Michigan
NCAA Great Lakes Regional
Michigan Men Take Third Place at NCAA Great Lakes Regional
11/12/2021 3:11:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
Site: Evansville, Ind. (Angel Mounts Historic Site)
Event: NCAA Great Lakes Regional
Distance: Six kilometers (3.73 miles )
U-M Team Finish: 3rd of 29 teams (106 points)
Top U-M Individual: Devin Meyrer, 13th (30:05.9)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Nov. 13 -- NCAA Championships Selection Show (NCAA.com), 5 p.m.
• Complete Results (PDF)
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- The national No. 12-ranked University of Michigan men's cross country team battled to a third-place finish on Friday (Nov. 12) in an NCAA Great Lakes Regional race at Angel Mounds Historic Site that went back-and-forth for the better part of a half-hour.
After checking in at fourth for much of the late stages of the 10-kilometer (6.21-mile) race around the ancient Native American cultural site at Angel Mounds, the Wolverines were able to surge into third place in the final kilometer, overtaking Big East champion Butler and holding off a hard-charging Michigan State squad.
Michigan tallied 106 points behind All-Region finishes from 13th-place Devin Meyrer, 16th-place Tom Brady and 22nd-place Joost Plaetinck, just ahead of the 110 points posted by Michigan State and 116 put up by Butler.
Zach Stewart missed top-25 All-Region honors by a single spot in 26th place, while Nick Foster ran his best race of the season at the right time with a 29th-place finish.
The Wolverines could not catch Big Ten champion and second-place Wisconsin, which finished with 87 points, for an automatic berth to next Saturday's NCAA Championships at Florida State. ACC champion Notre Dame took the regional title with 37 points.
The top two teams in each of the nine NCAA Regional Championships run on Friday advance automatically to next Saturday's (Nov. 20) NCAA Championships at Florida State. All other teams, including Michigan, now await the at-large selection process for the remaining 13 berths to Tallahassee.
The NCAA Selection Show will be streamed live Saturday (Nov. 13) at 5 p.m. on NCAA.com. Michigan is positioned well for qualification with high-profile performances at numerous competitive regular-season events throughout the fall.
This being the first 10-kilometer race of the season for everyone involved and with NCAA Championships berths on the line, the race took a long time to fully develop. Michigan bounced around between second and fourth in the first half of the contest, as nearly everyone in the field was running in a single large pack.
The Wolverines moved up to second at the six-kilometer split with Plaetinck (eighth), Brady (10th) and Meyrer (15th) all running side-by-side with the Notre Dame contingent that made a decisive move to the front that kicked off the racing in earnest.
Meyrer established himself with the front of the ever-lengthening pack as the pace ratcheted down by the 7.1K split, but the Wolverines as a team fell down slightly to third place as the field sorted itself.
The Wolverines held firm in the following kilometer, as Meyrer and Brady held firm in the top-20 and Plaetinck made a five-spot surge up to 21st. Michigan was starting to lose contact with the top two spots in the team standings, and had Butler just two points behind, 114-116.
Butler moved past the Wolverines with less than a kilometer to go, 109-112, but Michigan had the answer in the final kilometer.
Meyrer, Brady and Foster moved up a combined nine spots in the closing minutes, with Foster picking off five of those spots on his own. That combined effort was enough to go past a fading Butler squad and hold off a Michigan State side that slashed 22 points from its score in the final split.
Full Michigan Results
13. Devin Meyrer -- 30:05.9
16. Tom Brady -- 30:08.5
22. Joost Plaetinck -- 30:14.6
26. Zach Stewart -- 30:25.6
29. Nick Foster -- 30:35.7
36. Oli Raimond -- 30:49.8
56. Colton Yesney -- 31:11.4
Full Team Standings
1. No. 6 Notre Dame -- 37 points
2. No. 9 Wisconsin -- 87 points
3. No. 12 Michigan -- 106 points
4. Michigan State -- 110 points
5. No. 28 Butler -- 116 points
6. Indiana -- 144 points
7. Eastern Michigan -- 215 points
8. Cincinnati -- 218 points
9. Purdue -- 221 points
10. IUPUI -- 302 points
11. Toledo -- 334 points
12. Ohio State -- 402 points
13. Miami (Ohio) -- 413 points
14. Ohio -- 435 points
15. Youngstown St. -- 492 points
16. Dayton -- 516 points
17. Kent State -- 558 points
18. Milwaukee -- 595 points
19. Central Michigan -- 597 points
20. Marquette -- 606 points
21. Purdue Fort Wayne -- 619 points
22. Oakland -- 624 points
23. Xavier (Ohio) -- 633 points
24. Indiana State -- 647 points
25. Bowling Green -- 666 points
26. Wright State -- 697 points
27. Detroit Mercy -- 820 points
28. Valparaiso -- 836 points
29. Wis.-Green Bay -- 852 points
30. Evansville -- 978 points
Players Mentioned
