Michigan Men's Cross Country Announces 2017 Schedule
6/30/2017 12:50:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
• 2017 U-M Men's Cross Country Schedule
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan men's cross country team announced the eight-race schedule for its 2017 campaign on Friday (June 30). Prior to the Big Ten Championships (Oct. 29), the NCAA Great Lakes Regional (Nov. 10) and the NCAA Championships (Nov. 18), the Wolverines will prepare with trips to several top-shelf invitationals during the regular season.
The season will begin with the lone home event of the year, the annual Michigan Open (Sept. 1) at Hudson Mills Metropark in Dexter. Admission to the meet is free, though all vehicles are subject to a $7 daily entry fee upon entry to the park.
Two weeks later, the squad will travel to Cary, North Carolina, for the Adidas XC Challenge (Sept. 15) at the WakeMed Soccer Park. After a bye weekend, U-M next travels to Bloomington, Indiana, to preview the Big Tens course -- the Indiana University Cross Country Championships Course -- at the Sam Bell Invitational (Sept. 30).
Following another bye weekend, the Wolverines will be among the field in the biggest regular-season meet of the year at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational (Oct. 13) in Madison, Wisconsin. Over the past decade, the meet has grown into the most competitive non-postseason meet of the year with about two-thirds of the nation's ranked teams at the starting line of the Zimmer Championship Course.
Select members of the team will get a final tune-up for the postseason the following weekend with a return to the Hudson Mills Metropark for the Eastern Michigan Fall Classic (Oct. 20).
The postseason will begin one week later as the Wolverines will seek to reclaim their 2015 title at the Big Ten Championships (Oct. 29) hosted by Indiana University. Big Tens will be held in Bloomington for the first time since 2006, when the Wolverines were runners-up in the team standings. Michigan took fifth a year ago.
NCAA postseason competition begins two weekends afterwards with the NCAA Great Lakes Regional (Nov. 10) in Terre Haute, Indiana. U-M has claimed two of the past four regional team titles with wins in 2013 and 2015.
The top two teams in the Great Lakes Regional standings will automatically advance to the NCAA Cross Country Championships (Nov. 18) in Louisville. The Wolverines missed qualifying for the Championships a year ago but will look to restart a streak of consecutive NCAA berths that had grown to five years.
Summer Camps: The Michigan Cross Country Camp and the Michigan Track and Field Camp, open to male and female runners in grades 7-12, will be held July 9-12. For more information or to register online, visit MGoBlue.com/camps.
