Michigan
Big Ten Championships
Michigan Earns Hard-Fought Runner-Up at Big Tens
10/29/2021 1:20:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
Site: State College, Pa. (Penn State Blue/White Golf Courses)
Event: Big Ten Championships
Distance: 5.2 miles (8.37 kilometers)
U-M Team Finish: 2nd of 12 teams (79 points)
Top U-M Individual: Devin Meyrer, 11th (25:12.2)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Nov. 12 -- at NCAA Great Lakes Regional (Evansville, Ind.)
• Complete Results (PDF) | Photo Gallery
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- The national No. 15 University of Michigan men's cross country team finished runner-up in the team standings at the Big Ten Cross Country Championships on a cold, wet Friday morning (Oct. 29) at Penn State.
Despite putting six runners in the top 25 -- including a pair of second-team All-Big Ten honorees in Devin Meyrer and Tom Dodd -- the Wolverines were unable to contend with the champion No. 10 Wisconsin Badgers and their seven All-Big Ten finishers.
Michigan finished second to Wisconsin, 27-79, but were able to hold off a stiff challenge from No. 29 Minnesota over the final three miles of the 5.2-mile (8.37-kilometer) race, 79-83.
Meyrer was 11th overall in 25:12.2 with Dodd just behind him in 14th -- the cutoff for second-team All-Big Ten honors -- with a finish time of 25:16.3.
The rest of Michigan's five-man scoring lineup came through in quick succession -- 17th-place Tom Brady in his 2021 cross country debut (25:19.4), 18th-place Zach Stewart (25:23.5) and 19th-place Joost Plaetinck (25:25.5). The 13.3-second difference between Meyrer and Plaetinck was the smallest 1-5 time spread of any team in the field by nearly 17 seconds.
Plaetinck's finish, in particular, was important, as in the final three-quarters of a mile he went by and ultimately edged out Minnesota's third, fourth and fifth runners by a single second. Had all three gotten by him, the Wolverines would have fallen down to third in the overall standings.
Nick Foster added a 25th-place finish (25:37.2) to give Michigan six runners in the top 25 for the third time since 2017.
The Wolverines established themselves in the second overall spot in the team standings right from the beginning of the race, but were never able to reel in Wisconsin.
By three miles, the race had started to take the form of how it would eventually shake out, with Michigan at 74 points chasing Wisconsin's 36 and fending off Minnesota's 81. Meyrer in 10th, Dodd in 11th, Brady in 12th and Stewart in 15th were all running close to one another with the leaders just ahead of them in the pack.
Not much had changed by four miles in the team standings, but no longer was the race bunched up near the front as Wisconsin's Bob Liking made the definitive move that would lead to his individual title and started to stretch out the field.
The Badgers continued to pull away with about three-quarters of a mile left to go at 28 points, leaving the Wolverines to battle with Minnesota for the second spot in the team standings, 76-82.
Through the rain and cold, the Wolverines held tough over the final split to 5.2 miles, with Plaetinck gaining three spots during that time and Meyrer and Dodd staying even. Brady, without any race experience this fall, kept his composure to lose a single spot. Ultimately, the Wolverines lost three spots among its top five, but it was enough to hold off the Golden Gophers.
In two weeks, Michigan will compete at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Nov. 12 in Evansville, Ind., with berths to the NCAA Championships on the line.
Full results for the Wolverines who ran on Friday are listed below.
Michigan Results
11. Devin Meyrer -- 25:12.2
14. Tom Dodd -- 25:16.3
17. Tom Brady -- 25:19.4
18. Zach Stewart -- 25:23.5
19. Joost Plaetinck -- 25:25.5
25. Nick Foster -- 25:37.2
43. Colton Yesney -- 25:56.9
44. Christian Hubaker -- 25:57.4
50. Oli Raimond -- 26:03.7
Team Standings
1. No. 10 Wisconsin -- 27 points
2. No. 15 Michigan -- 79 points
3. No. 29 Minnesota -- 83 points
4. Indiana -- 119 points
5. Michigan State -- 134 points
6. Illinois -- 171 points
7. Purdue -- 173 points
8. Penn State -- 191 points
9. Nebraska -- 274 points
10. Ohio State -- 275 points
Players Mentioned
