Michigan
Big Ten Championships
Wolverine Women Ready to Battle for Big Ten Title
10/27/2021 3:22:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
THIS WEEK
Friday, Oct. 29 -- at Big Ten Championships (State College, Pa.), 11:45 a.m.
TV: B1G+ | Live Results | Live Video | Championships Home
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- In what is shaping up to be one of the most competitive conference championship meets in the nation, the national No. 9-ranked University of Michigan women's cross country team will be aiming for its fourth team title in the last six years at the 2021 running of the Big Ten Cross Country Championships on Friday (October 29) hosted by Penn State.
The Wolverines are among five Big Ten teams ranked top-25 in the latest edition of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, plus two more that did not make the 30-team poll but are still receiving votes, setting the stage for a tight six-kilometer (3.73-mile) race around Penn State's Blue and White Golf Courses at 11:45 a.m.
Michigan enters the meet second only to No. 6 Minnesota among Big Ten teams in the USTFCCCA poll, and ahead of No. 20 Michigan State, No. 22 Wisconsin, No. 25 Illinois and vote-receiving Indiana and Penn State.
Michigan narrowly lost an early-September duel with the Golden Gophers on this same Penn State course, and has to its credit head-to-head wins over Wisconsin from the Greater Louisville Classic and Penn State from its National Open earlier this month.
Michigan's 1-2-3 punch of multiple-time All-American Ericka VanderLende, track All-American Katelynne Hart and Kayla Windemuller will be among the nine competitors permitted for each team, with the top seven for each school factoring into the final team scoring.
Among those who could be joining VanderLende, Hart and Windemuller on the starting line include former Big Ten Cross Country Freshman of the Year winners Anne Forsyth and Sam Tran; Samantha Saenz; track All-Americans Alice Hill, Aurora Rynda and Lucy Petee; Julia Vanitvelt; Gabby Swider; and Eva Jansohn.
The race will be streamed live on B1G+. Live results will be available through Primetime Timing, and updates will be posted throughout the race on the official @umichtrack social media channels.
Things to Know
• Led by longtime women's head cross country coach Mike McGuire, the U-M women will enter the weekend ranked No. 1 in the deep Great Lakes Regional rankings and No. 9 in the National Coaches' Poll announced earlier this week by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
• Michigan has won three of the past five conference titles, with consecutive victories in 2016, 2017 and 2018. The Wolverines were unable to compete in the postponed 2020 championships that were held in January 2021 due to a department-wide shutdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
• Most recently, the Wolverines are coming off a decisive team victory at the Penn State National Open last weekend, defeating national vote-receiving Georgia Tech and conference foes Northwestern and Penn State, 33-82-109-123. Michigan accounted for three of the top four individual spots with runner-up Ericka VanderLende, third-place Katelynne Hart and fourth-place Kayla Windemuller. The Wolverines put three more in the top-15 in 11th-place Alice Hill, 13th-place Anne Forsyth and 15th-place Samantha Saenz.
• Michigan has found a strong 1-2-3 punch so far this season between VanderLende, Windemuller and Hart. That trio has traded the role of No. 1 runner throughout the year so far; Hart was the overall winner at the season-opening Michigan Open with VanderLende and Windemuller right behind; VanderLende was Michigan's top runner at the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe, followed by Windemuller and Hart; and Windemuller led the way for the Wolverines at Louisville, followed by Hart and VanderLende; and VanderLende reclaimed the reins at the Penn State National Open, followed by Hart and Windemuller.
• The Wolverines have plenty of proven talent behind them, including reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year Samantha Tran, a resurgent Anne Forsyth who is competing at a high level for the first time since her revelation of a debut campaign in 2018, and NCAA Championships steeplechase qualifier Alice Hill.
• Michigan is looking for a breakthrough campaign from Saenz, who was poised for a big season in 2020 before the pandemic pushed cross country to the spring. She was Michigan's No. 5 and No. 6 runner in the Wolverines' two outings to Penn State.
Course Description
Penn State Blue / White Golf Courses
• Course Map
Distance: Six kilometers (3.73 miles)
Max Elevation: 1,231 feet above sea level
Low Elevation: 1,144 feet above sea level
Distances selected to match with intermediate checkpoints in live results
Start-Mile 1: Steady downhill descent for a half-mile before beginning an uphill climb into a loop beginning at 0.7 miles.
Mile 1-2: Uphill climb continues until runners reach the top of the loop at 1.1 miles, which gives way to a gently rolling downhill for the remainder of the mile, ending just after exiting the loop.
Mile 2-3: Runners exit the loop for a pass around the rolling hills of a fairway and back before finishing the mile with a one-third-mile climb up a fairway.
Mile 3-3.73: The last big climb of the course -- four tenths of a mile -- begins after the last big downhill, giving way around the final turn to a gently rolling two-tenths-of-a-mile straightaway to the finish.
Players Mentioned
