Conqu’ring Heroes: Meyrer Thrives in the Adverse Conditions of Cross Country
11/11/2021 9:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Features
In advance of Friday's NCAA Great Lakes Regional, Jon chats with Devin Meyrer of Michigan men's cross country. Meyrer discusses the Wolverines' second place finish at the Big Ten Championships late last month, the preparation for this weekend's event, the mental side of competing at this level, and how special it is to boast the Michigan program record in the indoor 5000 meter.
By Kyle Terwillegar
When conditions out on the cross country course are at their worst, Devin Meyrer is at his best.
"Honestly, I just love adverse conditions. I love races where it's all about toughness," Meyrer, a second-year graduate student on the University of Michigan cross country team studying for his master's of social work, told host Jon Jansen on this week's episode of the Conqu'ring Heroes podcast. "It's about who can go out there and battle the hardest. Indoor and outdoor track are super fun in their own ways for me, but cross country has always held a special place in my heart because the elements have such a huge impact on the race.
Two years ago, Meyrer battled through 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) worth of objectively nasty cold, windy and rainy conditions in Terre Haute, Ind., to slog his way to a 16th place finish and All-America honors at the NCAA Championships.
A year-and-a-half later at the 2020 NCAA Cross Country Championships that were rescheduled to the spring of 2021, just three days removed and hardly recovered from a school-record 5,000 meters for second-team All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, he gritted out a 24th-place effort to add another All-America award to his tally.
"Maybe I get some of this from my uncle. He's the purest competitor I've ever known in my entire life," reflected Meyrer, who is currently taking advantage of an extra year of eligibility as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic. "One of the things he liked to do as a former pole vaulter was to go out to the track and grab some of the mud from under the grass and put it on his arms, and now when he surfs he takes some of the sand and rubs it on his board.
"He says that you have to be one with the elements, because it's this kind of primitive thing where you are in tune with everything that is going on around you. I think that mindset is a really simple shift but it can help so much when it comes to gritting out a really long race."
Though the elements were exactly the way Meyrer likes them for the Big Ten Championships in Penn State on the Friday before Halloween -- complete with downpours and stiff, cold winds on a hilly course -- the result was not exactly what they were looking for as the Wolverines finished as team runners-up despite good individual results across the board, including a second-team All-Big Ten performance from Meyrer in 11th place.
As the calendar has turned to November, however, the difficulty level has been turned up on the cross country postseason. Not only are the stakes higher at this Friday's NCAA Great Lakes Regional -- it's the race that will make or break the Wolverines' bid to qualify to next Saturday's NCAA Championships, but the races are longer and closer together. No more eight-kilometer (4.97-mile) contests with two or more weeks of recovery; it's time for 10Ks with just eight days between.
It's a change Meyrer and the team are well aware of and prepared for -- both physically and mentally.
"When it comes to 8K versus 10K, the difference is pretty drastic, and one of the biggest things is it will expose any weakness that anyone has," he said. "If training has been fluctuating throughout the year, maybe an 8K is a little easier to fake… but 10K and hills through sometimes adverse conditions definitely exposes any weakness or lapses in training someone might have."
And there's no other way Meyrer would want it.
