Michigan
Big Ten Championships
Wolverine Women to Go for Fourth Straight Big Ten Title
10/30/2019 3:15:00 PM | Women's Cross Country
» The No. 8 University of Michigan women's cross country team will be going for its fourth straight Big Ten title Sunday at 11:45 a.m. against the deepest field in conference history with seven other national top-30 in the race.
» True freshman Ericka VanderLende will lead one of the nation's deepest and most cohesive lineups into a showdown with, among others, No. 7 Wisconsin and No. 9 Michigan State.
THIS WEEK
Sunday, Nov. 3 -- at Big Ten Championships (Columbus, Ohio), 11:45 a.m.
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A fourth straight conference title is on the line for the No. 8-ranked University of Michigan women's cross country team at the Big Ten Championships this Sunday (Nov. 3) in what arguably will be the nation's deepest conference meet.
The Wolverines are among three top-10 squads in the field and among eight Big Ten squads that will arrive in Columbus, Ohio, ranked top-25 nationally -- a total unmatched by any other conference in the country in 2019 and any other previous editions of these Big Ten Championships.
The six-kilometer (3.73-mile) race over the grounds of the Ohio State University Golf Club at 11:45 a.m. is expected to be one of the most fiercely contested meets in Big Ten Championships history, headlined by a showdown between Michigan and, among others, No. 7 Wisconsin and No. 9 Michigan State.
Michigan also will get stiff challenges from No. 18 Penn State, No. 19 Illinois, No. 21 Ohio State, No. 23 Indiana and No. 25 Minnesota.
The charge for a fourth straight team title -- which would stand as the fourth-longest streak in league history -- will be undertaken by true freshman phenom Ericka VanderLende and one of the deepest rosters in the nation.
Expected to join her on the starting line are Kathryn House, Maddy Trevisan, Jena Metwalli, Camille Davre, Anna West, Micaela DeGenero, Alice Hill and Emma Sloan. Each team's lineup can consist of nine runners, of which seven will be counted in the team scoring.
Admission is free to the general public, with free parking available at the Upper Arlington Municipal Building (3600 Tremont Rd.). Overflow parking is available off-site at the Jameson Crane Sports Medicine Institute (2835 Fred Taylor Dr.) in Buckeye Lot 4 (B4). Shuttles will run every 15 minutes from 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. from B4 lot to the Ohio State University Golf Club.
Remotely, the meet will be streamed live on subscription services FloTrack and BTN Plus and follow along with live results via Primetime Timing. Michigan-specific updates will be posted on the team's Twitter and Instagram accounts, @umichtrack.
Race Preview
• Previously, the high-water mark for ranked teams in the Big Ten Championships field was seven in 2007 and 2008. Such depth then resulted telltale signs of highly competitive races -- the second- and sixth-highest winning scores in meet history, respectively, and the smallest and third-smallest margins of victory. A similar dynamic could very well play out on Sunday.
• Of the other seven nationally ranked teams in the field, the Wolverines have three times defeated Illinois and prevailed once each over Penn State and Ohio State.
• Michigan has yet to race against its projected top challengers in Wisconsin and Michigan State. Those teams turned in fourth- and fifth-place efforts at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on the same weekend Michigan took fourth at the Pre-National Invitational. Wisconsin will be powered by a national-title contender and defending Big Ten champion Alicia Monson, while Michigan State has a more balanced and deeper lineup.
• The Wolverines enter with a mix of the characteristics that make both Wisconsin and MSU contenders for the throne. VanderLende -- three times a Big Ten Athlete of the Week and once the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week -- gives the Wolverines a significant presence near Monson at the front of the race, while the rest of the lineup can go head-to-head with the Spartans' depth.
• House and Trevisan have emerged as consistent No. 2 and No. 3 runners for the Wolverines, respectively. Trevisan has experience at this meet to draw upon, having finished 16th for the Wolverines in 2017. This will be House's first postseason cross country meet.
• The Wolverines also will aim to have West near the front of the race to provide more veteran stability. After making her proper 2019 debut at Pre-Nationals two weekends ago, she is looking to return to the form she showed in a 24th-place finish at Big Tens last year and a runner-up Big 12 Championships finish at Baylor two years ago.
• An X-factor for the Wolverines will be All-American Davre, who has not yet settled into the All-American form in which she finished 2018. Davre, like Trevisan, has experience at this meet with a 16th-place finish from a year ago -- a performance that set her on an All-America trajectory.
• Michigan has been boosted significantly by breakthrough seasons from Metwalli and DeGenero, who will be making their respective cross country postseason debuts. Both women excelled on this same course at the Buckeye Preview in September to make their initial moves into the main lineup, with the relatively flat and fast racing surface enhancing their mid-distance speed.
• With nine runners eligible to compete at the Big Ten Championships, Michigan will have an opportunity to take advantage of its national-caliber depth. Sloan and Hill will fill that role for the Wolverines after going 1-2 in the open race at Pre-Nationals earlier this month. If they had run the same times in the main seeded race, they would have cracked the five-woman scoring lineup for all but three other teams in the 37-squad field -- including six others ranked top-30 nationally.
Historical Context
• The Wolverines are just one team title away from tying Wisconsin for the all-time conference lead at 13.
• Head coach Mike McGuire is one team title away from tying Wisconsin's Peter Tegen (13) for the most by a coach in conference history.
• The Wolverines are looking to win a fourth-straight title, which would trail only a pair of six-year Wisconsin runs (1983-88, 1995-2000) and a five-year Michigan run (2002-06) as the longest in conference history.
• Michigan has never won the conference title at Ohio State. A win this weekend would be the eighth different host school at which the Wolverines would have claimed the Big Ten team crown, joining wins at Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Purdue.
A Look Ahead
Friday, Nov. 15 -- at NCAA Great Lakes Regional (Madison, Wis.), noon CST
Players Mentioned
