Wolverines Jump in Rankings Ahead of Final Postseason Tune-Up

» One final regular-season race remains at Eastern Michigan before the Wolverines embark on a postseason run beginning with the Big Ten Championships on Oct. 29
» The Wolverines enter this weekend ranked No. 13 in the nation, their highest rank since the 2015 season.

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THIS WEEK
Friday, Oct. 20 -- Eastern Michigan Fall Classic (Hudson Mills Metropark / Dexter, Mich.), 5 p.m.

Fresh off receiving its highest national rank since the 2015 season, select members of the No. 13 University of Michigan men's cross country team will be in action Friday afternoon (Oct. 20) for the final regular-season competition of the season at the Eastern Michigan Fall Classic.

Friday's five-kilometer (3.1-mile) race at Hudson Mills Metropark -- the same course on which the Wolverines opened the season a month-and-a-half ago -- will go off at 5 p.m., preceded by a women's race over the same distance at 4:30 p.m.

Slated to line up for the Wolverines are senior Austin Benoit, sophomore Garrett McPeek, and redshirt freshmen Jacob Branch and Joost Plaetinck.

Many of the Wolverines' first-year runners will also compete unattached to gain experience.

Among the opponents they will face include Cleary, Detroit Mercy, host Eastern Michigan, Illinois Tech, Kalamazoo, Schoolcraft College, Toledo and the Canadian institution Windsor.

Wolverines in the Rankings

The meet comes just one week after the Wolverines' stellar run at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, where they finished eighth overall after entering as the 16th-highest-ranked team in the field.

As a result of their strong performance -- which came as the Wolverines' top-five scorers gained a net 150 spots in the standings over the final half of the race -- Michigan catapulted to the top of Monday's latest release of the Great Lakes Region rankings announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

The Wolverines' regional rank translated on Tuesday into a No. 13 rank in the final regular-season edition of the USTFCCCA's National Coaches' Poll. Not since the 2015 season -- a season that resulted in a Big Ten team title and a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Championships -- have the Wolverines been ranked so highly.

They will carry that rank to Bloomington on Oct. 29 for the Big Ten Championships, where they will endeavor to claim a second conference team title in three years.

A LOOK AHEAD
Sunday, Oct. 29 -- at Big Ten Championships (Bloomington, Ind.)
Friday, Nov. 10 -- at NCAA Great Lakes Regional (Terre Haute, Ind.)
Saturday, Nov. 18 -- at NCAA Championships (Louisville, Ky.)*

*Must qualify to the NCAA Championships