Michigan
NCAA Championships
Michigan Men 25th at NCAA Championships
11/20/2021 12:39:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
Site: Tallahassee, Fla. (Apalachee Regional Park Cross Country Course)
Event: NCAA Cross Country Championships
Distance: 10 kilometers (6.21 miles)
U-M Team Finish: 25th of 31 teams (588 points)
Top U-M Individual: Tom Brady, 76th (29:58.5)
Next U-M Event: Season complete
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The national No. 14-ranked University of Michigan men's cross country team battled to a 25th-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday morning (Nov. 20), on the strength of a late-race surge.
Tom Brady took 76th in the individual standings to lead the Wolverines, gaining 10 spots as part of a 25-point reduction in their overall team score in the final kilometer that put Michigan at 588 points overall.
Brady was the lone top-100 finisher for the Wolverines, and was joined in the five-man scoring lineup by 122nd-place Joost Plaetinck, 130th-place Zach Stewart, 159th-place Devin Meyrer and 208th-place Oli Raimond. Nick Foster (246th) and Christian Hubaker (249th) rounded out the seven-man crew.
Northern Arizona claimed the team title with 92 points, and BYU's Conner Mantz repeated as the individual champion.
The Wolverines struggled to find favorable positioning within the field in the first two-thirds of the race, dropping as far down as 30th in the 31-team field at the intermediate six-kilometer checkpoint, with only Brady running top-100 in 88th place and Plaetinck the next-closest at 149th.
Michigan gradually began to claw its way back in the final four kilometers, improving at least one spot at each of the kilometer checkpoints along the way. By seven kilometers, the Wolverines had climbed back up to 29th on the strength of a 14-spot improvement by Stewart to 155th.
With less than two miles to go at eight kilometers, the Wolverines jumped up two spots to 27th. Two-time reigning All-American Meyrer was starting to find some strength with an 11-spot improvement to 161st; the trio of Plaetinck (143rd), Stewart (148th) and Raimond (213th) all stepped up seven spots each; and Brady chipped away three spots to 88th.
They picked off another team at the last intermediate checkpoint at nine kilometers to move up to 26th. Brady moved past two more runners into 86th, while Plaetinck (134th) and Stewart (138th) improved nine and 10 spots, respectively.
Michigan was at its strongest in the final kilometer -- its average 3:00.42 split for its top five runners was the 17th-best of any team in the field over that span -- but it was only enough to move up into 25th.
Brady improved 10 spots in that time, Plaetinck stepped up 12 spots, Stewart gained eight, and both Meyrer and Raimond moved up three spots each.
The Wolverines' top five gained a combined 93 spots in the final three kilometers, with Plaetinck accounting for 28 and Stewart claiming 25 for the 12th- and 15th-biggest moves in the field during that time.
With the cross country season now complete, the Wolverine distance runners will join their sprinter, jumper and thrower teammates in turning their attention toward the indoor track and field season that will begin in January. A full schedule will be announced in the coming weeks.
Full Michigan Results
76. Tom Brady -- 29:58.5
122. Joost Plaetinck -- 30:21.9
130. Zach Stewart -- 30:27.1
159. Devin Meyrer -- 30:41.0
208. Oli Raimond -- 31:18.3
246. Nick Foster -- 32:57.5
249. Christian Hubaker -- 33:09.9
Full Team Standings
1. No. 1 Northern Arizona -- 92 points
2. No. 6 Iowa State -- 137 points
3. No. 3 Oklahoma State -- 186 points
4. No. 9 Arkansas -- 195 points
5. No. 7 Stanford -- 236 points
6. No. 10 Tulsa -- 237 points
7. No. 2 BYU -- 246 points
8. No. 5 Colorado -- 249 points
9. No. 4 Notre Dame -- 290 points
10. No. 17 Wake Forest -- 356 points
11. No. 8 Wisconsin -- 361 points
12. No. 25 Harvard -- 364 points
13. No. 12 Washington -- 373 points
14. No. 13 Texas -- 393 points
15. No. 15 Ole Miss -- 395 points
16. No. 22 Portland -- 430 points
17. No. 11 Air Force -- 453 points
18. North Carolina (RV) -- 460 points
19. No. 19 Syracuse -- 485 points
20. No. 27 Florida State -- 517 points
21. No. 27 Minnesota -- 518 points
22. No. 25 Georgetown -- 566 points
23. No. 16 Princeton -- 567 points
24. No. 24 Southern Utah -- 573 points
25. No. 14 Michigan -- 588 points
26. No. 21 Gonzaga -- 612 points
27. No. 23 Alabama -- 640 points
28. No. 29 Butler -- 643 points
29. No. 20 Oregon -- 655 points
30. No. 30 Michigan State -- 681 points
31. No. 17 Furman -- 688 points
Players Mentioned
