Season Review: 2016 Michigan Women's Cross Country
12/8/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
• Team Captain: Jaimie Phelan, Gina Sereno
• Big Ten Conference: 1st Place
• NCAA Great Lakes Regional: 1st Place
• NCAA Championships: 2nd Place
The NCAA runner-up University of Michigan women's cross country team fought for everything it won during the 2016 season, and winning was something that the Wolverines did plenty of. The team boasted a 112-7 regional record through the Big Ten Championships, including a 27-2 mark within the Great Lakes Region. The program went on to pick up the 10th conference and 11th regional titles in Michigan history, each of which has come under head coach Mike McGuire, who has just concluded his 25th season at the helm of the program.
The Maize and Blue boasted three all-conference performers, five all-region honorees and three All-Americans from the 2016 postseason. On the whole it is considered to be the winningest season in the history of one of America's most decorated distance programs.
Team Highlights
• At the NCAA Championships, U-M put together what may be considered the most historic national team performance in program history, placing second overall and missing out on a national title by just one point. The Wolverines tallied 126 points with scoring finishes of 2-18-30-46-65, as the Oregon Ducks took the team title with 125 points. Erin Finn's national runner-up finish led the way for the Wolverines, while junior Avery Evenson and senior/junior co-captain Gina Sereno (30th) also earned All-America honors. The team was ranked No. 5 entering the championship weekend, and finishing the year at No. 2 in the country matches the best finish in program history. U-M has now finished the year on the podium five times since 1994.
• Michigan's Big Ten title this fall was the 10th in program history and meant a great deal to the athletes who helped win it. With four athletes in the lineup who had also run in 2015, memories were still fresh from the team title that eluded the Wolverines last fall, when Penn State edged the Maize and Blue by five points to steal the conference crown. This year there was no mistake at the top -- Michigan regained its position of dominance in the Big Ten by turning in a 63-point effort that saw U-M's scorers finish 1-4-14-19-25. Finn became the first woman to win three non-consecutive individual titles in the Big Ten, and she became the program's first repeat conference champion since Katie McGregor (1997-98). She is one of just five women in Big Ten history to win multiple titles at all and the only at the 6K distance. Sereno and Evenson were first- and second-team All-Big Ten honorees, and McGuire and Finn earned unanimous Big Ten Coach and Athlete of the Year awards as a result.
• In a year that saw three outstanding postseason performances, it would be an oversight to look past the regular season entirely. U-M won two of its four scored meets prior to the championship phase of the season and placed third at the premier NCAA preview meet of the year, adidas Pre-Nationals, an annual staple for the Maize and Blue. U-M tallied 176 points at Pre-Nats, led by a solo effort victory from Finn and all five scorers in the top 60, besting four ranked programs in the process. The Wolverines also won the open race in Terre Haute, scoring a near-perfect 16 points in the process.
Individual Highlights
• In her final season of cross country eligibility, senior Erin Finn went out in style. She won six of the eight meets she ran in, including individual Big Ten and Great Lakes Regional titles, but the NCAA Championships (Nov. 19) marked a memorable finish to her career on the cross country course. During a race that fell on her 21st birthday, Finn ran 19:44.2 over 6,000 meters in Terre Haute, Indiana, to finish second overall. She was leading the race, having passed Notre Dame's Anna Rohrer over the final quarter-mile, but was passed in the final 150 meters or so and had to settle for a runner-up finish. Though it was a bittersweet finish, it was exemplary of the way Finn has constantly fought through adversity throughout her career at Michigan, and her teammates serenaded her with a spirited "Happy Birthday" afterwards.
• Senior/junior co-captain Gina Sereno was the model of stability this season for the Wolverines. She was top-30 in seven of her eight races this fall with five top-10 finishes overall. Sereno, who became a two-time Big Ten champion during the outdoor track and field season, earned her first all-conference accolade in cross country when she placed fourth at the Big Ten Championships (Oct. 30). On a hilly course with difficult terrain, Sereno's calm demeanor prevailed and helped vault the Wolverines to the program's 10th Big Ten title. Her race of 21:07.3 had her as the second U-M athlete across the line, and with the next-best Wolverine finishing 10 places behind her, the top-five finish she secured proved to be critical in a team race which saw first and second place separated by just seven points.
• Newcomer Avery Evenson burst onto the scene for U-M this fall and showed why McGuire and his staff were so excited to add her to the fold. Among her seven top-25 finishes were three top-10 showings, and the Ann Arbor native and U-M junior was the top-finishing athlete in uniform at the season-opening Michigan Open (Sept. 2). Evenson's best race of the year, however, may have been her performance at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, where she was the second Wolverine across the finish line in 20:19.1. Evenson finished ninth overall, earning her first career All-Region award. Evenson was also second-team All-Big Ten and went on to earn All-America recognition.
• Michigan has always operated under the philosophy of reloading instead of rebuilding, and despite the large contributions of the senior class and the void left by the graduation of Finn, the departing seniors are few in number. For that reason, the Maize and Blue will have an optimistic look ahead to 2017, hoping to sustain the success that has made this half-decade one of the most decorated in program history.
Honors and Awards
Erin
Finn
Avery
Evenson
Gina
Sereno
Jaimie
Phelan
Mike
McGuire
NCAA All-American
Erin Finn
Avery Evenson
Gina Sereno
NCAA Great Lakes Region
Coach of the Year: Mike McGuire
Athlete of the Year: Erin Finn
All-Great Lakes Region
Erin Finn (1st)
Gina Sereno (8th)
Avery Evenson (9th)
Jamie Morrissey (21st)
Madeline Trevisan (22nd)
Big Ten Athlete of the Week
Erin Finn (Sept. 14, Sept. 28, Oct. 5, Oct. 19)
Big Ten Conference
Coach of the Year: Mike McGuire
Athlete of the Year: Erin Finn
All-Conference (First Team): Erin Finn, Gina Sereno
All-Conference (Second Team): Avery Evenson
Sportsmanship Award: Jaimie Phelan
Academic All-Big Ten
Sydney Badger, Jr., movement science
Rachel Barrett, Jr., movement science
Natalie Baxter, So., chemical engineering
Claire Borchers, Jr., international studies
Meg Darmofal, So., undeclared
Kali Dent, Jr., neuroscience
Sylvie Evarts, So., LSA undeclared
Erin Finn, Sr., biochemistry
Erika Fluehr, Gr., management
Ellie Leonard, Jr., biochemistry
Sophie Linn, Sr., sport management
Gina McNamara, Gr., management
Mary Kate McNamara, So., LSA undeclared
Hannah Meier, Sr., health and fitness
Courtney Munley, Sr., business administration
Faith Reynolds, So., LSA undeclared
Lauren Van Vlierbergen, So., business administration
Sarah Zieve, Sr., public policy
Communications Contact: Chad Shepard
Players Mentioned
