Michigan
Wolverine Interregional
Michigan, Webb Claim Titles at Wolverine Interregional
10/14/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 12-ranked University of Michigan men's cross country team claimed the top three spots at the Wolverine Interregional on Sunday morning (Oct. 14) at the U-M Golf Course en route to an overwhelming team victory. Freshman Alan Webb (Reston, Va./South Lakes HS) outran the field by 32 seconds with a time of 25:12 as he won his second scored collegiate meet in as many tries.
As a team the Wolverines totaled 18 points (1-2-3-5-7), only three over the minimum as only the top five runners for each team counted in the point standings. Purdue was the next closest team to Michigan as the Boilermakers amassed 53 points.
While Webb made an impressive debut in his first home meet, senior All-Americans Mike Wisniewski (Temperance, Mich./Bedford HS) and Mark Pilja (Naperville, Ill./North HS) closed out their collegiate careers on the U-M Golf Course in fine fashion. Despite a slow course due to rain and mud, the Wolverine seniors both managed to cover the 8,000 meters in under 26 minutes.
After sitting out last week for the Murray Keatinge Invitational (Oct. 6) due to nagging injuries, Wisniewski returned to the lineup on Sunday to post his best finish of the year with a second-place showing at 25:44. Pilja, who posted Michigan's top finish in the previous two races, finished four seconds behind Wisniewski at 25:48.
Three sophomores -- Nick Stanko (Wyandotte, Mich./Roosevelt HS), Tom Greenless (Milford, Mich./Milford HS) and Ryan Hesselink (Freeport, Mich./Thornapple-Kellogg HS) -- rounded out U-M's six top-10 finishers. Stanko's fifth-place showing at 26:07 is the highest finish of his career, while Greenless (26:14) and Hesselink (26:16) finished within two seconds of each other in seventh and eighth, respectively.
The Wolverines' next meet will be on Sunday, Oct. 28, at the Big Ten Conference Championships in Champaign, Ill. The men's race is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. CST.
Team Standings
1. MICHIGAN 18 2. Purdue 53 3. Montana State 70 4. Pennsylvania 103 5. Western Michigan 129 6. Bowling Green 165
Top 10 Individuals
1. ALAN WEBB, U-M 25:12 2. MIKE WISNIEWSKI, U-M 25:44 3. MARK PILJA, U-M 25:48 4. Casey Jermyn, Montana State 26:01 5. NICK STANKO, U-M 26:07 6. Geoff Fleming, Purdue 26:11 7. TOM GREENLESS, U-M 26:14 8. RYAN HESSELINK, U-M 26:16 9. Toby Buechner, Purdue 26:26 10. Kevin Murphy, Montana State 26:27
Other Michigan Finishes
14. Nathan Brannen 26:47 24. Tarn Leach 27:15 55. Terrance Rindler 29:31
Q U O T E S
U-M Head Coach Ron Warhurst
On the meet ... "It was great to see so many people out, especially since we had such crummy weather. Most of the time the kids were virtually running in a tunnel because of the crowd size. It's a nice motivator when the course is slow."
On the team's performance ... "It's nice to see improvement out of Mike Wisniewski, Nick Stanko, Ryan Hesselink and Tom Greenless and the whole team. The fact that Nick, Tom and Ryan could finish fifth, seventh, and eighth really solidified our team standing."
Freshman Alan Webb
On the individual victory ... "Today was a really hard race because of the weather and it was so slow. It really hurt to run today. I went out too fast because I was excited to be running in my first home race. But it was awesome to see so many people out here today, that really helped. I couldn't believe how many people came out considering the weather."
Senior Mike Wisniewski
On his last race at the U-M Golf Course ... "I can't believe five years has gone by. It was exciting to run for the last time on the U-M Golf Course and it was great to be able to help the team. For us to finish first and everyone run well gives us a big boost heading into the Big Ten Championships."
Contact: David Crabtree (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
