Wolverines Seek Regional Title Defense
11/9/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Nov. 9, 2016
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THIS WEEK
Friday, Nov. 11 -- at NCAA Great Lakes Regional (Madison, Wis.), Noon CST
Live Results
The sixth-ranked University of Michigan women's cross country team will defend its NCAA Great Lakes Regional title this weekend at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wisconsin. There, U-M will run a 6,000-meter race against athletes from 33 other programs as it eyes a second consecutive Great Lakes Regional title and the 11th in program history, nine of which has come under head coach Mike McGuire to this point.
This is Michigan's first trip to Madison this season, but the Wolverines are competing at the regional meet there for the fifth consecutive year.
This year's meet will feature competitors from 34 teams overall, and the women's race is set to begin at noon CST, immediately followed by the men's race at 1 p.m. CST.
Michigan's lineup consists of: Claire Borchers, Avery Evenson, Erin Finn, Jamie Morrissey, Jaimie Phelan, Gina Sereno and Madeline Trevisan.Sarah Zieve and Hannah Meier will serve as alternates. The Wolverines will race out of Box 14.
[ Thomas Zimmer Championships Course Home | NCAA Great Lakes Regional Central ]
Top Returning Times at 6,000 meters
• Erin Finn -- 19:44.7
• Jaimie Phelan -- 20:17.2
• Gina Sereno -- 20:18.4
• Sophie Linn -- 20:34.7
• Jamie Morrissey -- 20:53.9
• Courtney Munley -- 20:57.0
THINGS TO KNOW
• Michigan seeks its second consecutive regional title and the 11th in program history. Each of Michigan's 10 title have come in the 25-season tenure of head coach Mike McGuire.
• U-M posted a 112-7 record this fall prior to the Big Ten Championships, including a 27-2 mark against other teams within the Great Lakes Region.
• Borchers, Evenson, Meier, Trevisan and Zieve each made her postseason debut at the Big Ten Championships last month, but Finn, Morrissey, Phelan and Sereno have run for the block M in the postseason before. Three of those four -- Finn, Phelan and Sereno -- return from last year's regional title-winning team.
• Under McGuire, U-M has been first, second or third in the Great Lakes Region during 22 of his 24 seasons at the helm. U-M has been top two in 13 of the last 18 seasons overall.
• The Wolverines enter the championship phase of the season ranked No. 6 in the USTFCCCA Coaches Poll and No. 1 in the Great Lakes Region.
• U-M enters the weekend on the momentum of the program's 10th-ever Big Ten championship, which the Wolverines captured one day before Halloween on Sunday, Oct. 30, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• The team used Finn's individual title and all-conference finishes from Sereno (first team; fourth place) and Evenson (second team; 14th place) to capture victory with 63 points. Finn and McGuire were unanimously named Big Ten Athlete and Coach of the Year as a result.
• Finn made history in Minneapolis with her third individual Big Ten title last month, becoming the first to win three non-consecutive titles. She also became the first-ever three-time winner at 6K, just the third three-time winner in conference history. She joins the program's lone national champion Katie McGregor as Michigan's only repeat conference champions (1997-98).
• Last time she ran at this course, Finn took fifth place in 20:44.3. She was runner-up as a freshman in 20:09, when U-M won what was then its third consecutive regional title. She recently moved up to No. 1 in the Saucony Flo50 rankings.
A LOOK AHEAD
Saturday, Nov. 19 -- at NCAA Championships (Terre Haute, Ind.), 11 a.m.
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Wonder what it's like to hear 110,000 people cheering for you?
We found out yesterday. Wonder no more. https://t.co/k3LtsYCBgF-- Michigan Track&Field (@UMichTrack) November 6, 2016
Communications Contact: Chad Shepard
Players Mentioned
