Weekly Release #8
11/11/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Upcoming Schedule
Saturday, Nov. 15 -- at NCAA Great Lakes Regional (Terre Haute, Ind.), 11 a.m.
Monday, Nov. 24 -- at NCAA Championships (Cedar Falls, Iowa), 11 a.m.
Michigan Gears up for NCAA Regionals
After a two-week hiatus, the No. 6-ranked University of Michigan men's cross country team will resume competition at the 2003 NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Saturday (Nov. 15) in Terre Haute, Ind. Hosted by Indiana State University, the 10,000-meter men's race is slated to begin at 11 a.m. at the Lavern Gibson Championship Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center. The top two teams and top four individuals who are not members of the top two teams will automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships.
NCAA Great Lakes Regional Lineup
Nate Brannen (Cambridge, Ontario/Preston HS)
Tom Greenless (Milford, Mich./Milford HS)
Tarn Leach (East Jordan, Mich./East Jordan HS)
Alex L'Heureux (Weedon, Quebec/Palm Beach Gardens HS)
Sean Moore (Saline, Mich./Saline HS)
Nick Stanko (Wyandotte, Mich./Roosevelt HS)
Nick Willis (Lower Hutt, New Zealand/Hutt Valley HS)
Last Year at the NCAA Regionals
Michigan earned a sixth-place finish at last year's NCAA Great Lakes Regional (Nov. 16), held at Purdue's Varsity Cross Country Course. In the tight race, the No. 19 Wolverines earned 142 points behind career performances from all five of their scoring runners. Nate Brannen and Nick Willis paced the Wolverines, finishing fifth and sixth, respectively, with times of 30:44.2 and 30:45.7. Nick Stanko, Tom Greenless and Sean Moore also contributed to Michigan's team score with then-personal-best times.
Wolverines Capture Second at Big Ten Championships
Keyed by junior Nate Brannen's season-high second-place finish (24:19.2), the Wolverines claimed second place at the 2003 Big Ten Championships (Nov. 2) in East Lansing, Mich. The Wolverines boasted two additional top-10 finishers as senior Tom Greenless took seventh place with a time of 24:26.9 and freshman Nick Willis took eighth at 24:30. Michigan collected 57 points in the team race, 17 points shy of first-place Wisconsin. Indiana took third place with 90 points.
Big Ten Honors
Fifth-year senior Ryan Hesselink (Freeport, Mich./Thornapple-Kellogg HS) was named Big Ten Athlete of the Week following his eighth-place performance at the EMU Classic (Oct. 24). Hesselink clocked a season-best time of 25:34 to register his second top-10 finish of the season. Michigan runners have earned conference weekly honors three times in the last four weeks and a total of four time this season, the most ever for the Wolverines in one season. Sophomore Nick Willis was named Big Ten co-Athlete of the Week twice within a three-week span after taking seventh at the NCAA Pre-Nationals (Oct. 18) and second at the Notre Dame Invitational (Oct. 3). Senior Tom Greenless also earned the recognition for the week of Sept. 24 after his first-place finish at the Spartan Invitational (Sept. 19). Since 1999, seven different Michigan runners have earned a combined 12 Big Ten weekly honors.
In the Polls
The Wolverines remained in the sixth position for the second consecutive week in the most recent MONDO rankings (Nov. 4) after claiming second place at the Big Ten Championsips.
MONDO Collegiate Cross Country Poll (11/4/03)
Rank Rank Rank, Team (first place votes) Region Points 10/21 10/14 1. Stanford (15) W 479 1 1 2. Wisconsin (1) GL 464 2 2 3. Colorado M 439 4 5 4. Iona NE 427 3 10 5. Northern Arizona M 418 5 3 6. MICHIGAN GL 403 6 13 7. Arkansas SC 384 8 8 8. Air Force M 365 9 -- 9. Georgetown MA 340 13 14 10. BYU M 330 12 4 11. Indiana GL 282 19 25 12. Oregon W 270 18 7 13. Ohio State GL 265 7 11 14. North Carolina State SE 252 17 21 15. Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo W 242 16 24 16. Villanova MA 239 11 18 17. Colorado State M 236 10 9 18. Notre Dame GL 223 24 15 19. Georgia S 179 21 20 20. Washington W 167 27 -- 21. Providence NE 138 20 17 22. Central Michigan GL 129 22 6 23. Oklahoma State MW 128 -- -- 24. Florida State S 127 23 -- 25. Arizona State W 94 15 12 26. Texas A&M SC 72 25 27 27. Arizona W 56 14 19 28. Eastern Michigan GL 43 -- -- 29. William & Mary SE 38 29 22 30. Iowa MW 32 30 --
Contact: Leah Howard (734) 763-4423
