that venue will not be lacking, however, as four of the seven runners from last year's NCAA team that ran at Wisconsin -- including All-American Camille Davre and Big Ten Freshman of the Year Anne Forsyth -- are set to return in 2019.
The regular season largely will be comprised of two trips to Terre Haute -- the John McNichols Invitational on Sept. 21 and the Pre-National Invitational on Oct. 19 -- and a visit to Columbus for the Big Ten Preview on Sept. 28. Those meets will be bookended by lower-key competitions at the season-opening Michigan Open (Aug. 30) and the postseason tune-up EMU Fall Classic (Oct. 25), both of which will be held in Dexter, Michigan.
The season will begin with the lone home event of the year, the annual Michigan Open at Hudson Mills Metropark in Dexter. Admission to the meet is free, though all vehicles are subject to a $10 daily entry fee upon entry to the park.
Two weeks later, the squad will head to Terre Haute for it first look of the year at the Great Lakes Regional venue at the John McNichols Invitational (Sept. 21) at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course.
A sneak peek at the Big Ten Championships course awaits the following week as the Wolverines run the Big Ten Preview (Sept. 28) at the Ohio State University Golf Club.
After a two bye weekends, U-M will compete in the climax of the regular-season schedule at the Pre-National Invitational (Oct. 19) in Terre Haute. Annually one of the top regular-season fixtures of the national cross country schedule and always held on the same course that hosts the NCAA Championships, the meet is expected to draw close to a third of the country's nationally-ranked teams.
Select members of the team will get a final tune-up for the postseason the following weekend with a return to Hudson Mills Metropark for the Eastern Michigan Fall Classic.
The postseason begins one week later as the Wolverines will aim to defend their back-to-back-to-back titles at the Big Ten Championships (Nov. 3) hosted by Ohio State. Michigan finished third when last the conference meet was held in Columbus in 2007. A conference title victory would be the 13th in school history and the 13th for head coach Mike McGuire -- both of which would tie for the most by a team and a coach in conference history.
NCAA postseason competition will begin two weekends afterwards with the NCAA Great Lakes Regional (Nov. 15) in Madison. The Wolverines have claimed each of the past four regional titles and seven of the last eight.
The top two teams in the Great Lakes Regional standings automatically will advance to the NCAA Cross Country Championships (Nov. 23) in Terre Haute. Michigan has qualified for each of the past 17 NCAA Championship meets -- the third-longest active streak in the nation -- and all but two years dating back to the 1988 season. The Wolverines have finished top-10 nationally in six of the past seven seasons, including three top-four finishes in 2013 (fourth), 2016 (runner-up) and 2018 (fourth).
Notably, the Wolverines' 2016 runner-up finish -- by a single point to Oregon -- came at Terre Haute.
Players Mentioned
