Michigan
Michigan Open
Davre Wins Debut in Season-Opening Michigan Open
8/31/2018 1:20:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
Site: Dexter, Mich. (Hudson Mills Metropark)
Event: Michigan Open
U-M Team Finish: Non-scoring
Top U-M Individual: Camille Davre, 1st (17:37.5)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Sept. 15 -- at Greeno/Dirksen Invitational (Lincoln, Neb.)
• Photo Gallery | Complete Results
DEXTER, Mich. -- Picking up a win in her first-ever race in the maize and blue, redshirt sophomore Camille Davre led the way for the No. 13 University of Michigan women's cross country team as it kicked off its 2018 campaign at home with the Michigan Open on Friday morning (Aug. 31).
Davre covered the Wolverines' five-kilometer (3.11-mile) home course at Hudson Mills Metropark in 17:37.5, headlining a season-opening effort for the two-time defending Big Ten champions.
"I was excited to race," Davre said. "Last year this was my first race and I ran really well, but then I got hurt. I was just happy to be out here again racing. It felt good and I really like running with the team. I was not expecting to be where I was. I kind of just wanted to run with the girls I had been training with at camp and see what happened. It felt good and I love racing, so if I can just get up there and do my best, that's always the goal."
First race in the Block M, first win for redshirt frosh Camille Davre! Alice Hill, Claire Borchers & Olivia Theis right behind #Team40 #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/zFtXpiCiea
— Michigan Cross Country / Track & Field (@UMichTrack) August 31, 2018
Following closely behind in second and third were Michigan's No. 3 and No. 2 steeplechasers of all time on the track in Alice Hill and Claire Borchers in 17:40.0 and 17:41.0, respectively. Hill is in her first year of cross country eligibility -- and was indeed running her first-ever varsity cross country race at either the collegiate or high school levels -- after redshirting the 2017 season, while Borchers kicked off her final season of NCAA eligibility with the race.
Unattached first-year Wolverine Olivia Theis was fourth overall in 17:41.2, and All-American Baylor transfer Anna West rounded out the top-five in 17:54.7.
Borchers, West and Audrey Belf led the way through the first mile of the race, with a chase group featuring Davre and Hill not far behind. By the time the race next emerged from the woods with less than a half-mile to go, the lead pack had grown to include Borchers, West, Hill, Davre and Theis, with unattached first-year Wolverine Jessi Larson not far behind. Larson would ultimately finish sixth.
"We're coming off a good week of training at camp, and it's a good chance to get a mark down and start from there," Borchers said. "We definitely did that today. We've had some really great progress in some of our younger girls between last year and now, but we're also missing some really strong players for our team and we're excited to get firing on all cylinders with them.
Not in action for Michigan on Friday were the trio of cross country All-American Avery Evenson, track All-American Haley Meier and Hannah Meier, all of whom have been granted sixth years of eligibility for various injury (the Meiers) or Olympic redshirt (Evenson) reasons. Also expected to debut soon is two-time NCAA Championships scorer Maddy Trevisan.
The field was comprised entirely of in-uniform Michigan runners and other Wolverines who competed "unattached" to preserve their eligibility for a redshirt season.
Full results for the runners who competed in uniform for Michigan are listed below.
FULL MICHIGAN RESULTS
1. Camille Davre -- 17:37.5
2. Alice Hill -- 17:40.0
3. Claire Borchers -- 17:41.0
5. Anna West -- 17:54.7
7. Audrey Belf -- 18:05.5
8. Kathryn House -- 18:11.7
9. Rachel Coleman -- 18:15.4
10. Meg Darmofal -- 18:18.3
11. Jena Metwalli -- 18:19.0
13. Raquel Powers -- 18:27.2
14. Julia Vanitvelt -- 18:28.3
19. Faith Reynolds -- 18:49.2
21. Micaela DeGenero -- 19:19.3
22. Jacalyn Overdier -- 19:31.9
UP NEXT FOR MICHIGAN
The Wolverines will be recognized for their 2017 Big Ten title during the Michigan football home opener against Western Michigan on Saturday, Sept. 8.
Michigan will be back in action at the Greeno/Dirksen Invitational in Lincoln, Nebraska, the site of the Big Ten Championships in two months' time, on Saturday, Sept. 15.
This event will mark Michigan's first competition within the NCAA Championships at-large qualifying period that is to begin with next weekend's slate of meets, and the first meet of the year run at the six-kilometer (3.73-mile) distance contested during the Big Ten and NCAA postseason.
The Wolverines will look to get their first test of the season at Nebraska, while picking 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.
Players Mentioned
