Michigan
Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational
Wolverines Make Statement with Fourth-Place Showing at Notre Dame
9/29/2017 4:16:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
Site: South Bend, Ind. (Notre Dame Burke Golf Course)
Event: Notre Dame Joe Piane Invitational
U-M Team Finish: 4th place of 21 teams (156 points)
Top U-M Individual: Ben Flanagan, 14th (24:05.0)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Oct. 13 -- at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational (Madison, Wis.)
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Powered by depth and late-race strength, the University of Michigan men's cross country team began its push for the postseason on a strong note as the Wolverines upset multiple national top-30 teams for a fourth-place finish at the Notre Dame Joe Piane Invitational on Friday (Sept. 29).
Led by a 14th-place individual finish from Ben Flanagan, the Wolverines scored 156 points to take fourth in the 21-team field -- nearly half of which was either ranked top-30 or receiving votes in the latest national poll -- and just missed third place by two points.
No. 13 Southern Utah took the team title with 72 points, followed by No. 4 Colorado at 101 and Air Force at 154. Following Michigan in the standings were Eastern Kentucky (168), Texas (181) and California (184). Like the Wolverines, the group of Air Force, Eastern Kentucky, Texas and Cal all entered in the "also receiving votes" portion on the latest national coaches' poll. The Wolverines also finished ahead of national No. 11 Washington State (11th) and No. 29 Eastern Michigan (12th).
Fifth-year senior Flanagan continued his triumphant return to the trails for Michigan, taking 14th overall in the 177-man field as he crossed the finish line of the five-mile course at the Notre Dame Burke Golf Course in 24:05.0.
Checking in at 37th after a hot first mile (4:38) set by the trio from Alabama that ultimately swept the race's top three individual positions, Flanagan moved up to the leading edge of the chase pack in 13th by the four-kilometer split.
He led a Michigan team that was one of only three squads in the field with six top-50 finishers, with a seventh and eighth just outside. No team had six runners across the line before the Wolverines, with redshirt sophomore Ben Hill finishing just ahead of Southern Utah's and Colorado's sixth men.
Fellow fifth-year seniors Connor Mora and Billy Bund -- the former making his 2017 debut -- were 30th and 31st, respectively, followed seconds later by redshirt freshman Isaac Harding in 35th. Like Flanagan, all three made big moves late to climb up the field from 55th, 50th and 75th, respectively, at the halfway point.
Redshirt freshman Keenan Rebera just beat Hill to the line to claim Michigan's fifth and final spot in the scoring lineup. Rebera crossed 46th in 24:34.4, just one position and six-tenths of a second ahead of Hill, after moving up from 83rd at the race's midpoint.
Jacob Branch (53rd), Aaron Baumgarten (55th) and Jacob Lee (82nd) rounded out the Michigan lineup. In his season debut, Baumgarten, the top returner from a year ago, ran a controlled effort that saw him move up from 102nd at the four-kilometer split.
In the open race, fifth-year senior Micah Beller was the runner-up and redshirt freshman Joost Plaetinck was third in 25:11.6 and 25:16.4, respectively. Redshirt freshman Andrew Lorant came through in ninth.
The Wolverines' schedule only continues to ramp up in intensity as the postseason draws nearer, with their de facto regular-season finale coming in two weeks' time at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on Friday, Oct. 13.
For more than a half decade, the meet has annually drawn the largest field of nationally ranked and would-be national qualifiers of any meet in the country beyond the NCAA Championships itself, providing another invaluable opportunity for Michigan to assert itself as a postseason contender.
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