Michigan
Last Chance Invitational
Michigan Finishes Second at Florida State Last Chance Invitational
3/5/2021 9:36:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Site: Tallahassee, Fla. (Apalachee Regional Park)
Event: Winter Cross Country Last Chance Invitational
Distance: Eight kilometers (4.97 miles)
U-M Result: 2nd place of 5 teams (42 points)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, March 7 -- NCAA Selection Show (NCAA.com), 1 p.m.
• Complete Results (PDF) | Photo Gallery
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Competing in its lone regular-season competition of the rescheduled fall 2020 season, the No. 17 University of Michigan men's cross country team finished runner-up at the Florida State Winter Cross Country Last Chance Invitational Friday morning (March 5) at Apalachee Regional Park.
Led by third-place finisher Devin Meyrer, the Wolverines were second to Syracuse, which received votes nationally in the latest national poll, in the team standings by a score of 31-42. Host Florida State was third at 49 points.
Meyrer covered the eight-kilometer (4.97-mile) course in 23:47.9, just missing out on second place by 1.3 seconds in a race to the finish. Florida State's Adriaan Wildschutt took the individual win in 23:30.8.
The Wolverines had a relatively tight pack behind Meyrer, with only 24.2 seconds separating Meyrer from the No. 5 U-M runner, Jacob Lee.
Joost Plaetinck ran sixth for Michigan in 23:53.1, with the trio of 10th-place Tom Brady (24:06.6), 11th-place Nick Foster (24:10.1) and 12th-place Lee (24:12.1) rounding out the five-man scoring lineup.
Michigan also got top-20 finishes from 14th-place Christian Hubaker, 18th-place Jacob Branch and 19th-place Zach Stewart, giving the Wolverines eight top-20 finishers total -- the most of any team in the field.
After holding the lead in the team standings through the five-kilometer (3.1-mile) split narrowly over Syracuse and Florida State, 36-39-46, Michigan was usurped atop the leaderboard as the Orange made a move to the lead by six kilometers (3.73 miles), 24-46. Michigan cut the gap to 10 points by the penultimate seven-kilometer (4.35-mile) split, 30-40, but could not get any closer.
Michigan now awaits its NCAA Championships qualifying fate as berths will be announced on the NCAA.com Selection Show Sunday (March 7) starting at 1 p.m.
Players Mentioned
