Weekly Release #9

Upcoming Schedule
Monday, Nov. 22 -- at NCAA Championship (Bloomington, Ind.), 11 a.m.

Up Next for Michigan
The Wolverine men's cross country team will travel to Bloomington, Ind., next Monday (Nov. 22) for the NCAA Championships. The men's 10,000-meter race will start the event at 11 a.m. EST on the Indiana University Cross Country Course. The men's course record is held by Bob Kennedy of Indiana with a time of 30:15.30.

In 1998, the Michigan men finished fourth in the nation. Michigan returning scorers for the men include Steve Lawrence (Consecon, Ontario/East Northumberland SS), who placed 53rd; Jay Cantin (Camlachie, Ontario/St. Clair SS) in 58th; Mike Wisniewski (Temperance, Mich./Bedford HS), who finished 62nd; and Mark Pilja (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North HS) in 151st place.

On the men's side, two other Big Ten Conference teams will compete at nationals. Minnesota received an at-large bid, while Wisconsin qualified automatically. From the Great Lakes Region, Notre Dame will also attend with an automatic bid. Michigan has defeated all teams competing from the Big Ten and Great Lakes Region this year except Wisconsin.

Men Looking to NCAA National Championships
Michigan is coming off a third-place finish at the Great Lakes Regional (Nov. 13), where the Wolverines finished behind Wisconsin and Notre Dame.

"It was a little disappointing because we came so close to beating Wisconsin at Big Tens," said head coach Ron Warhurst. "We trained hard and raced hard. Some of the guys felt good running. Unfortunately, we didn't have Tom Caughlan (West Des Moines, Iowa/Mason City HS) at 100 percent. We're looking to make a strong run at nationals."

The men received an at-large bid to the NCAA National Championship Monday afternoon (Nov. 15). Since the team finished third at regionals, it missed earning an automatic bid by one spot.

"Now we can sharpen," said Warhurst after receiving the call from the NCAA selection committee. "We trained right through the regional. Quite hard actually. The guys are running 6 x a mile and 8 x 1,000-meters this week. We were not totally rested for regional and that showed in some performances. We will be rested for nationals though."

This year will be the men's 20th all-time appearance at the NCAA National Championship and 10th consecutive year competing at nationals. The men finished fourth in 1998, with top finisher Todd Snyder placing 10th.

Michigan Notables
-- Jay Cantin continues to be the Wolverines' top finisher after placing third overall at the Great Lakes Regional with a time of 30:16.30.

-- Freshman Nick Stanko (Wyandotte, Mich./Rossevelt HS) was the only Wolverine freshman to run at the Great Lakes Regional Championship and he finished 89th overall, crossing the finish line at 33:05.60.

NCAA Cross Country Poll
The Michigan men's cross country team fell one spot from No. 7 to No. 8 in the Nov. 16 NCAA Division I poll after finishing third at the Great Lakes Regional Championship. Michigan is joined in the poll by Big Ten members Wisconsin (No. 4) and Minnesota (No. 18).

MONDO Men's Cross Country Rankings (11/16/99)

 Team Reg. Pts LW 1. Arkansas (16) SC 400 1 2. Stanford W 376 5 3. North Carolina State SE 372 2 4. Wisconsin GL 339 6 5. Colorado MT 336 3 6. Arizona W 332 4 7. Notre Dame GL 300 8 8. MICHIGAN GL 274 7 9. Georgetown MA 272 9 10. Arizona State W 246 15 11. Southern Utah MT 218 NR 12. Oregon W 214 11 13. William & Mary SE 204 17 14. Villanova MA 191 13 15. Brigham Young MT 166 12 16. James Madison SE 142 10 17. Iona NE 130 NR 18. Minnesota MW 124 19 19. Northern Arizona MT 121 14 20. Providence NE 90 20 21. Southern Mississippi S 89 25 22. Weber State MT 84 16 23. Princeton MA 48 21 24. Cal Poly SLO W 34 NR 25. Dartmouth NE 23 24

NE = Northeast, MA = Mid-Atlantic, SE = Southeast, GL = Great Lakes,
MW = Midwest, SC = South Central, MT = Mountain, W = West, S = South

Contact: Adrienne Gutierrez (734) 763-4423