Michigan
Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational
Michigan Men Place Eighth in Loaded Wisconsin Meet
10/15/2021 3:44:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
Site: Madison, Wis. (Zimmer Championship Course)
Event: Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational
Distance: 4.97 miles (8 kilometers)
U-M Team Finish: 8th of 31 teams (285 points)
Top U-M Individual: Tom Dodd, 35th (23:54.5)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Oct. 22 -- at EMU Fall Classic (Dexter, Mich.), 4:30 p.m.
• Photo Gallery
MADISON, Wis. -- Facing its toughest challenge of the regular season on Friday (Oct. 15), the No. 15-ranked University of Michigan men's cross country team outperformed its pre-race seed to finish eighth overall in a stacked Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational field.
Powered by their national-caliber depth, the Wolverines were one of only three teams in the field to put six runners among the top 90 finishers as they scored 285 points in the eight-kilometer (4.97-mile) race over the grounds of Wisconsin's Thomas Zimmer Championships Course -- just 15 points shy of finishing in sixth place.
Tom Dodd made his intersquad cross country debut for Michigan in a strong 35th-place finish to pace the Wolverines, who finished with the second-best time spread between Nos. 1 and 5 runners of any team in the field at 21.2 seconds -- and the best between No. 1 and No. 7 at 40.8 seconds.
Joost Plaetinck was 54th (24:05.9), Zach Stewart was 60th (24:09.8), Devin Meyrer crossed 63rd (24:10.6), Oli Raimond placed 73rd (24:15.7) and Colton Yesney rounded out the top-100 finishers for Michigan in 88th (24:26.0).
The Wolverines steadily moved up throughout the race, all the way from 17th at the opening two-kilometer split to 13th at the four-kilometer halfway point and 11th at six kilometers. The final two kilometers cemented victories over No. 10 Furman (ninth) -- which beat the Wolverines two weekends ago at Notre Dame -- as well as No. 13 Washington (13th) and No. 14 Iona (25th), among other nationally ranked teams.
Additionally, the Wolverines only let by a pair of teams ranked lower in No. 30 Air Force (fifth) and No. 19 Gonzaga (seventh), both of which were within 60 points of the Wolverines.
Michigan featured second among Big Ten teams and NCAA Great Lakes Region teams behind only No. 11 Wisconsin (fourth). Michigan notched head-to-head victories over unranked Minnesota (15th), national vote-receiving Indiana (20th), vote-receiving Michigan State (24th), vote-receiving and Purdue (27th) in the former category, as well as No. 16 Butler (22nd) and unranked Eastern Michigan (28th) in the latter.
No. 6 Iowa State was the overall team champion with 88 points, led by individual winner Wesley Kiptoo.
After settling in early in 17th with only two runners among the top-60 in a field that was still very much packed up at two kilometers, the Wolverines made a strong move to position themselves well by the four-kilometer checkpoint.
Dodd established himself among the main chase pack behind a breakaway Kiptoo with a 32-spot jump to 24th, while Plaetinck moved up 79 spots -- the second-biggest improvement during the 2K-4K portion of the race -- to 96th and Stewart jumped 35 places to 94th to join Dodd and Meyrer (67th) in the top 100.
Dodd (32nd) and Meyrer (61st) held relatively steady over the next two kilometers, with another two-spot jump in the team standings to 11th powered by continued surges by Stewart and Plaetinck -- up 25 spots to 69th and up 19 to 77th, respectively -- and a 15-spot push from Raimond into the top 100 at 93rd.
The final two kilometers once again saw Dodd and Meyrer hold the line up front -- losing only a combined five spots between the two near the front of a hyper-competitive race -- while Plaetinck (up 23 spots), Raimond (20 spots) and Stewart (nine spots) slashed off a combined 52 points from the Wolverines' score with their strong kicks. Yesney also ran down 29 opponents in the last 2K to break into the top-100.
In the "B" race earlier in the day, the Wolverines placed third out of eight teams. James Gedris was the top finisher for Michigan, placing 24th in 25:14.4 among six top-50 Michigan finishers.
Next week, Michigan will return home for the Eastern Michigan Fall Classic in neighboring Dexter, though the Wolverines are not expected to field their top lineup for the race.
Full Michigan Results
Championship Race
35. Tom Dodd -- 23:54.5
54. Joost Plaetinck -- 24:05.9
60. Zach Stewart -- 24:09.8
63. Devin Meyrer -- 24:10.6
73. Oli Raimond -- 24:15.7
88. Colton Yesney -- 24:26.0
112. Nick Foster -- 24:35.3
149. Christian Hubaker -- 24:51.0
"B" Race
24. James Gedris -- 25:14.4
39. Joe Meyers -- 25:37.1
43. John Florence -- 25:40.4
44. Jack Spamer -- 25:41.0
45. Michael Hancock -- 25:41.1
49. Cole Johnson -- 25:45.0
60. Thomas Shilgalis -- 25:56.5
83. Will Landowne -- 26:44.8
Team Standings
Championship Race
1. No. 6 Iowa State -- 88 points
2. No. 3 Stanford -- 104 points
3. No. 12 Tulsa -- 160 points
4. No. 11 Wisconsin -- 187 points
5. No. 30 Air Force -- 225 points
6. No. 9 Oregon -- 272 points
7. No. 19 Gonzaga -- 274 points
8. No. 15 Michigan -- 285 points
9. No. 10 Furman -- 302 points
10. Colorado St. -- 318 points
11. No. 29 Utah State -- 322 points
12. Boise State (RV) -- 358 points
13. Harvard (RV) -- 366 points
14. No. 13 Washington -- 404 points
15. Minnesota -- 416 points
16. No. 26 Portland -- 423 points
17. No. 21 Southern Utah -- 441 points
18. No. 18 North Carolina -- 442 points
19. Providence -- 462 points
20. No. 27 Syracuse -- 479 points
20. Indiana (RV) -- 479 points
22. No. 16 Butler -- 481 points
23. NC State (RV) -- 500 points
24. Michigan State (RV) -- 510 points
25. No. 14 Iona -- 534 points
26. UMass Lowell (RV) -- 670 points
27. Purdue (RV) -- 694 points
28. Eastern Michigan -- 706 points
29. Dartmouth -- 836 points
30. South Dakota St. -- 847 points
31. Missouri -- 953 points
"B" Race
1. Boise State (RV) -- 30 points
2. Michigan State (RV) -- 57 points
3. No. 15 Michigan -- 76 points
4. Indiana (RV) -- 137 points
5. New Mexico -- 146 points
6. Missouri -- 147 points
7. South Dakota St. -- 159 points
8. No. 11 Wisconsin -- 160 points
Players Mentioned
