Michigan
Eastern Michigan Fall Classic
Wolverines Set to Close Regular Season at Eastern Michigan
10/18/2017 3:16:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
» 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. 10 in the nation, down six spots from a week ago.
• Social Media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
THIS WEEK
Friday, Oct. 20 -- Eastern Michigan Fall Classic (Hudson Mills Metropark / Dexter, Mich.) 4:30 p.m.
Select members of the No. 10-ranked University of Michigan women'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 4:30 p.m., followed by a men's race over the same distance at 5 p.m.
Slated to line up for the Wolverines are sophomores Mary Kate McNamara, Faith Reynolds and Lauren Van Vlierbergen; and redshirt freshmen Micaela DeGenero, Margaret Sliney and Alena Tonne.
Several of the Wolverines' first-year runners will also compete unattached to gain experience.
Among the opponents they will face include Bowling Green, Cleary, Detroit Mercy, host Eastern Michigan, Illinois Tech, Kalamazoo, Schoolcraft College, Toledo, Western Michigan and the Canadian institution Windsor.
Wolverines in the Rankings
The Wolverines are coming off a fifth-place finish at the Pre-National Invitational, which dropped them six spots in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Coaches' Poll from No. 4 to No. 10.
Michigan is ranked just behind Penn State in the national poll among Big Ten teams, but it did retain its spot atop the latest Great Lakes Regional Rankings.
While the result at Pre-Nationals was not the outcome for which the team was aiming, head coach Mike McGuire's squads in recent years have saved their best for last. In three of the previous five seasons (2012, 2013, 2016), the Wolverines finished better at the NCAA Championships than their national rank following the Pre-National meet.
The Wolverines were ranked No. 6 after Pre-Nationals a year ago before finishing national runner-up by one point. In 2013, Michigan went from No. 14 after Pre-Nationals to fourth at NCAAs, and in 2012 Michigan went from No. 7 to No. 5.
They will carry that rank to Bloomington on Oct. 29 for the Big Ten Championships, where they aim to defend their conference crown from a year ago.
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
Players Mentioned
