Michigan
Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational
Michigan Men Ready for Test at Notre Dame Invitational
9/29/2021 2:38:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
THIS WEEK
Friday, Oct. 1 -- at Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational (South Bend, Ind), 11:15 a.m.
Live Results
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 25-ranked University of Michigan men's cross country team will emerge from three weeks of early-season training for a national-caliber battle this Friday (Oct. 1) at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Ind.
In what will be a major benchmark of the Wolverines' progress as the countdown to the postseason reaches 28 days, Michigan will square off with more than a dozen nationally-ranked teams over five miles (8.05 kilometers) at 11:15 a.m. over the grounds of the Notre Dame Burke Golf Course.
Of the 40 teams either ranked top-30 or just outside receiving votes, 14 of them will toe the line in South Bend, including conference foes No. 26 Indiana and No. 30 Purdue and Great Lakes Region rivals No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 10 Butler.
Michigan also will test its mettle against the non-conference and extra-regional likes of No. 15 Alabama, No. 18 Furman, No. 20 Ole Miss, No. 29 Florida State and No. 30 Weber State, as well as vote-receiving Charlotte, Georgetown, NC State and Southern Utah.
Currently ranked No. 5 in a deep Great Lakes Region, the Wolverines are among seven teams pegged top-10 in the latest USTFCCCA Great Lakes Regional Rankings, setting the meet up as a preview of what is to come at the regional meet in November.
Eight among the travel party of reigning Big Ten Cross Country Athlete of the Year Devin Meyrer; steeplechase national qualifiers Christian Hubaker and Joost Plaetinck; Oli Raimond; Nick Foster; Colton Yesney; John Florence; James Gedris; Michael Hancock; Joe Meyers; Jack Spamer; and Zach Stewart will compete in the main race at 11:15am. The remaining entries will run in the open race at 12:45 p.m.
Fans can follow the race as it happens via live results from Primetime Timing. Updates also will be posted to the official social media channels of the program.
Things to Know
• Led by newly appointed Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Kevin Sullivan, the U-M men will enter ranked No. 5 in the deep Great Lakes Regional rankings and No. 25 in the National Coaches' Poll announced earlier this week by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
• At No. 25 nationally, the Wolverines enter the season ranked top-30 in the country for the 21st time in the past 23 years. Among Big Ten teams, Michigan is ranked second-best behind No. 14 Wisconsin, and just ahead of No. 26 Indiana and the pair of Purdue and Michigan State, both tied for No. 30.
• The Wolverines were shut out of the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2014 last winter in a season that was largely derailed by a department-wide shutdown as a result of COVID-19 precautions, and will look to return to November's national meet in Tallahassee, Fla., with only two returners -- Devin Meyrer and Joost Plaetinck -- from 2019's historic seventh-place scoring lineup.
• The Wolverines have performed well at this meet in years past. In 2017, the unranked Wolverines upset multiple nationally-ranked squads to finish fourth overall. Michigan went on to win the Big Ten title later that year.
• Before an extended three-week break from competition to focus on training, the Wolverines won the Penn State Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational team title on Sept. 10. Led by Big Ten Athlete of the Week Devin Meyrer in third and Oli Raimond in fourth, Michigan put seven runners in the top-20 as they beat Syracuse by seven points, 41-48, in a 5.2-mile race.
• Raimond impressed in his official Michigan cross country debut at Penn State in a fourth-place overall finish, just four seconds behind Meyrer. Raimond ran the season-opening Michigan Open unattached and finished runner-up in the five-kilometer (3.11-mile) race.
• Colton Yesney backed up his third-place finish at the Michigan Open with a 10th-place effort at Penn State, just ahead of Joost Plaetinck in 11th. The result bodes well as the squad will continue to run races at that distance or longer throughout the remainder of the season.
• The Wolverines have even more room for growth as Michigan Open winner and multiple-time Big Ten track medalist Nick Foster and All-American steeplechaser Christian Hubaker were only Michigan's No. 6 and 7 runners at Penn State.
Players Mentioned
