Michigan
Pre-National Invitational
Wolverine Weekly: Pre-National Invitational News and Notes
10/10/2018 4:14:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
» UPDATE: Race times have been pushed back due to cold weather. The women's "A" team will now run at 11:10 a.m. CDT in the "White Race," with the "B" team set to go at 1:10 p.m. CDT in the "Gray Race".
» After rolling to comfortable team titles in their last two meets, the No. 10 Wolverine women will enter the Pre-National Invitational as one of 34 teams that are either in or previously have been included in the USTFCCCA National Coaches' Poll.
» With more than 80 teams in the field, meet organizers have split the field into two 35-team seeded races -- in one of which Michigan's top squad will compete -- with an additional unseeded race for the remaining teams and any additional runners from teams in the seeded races.
» The Wolverines' top lineup will be in action again, including all three women who have led Michigan in its three meets in Camille Davre, Hannah Meier and Avery Evenson.
THIS WEEK
Saturday, Oct. 13 -- at Pre-National Invitational (Madison, Wis.)
"White Race" (seeded), 11:10 a.m. CDT
"Gray Race" (unseeded), 1:10 p.m. CDT
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Very little resistance has come between the No. 10 University of Michigan women's cross country team and the team titles it convincingly claimed in its two most recent competitions, but that will change Saturday (Oct. 13) when the Wolverines are among more than 20 teams from the latest national poll descending upon Madison, Wisconsin, for the Pre-National Invitational.
The two-time-reigning Big Ten champion Wolverines' best seven-woman lineup will test its mettle against 10 of those national-caliber teams when it toes the line at 11:10 a.m. CDT for the seeded "White Race" over the same six-kilometer (3.73-mile) Thomas Zimmer Championship Course that will host the NCAA Championships on Nov. 17.
Leading the Michigan seven into the what is its de facto regular-season finale will be the three Wolverines who have traded No. 1-runner honors in the squad's three meets this year in sixth-year seniors Avery Evenson and Hannah Meier and redshirt freshman Camille Davre. Joining that trio will be redshirt senior Claire Borchers, junior Anna West, redshirt sophomore Kathryn House and true freshman Jessi Larson.
Due to the depth of top-tier teams entered into the competition, race officials have separated the field into two balanced seeded races -- "Cardinal" and "White" -- with 35 teams each, and an additional unseeded "Gray Race." Upwards of 10 teams will be relegated to the "Gray Race," in which Michigan will also compete its five next-best runners.
Notably in the "White Race" with the Wolverines are defending national champion No. 3 New Mexico, No. 5 Stanford, No. 8 Wisconsin and No. 12 Furman.
Michigan will also get a look at Big Ten foes in Wisconsin, Nebraska and Purdue; and NCAA Great Lakes Region rivals in Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Eastern Michigan, Purdue, Indiana State and Central Michigan.
To simply say the overall field at Wisconsin is "deep" understates the collective cross country talent that will assemble in Madison. The Wolverines are among eight teams on the start list ranked top-10 in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Coaches' Poll, and among 20 ranked in the poll's top 30.
An additional five teams are currently outside the top 30 in the "also receiving votes" category, with four more that are not currently in the poll but have previously either been ranked or received votes this season.
All told, 20 of the 31 teams that competed at last year's NCAA Championships will race Saturday at Wisconsin.
This will be the Wolverines' third scored competition of the season. For a breakdown of how team scoring works, click here.
This weekend also will mark Michigan's third competition within the NCAA Championships at-large qualifying period that began the second weekend of September.
The Wolverines will have their best opportunity of the year to pick up some potentially valuable head-to-head victories. Should Michigan not finish top-two at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional to secure an automatic berth to the NCAA Championships (Michigan has only finished third or worse at regionals four times since the turn of the new millennium), they would need to rely on those head-to-head wins to advance to nationals as one of 13 at-large selections around the country.
The Full Field (White Race)
No. 3 New Mexico, No. 5 Stanford, No. 8 Wisconsin, No. 10 Michigan, No. 12 Furman, No. 16 Washington, No. 20 Utah State, No. 22 Notre Dame, No. 24 Yale, No. 28 Georgia, Southern Utah (RV), Colorado State*, San Francisco*, Air Force, Arizona State, Arkansas State, Cal Poly, Central Michigan, Clemson, Eastern Michigan, Harvard, Idaho State, Indiana State, Kansas, Lamar, Louisville, Nebraska, Purdue, South Dakota State, Southeast Missouri State, UT-Martin, USC, Wake Forest, Washington State, Weber State, William and Mary.
Note: (RV) receiving votes in the USTFCCCA poll; * previously, but not currently, ranked nationally
The Wolverine Lineup
• For the seeded "White Race," Michigan will run with the seven-woman lineup of Avery Evenson, Hannah Meier, Camille Davre, Claire Borchers, Anna West, Kathryn House and Jessi Larson.
• The Wolverines will also compete in the unseeded "Gray Race" with a five-woman lineup comprised by Audrey Belf, Rachel Coleman, Alice Hill, Kathryn House, Raquel Powers and Faith Reynolds.
• With another strong race under her belt leading the victorious Michigan pack as a frontrunner, it is becoming safer to say that -- after an up-and-down 2017 season -- Evenson is back to the form that saw her finish 18th at the NCAA Championships in 2016. Her 16:45.7 clocking to finish fifth at Louisville two weekends ago is exactly 30 seconds faster than her time two years ago at the same venue (albeit a slightly different course) during the build-up to her All-America run.
• Hannah Meier showed her runner-up finish at Nebraska in mid-September was no fluke with a seventh-place finish at Louisville in 16:59.1. She demonstrated her speed over the final 1.1 kilometers of the race, covering the final .68 of a mile in 3:37 -- or 5:18 min/mile pace -- for the second-fastest split in the field behind race winner Dorcas Waisike of Louisville.
• Davre followed Meier to the front of the pack over the final kilometer-and-change at Louisville, running a 3:39 split over that same distance for eighth-place overall and for the fifth-fastest finishing split (Michigan accounted for three of the five fastest finishing splits with No. 2 Meier, No. 3 Evenson and No. 5 Davre).
• Borchers continued her strong start to the 2018 season, clocking 17:12.4 for 14th overall as Michigan's No. 4 runner. Now in her final cross country season -- and her final season as a Wolverine overall with no track eligibility remaining -- Borchers has now been in Michigan's top five for 10 consecutive meets. That's the most on the current roster.
The Team, The Team, The Team
• Led by reigning Great Lakes Region and Big Ten Coach of the Year Mike McGuire, Michigan remained No. 10 in the National Coaches' Poll and held steady at No. 2 in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Rankings announced Tuesday (Oct. 2) and Monday (Oct. 1), respectively, by the USTFCCCA.
This marks the eighth consecutive year that Michigan has been ranked top-10 nationally at some point during the season. Only one other team in the country (Stanford, 24 years in a row) has a longer active top-10 streak than the Wolverines.
• This week marks the 137th consecutive edition of the National Coaches' Poll that has included Michigan in its top 30, a streak surpassed only by Stanford. Among Big Ten teams, Penn State is next on the list with 29 consecutive appearances.
• Only No. 8 Wisconsin is ranked higher in the National Coaches' Poll among Big Ten teams, with Indiana and Michigan State right behind the Wolverines at Nos. 11 and 14. Also representing the conference in the national poll are No. 19 Penn State, No. 21 Minnesota and vote-receiving Ohio State.
• The Wolverines have claimed five of the last six regional titles and are in the midst of the third-longest active NCAA Championships qualifying streak in the nation at 15 years running.
• Never before has a women's team in the Great Lakes Region claimed four consecutive regional titles, but the Wolverines -- winners of three straight -- will look to change that in 2018. The top two teams in the region will automatically advance to the NCAA Championships.
• This marks the 16th year in a row Michigan has earned a top-30 national rank to start the season. Of those 16 years, Michigan has gone on to outperform its preseason rank at the NCAA Championships in nine of those seasons.
The Course
Name: Thomas Zimmer Championship Course
Distance: Six kilometers (3.73 miles)
Maximum Elevation: 1,129 feet
Minimum Elevation: 1,048 feet
Thomas Zimmer Championship Course Preview (Women's 6K)
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A Look Ahead
Friday, Oct. 19 -- at Eastern Michigan Fall Classic (Dexter, Mich.)
Sunday, Oct. 28 -- at Big Ten Championships (Lincoln, Neb.)
