Michigan
NCAA Championships
Michigan Men Top-10 at NCAAs for Third Time in Past Five Years
11/23/2019 3:58:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
Site: Terre Haute, Ind. (LaVern Gibson Championship Course)
Event: NCAA Championships
Distance: 10 Kilometers (6.21 miles)
U-M Team Finish: 7th of 31 teams (250 points)
Top U-M Individual: Devin Meyrer, 16th (31:05.2)
Next U-M Event: Season completed
• Complete Results (PDF) | Photo Gallery
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- For the third time in the past five seasons under head coach Kevin Sullivan, the No. 17-ranked University of Michigan men's cross country team finished among the top-10 schools at the NCAA Championships on Saturday (Nov. 23), outperforming its pre-meet rank by double-digit positions.
Led by All-Americans Devin Meyrer and Jack Aho, the Wolverines finished seventh in the team standings with 250 points in the 10-kilometer (6.21-mile) race over the grounds of the LaVern Gibson Championship Course.
Not since 1999 when the Wolverines were fifth has a Michigan squad finished so highly at the national championship meet, and only six times ever has the school posted better finishes at NCAAs.
Meyrer front-ran his way to a 16th-place showing -- best since Mason Ferlic was 13th in 2014 -- in 31:05.2), while Aho made a thunderous charge in the final two kilometers to sneak into the top-40 All-America threshold at 40th in 31:20.8. It was his second such award in as many seasons, making him the first back-to-back All-American since Ferlic in 2013-14.
Narrowly missing All-America honors was 44th-place Isaac Harding (31:23.9), and he was joined among Michigan's five scorers by top-100 finishers in 96th-place Jordy Hewitt (31:57.9) and 100th-place Joost Plaetinck (31:59.2).
Only two other teams in the field -- national champion BYU and runner-up Northern Arizona -- bested Michigan's three top-50 finishers, while only three teams in the 31-squad field put more men through the line among the top-100 than Michigan's five.
On the strength of that depth, Michigan exceeded pre-meet rankings expectations by 10 spots -- the second-best improvement in the entire field.
The top spot in the team standings went to BYU with 109 points. The Wolverines narrowly missed taking down No. 4 Stanford and No. 6 Tulsa, who finished two and seven points ahead, respectively.
With the finish, Michigan was the highest-placing team both in the Great Lakes Region (No. 12 Notre Dame finished eighth) and the Big Ten Conference (No. 10 Purdue took 11th).
Michigan established itself in the top-10 early and rarely wavered from that positioning.
With the full field still largely together at 3,000 meters, Michigan came through the split point in eighth overall with 283 points. Harding and Meyrer were near the front in 27th and 33rd, respectively, with Hewitt (56th) and Aho (86th) also running top-100.
The race started stringing out by the halfway 5,000-meter split, with Michigan sliding back a spot in the standings to ninth. Meyrer had made a decisive 16-spot move up to 17th and into the conversation at the front of the race, with Harding right behind in 22nd. Aho made a move of his own, up 17 spots to 69th, while Plaetinck and Jacob Lee were making moves of their own -- up 18 and 30 spots, respectively -- into 142nd and 143rd.
Over the next 3,000 meters, the Wolverines shone brightest. By 8,000 meters, the team had jumped up three spots to sixth overall with 257 points, just two ahead of No. 12 Notre Dame and six clear of No. 6 Tulsa.
Meyrer's run was becoming the race of his life as he had moved up seven spots to 10th overall, while Aho was continuing to gain ground as he picked off another eight opponents up to 61st. Harding held steady at 22nd. Hewitt (104th), Plaetinck (112th) and Lee (131st) all gave Michigan solid depth through five runners as the closing stages of the race approached.
Meyrer gave it everything he had in the final 2,000 meters, slipping just six spots to 16th to cap off his career-best day and his outstanding 2019 campaign.
Aho turned in a masterful final two kilometers, posting not only the fastest split of anyone on the team in 6:09.3, but nearly the fastest of anyone in the entire field. The only runners who bested his closing split were the race's three individual medalists in champion Edwin Kurgat of Iowa State (6:00.9), runner-up Joe Klecker of Colorado (6:05.2) and bronze medalist Conner Mantz of BYU (6:07.4).
His incendiary kick earned him 21 spots in the standings, for the eighth-biggest move in the field over the last 2,000 meters.
Harding just barely missed All-America honors down the stretch, finishing just four spots outside of the awards.
Plaetinck closed strong as always, with his 12-spot improvement in the late stages deducting crucial points for the Wolverines. The same went for Hewitt and Jacob Lee, who ran down eight opponents each during that time.
With the cross country season now complete, the Wolverine distance runners will join their sprinter, jumper and thrower teammates in turning their attention toward the indoor track and field season. The 2020 campaign will kick off on Jan. 11Â with the Wolverine Invitational in Ann Arbor.
Michigan Results
16. Devin Meyrer -- 31:05.2 (All-American)
40. Jack Aho -- 31:20.8 (All-American)
44. Isaac Harding -- 31:23.9
96. Jordy Hewitt -- 31:57.9
100. Joost Plaetinck -- 31:59.2
123. Jacob Lee -- 32:07.9
184. Ben Hill -- 32:47.2
Team Standing
1. No. 3 BYU -- 109 points
2. No. 1 Northern Arizona -- 163 points
3. No. 2 Colorado -- 164 points
4. No. 7 Iowa State -- 211 points
5. No. 6 Tulsa -- 243 points
6. No. 4 Stanford -- 248 points
7. No. 17 Michigan -- 250 points
8. No. 12 Notre Dame -- 269 points
9. No. 8 Oregon -- 307 points
10. No. 5 Portland -- 314 points
11. No. 10 Purdue -- 338 points
12. No. 15 Iona -- 348 points
13. No. 16 Indiana -- 366 points
14. No. 28 Furman -- 379 points
15. No. 23 Harvard -- 384 points
16. No. 19 Utah State -- 428 points
17. No. 21 Virginia Tech -- 452 points
18. No. 14 Wisconsin -- 462 points
19. No. 11 Washington -- 466 points
20. No. 20 Virginia -- 468 points
21. No. 25 Boise State -- 526 points
22. No. 9 Ole Miss -- 535 points
23. No. 22 Villanova -- 556 points
24. No. 26 Alabama -- 582 points
25. No. 27 Texas -- 588 points
26. No. 24 NC State -- 605 points
27. No. 18 Syracuse -- 610 points
28. No. 29 Georgetown -- 676 points
29. Florida State (RV) -- 694 points
30. No. 30 Arkansas -- 728 points
31. No. 13 Mid. Tenn. State -- 865 points
Players Mentioned
