Toeing the Line #9: at NCAA Championships
11/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Nov. 18, 2015
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THIS WEEK
Saturday, Nov. 21 -- at NCAA Championships (Louisville, Ky.), 1 p.m.
Live Results | Live Video
• Event Information | NCAA Championship Field | Course Map (10K) | Spectator Information
Competing under 2015 Big Ten and NCAA Great Lakes Regional Coach of the Year Kevin Sullivan -- in his second season at U-M -- the fifth-ranked conference and regional champion University of Michigan men's cross country team is poised for a strong finish to the 2015 postseason with Saturday's (Nov. 21) 10,000-meter NCAA Championships. The 78th annual men's championships will be at run at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky, where the Maize and Blue placed second at the Greater Louisville Classic (Oct. 3) earlier this season.
Two-time All-American and fifth-year senior co-captain Mason Ferlic was the individual champion in that meet, as he made his season debut clocking 23:51.52 over 8,000-meters for the win. He's now coming off another individual title at the regional meet and he'll seek to join elite company by becoming Michigan's sixth-ever three-time All-American this weekend.
Michigan's travel squad will include: Aaron Baumgarten, Micah Beller, Mason Ferlic, Ben Flanagan, Connor Mora, August Pappas, Nick Posada, Nick Renberg and Tony Smoragiewicz.
The NCAA Championships will include 31 teams and 38 individuals overall. The top two teams in each of the nine national regions automatically qualified and an additional 13 teams were selected to receive at-large bids.
Tom Sawyer State Park is a 369-acre park and the site of five previous NCAA Cross Country Regional competitions and the 2012 Division I NCAA Championships. It is located on the outskirts of the Louisville metropolitan area. The park is made up of several rolling fields that used to be farmland.
THINGS TO KNOW
• U-M's travel squad has experience at this year's championship course, where the team placed second at the Greater Louisville Classic (Oct. 3). FloTrack also followed the Wolverines to the meet, filming their 'Inside the Program' series.
• U-M is coming off its first conference/regional title combination since 1997, Sullivan's final season as a Wolverine, when the Maize and Blue found the podium at the national championships with a fourth-place finish.
• Michigan has posted a 95-3 mark this fall, including a 19-3 mark against ranked opponent with all three losses coming in before Oct. 3. That cumulative record has produced the No. 5 overall ranking in the latest edition of the USTFCCCA Coaches' Poll.
• NCAA Great Lakes Regional champion and Big Ten runner-up Mason Ferlic will cap his decorated Michigan career this weekend. He has led U-M in the last 17 races in which he has competed, including every postseason since he cracked the varsity lineup in 2013.
• Ferlic could join Nate Brannen (2002-04), Bill Donakowski (1975-77), Greg Meyer (1974-76), John Scherer (1986-88) and Coach Kevin Sullivan (1993-95, '97) as the only Wolverines with three or more NCAA All-America honors.
• Michigan's other seniors competing in their final cross country meet as Wolverines include Nick Posada, August Pappas and Tony Smoragiewicz.
• Michigan returns six members from its 2014 NCAA Championships lineup. Renberg will make his NCAA Championships debut.
Top Returning Times from the 2014 NCAA Championships
| Athlete | Time |
| Mason Ferlic | 30:37.1 |
| Ben Flanagan | 31:12.6 |
| August Pappas | 31:21.9 |
| Tony Smoragiewicz | 31:39.1 |
| Nick Posada | 32:27.3 |
| Aaron Baumgarten | 32:40.8 |
2014 meet was run in Terra Haute, Indiana, at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course
TWEET OF THE WEEK
📸 day for men's track and field! #saycheese pic.twitter.com/JRnXtV99xz
-- Michigan Track&Field (@umichtrack) November 15, 2015
Communications Contact: Chad Shepard
Players Mentioned
