Michigan
Michigan Open
Michigan Open Set to Kick of 2019 Campaign for Wolverine Men
8/27/2019 2:45:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
» Friday (Aug. 30) at 10 a.m. at Hudson Mills Metropark in Dexter, Michigan, will be the lone home competition for the University of Michigan men's cross country team, which is ranked No. 18 in the preseason U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCA) National Coaches' Poll and will be looking to defend its Big Ten title from a year ago.
» All-American Jack Aho will be joined by 2018 transfers Devin Meyrer and Ryan Robinson in their Michigan cross country debuts, with six of seven runners from last year's 19th-place NCAA Championships lineup all back for at least one more year.
THIS WEEK
Friday, Aug. 30 -- host Michigan Open (Hudson Mills Metropark), 10 a.m.
• Social Media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
The No. 18-ranked University of Michigan men's cross country team begins its quest to build on last year's 19th-place NCAA Championships finish with the season-opening Michigan Open on Friday (Aug. 30) at 10 a.m. at the Hudson Mills Metropark in Dexter, Michigan.
This will be Michigan's lone home competition of the 2019 season, though select members of the squad will return to Hudson Mills in October for the Eastern Michigan Fall Classic.
The non-scored intrasquad race will be contested on a five-kilometer (3.11-mile) course over the gently rolling hills of Hudson Mills Metropark, located just to the north of downtown Dexter. The race will also feature unattached competitors.
Later in the season, the men will transition to running eight-kilometer (4.97-mile) distances through the Big Ten Championships and then switch to 10-kilometer (6.21-mile) competitions for the NCAA postseason.
Admission to Hudson Mills Metropark is $10, which covers parking for the event. The site opens at 7 a.m. daily. [ More information ]
Things to Know
• Led by former Great Lakes Region and two-time Big Ten Coach of the Year Kevin Sullivan, the U-M men will enter ranked No. 3 in the preseason Great Lakes Regional rankings and No. 18 in the National Coaches' Poll announced Monday (Aug. 26) and Tuesday (Aug. 27), respectively, by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
• Michigan was ranked No. 3 in last year's preseason regional rankings, which is precisely where it finished at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. The finish was ultimately strong enough to advance the Wolverines to the NCAA Championships.
• At No. 18 nationally, the Wolverines enter the season ranked top-30 in the country for the 19th time in the past 21 years. Among Big Ten teams, Michigan is ranked third-best behind No. 8 Wisconsin and No. 15 Indiana.
• In addition to its USTFCCCA national rank, Michigan also checked in at No. 15 in The Stride Report's rankings and at No. 21 per Flotrack.
• Friday likely will be the only chance to see many of Michigan's top runners in action in the state of Michigan this year, as the top squad likely will opt out of the Eastern Michigan Fall Classic on Oct. 25 in favor of preparing for the Big Ten Championships the following weekend in Columbus, Ohio.
• All-American Jack Aho leads a roster that returns six of seven runners from the NCAA Championships a year ago. Aho, who finished 34th at nationals in 2018, will be joined once again by the likes of Isaac Harding, Ben Hill, Jacob Lee, Jordy Hewitt and Jacob Branch.
• Not only do the Wolverines return six of seven runners from last year's NCAA Championships team, the squad will be reinforced by the fall debuts of a pair of impact transfers in Devin Meyrer and Ryan Robinson. Meyrer, who last ran cross country for Baylor in 2017, was the fourth-place finisher in the Big Ten Outdoor Championships 10,000-meter final this spring. Robinson, from Michigan State, will make his overall Michigan debut after being forced by intra-Big Ten transfer regulations to sit out a year.
• Looking to translate breakthrough steeplechase success on the track this spring into results on the trails this fall will be Lewis Tate and Joost Plaetinck. Both men scored for the Wolverines at the Big Ten Championships and both advanced to the NCAA East Preliminaries, where they both broke the nine-minute barrier.
• Several redshirt freshmen and true sophomores will be looking to make the top seven, as well. Gabe Mudel was the USATF U20 Cross Country Championships runner-up this past winter and represented Team USA at the IAAF World U20 Championships, while Will Landowne scored for the Wolverines at the Big Ten Indoor Championships with a seventh-place finish at 3,000 meters.
• All of Michigan's first-year collegians will compete unattached at the Michigan Open, with this race serving as their first taste of collegiate competition at U-M.
The Course
Name: Hudson Mills Metropark North Course
Distance: Five Kilometers (3.11 miles)
Maximum Elevation: 874 feet
Minimum Elevation: 837 feet
1?? ???? until the 2019 #xcszn gets underway at the Michigan Open!
— Michigan Track & Field / Cross Country (@UMichTrack) August 23, 2019
Here's a look at the 5K (3.11-mile) course we'll be running
? Hudson Mills Metropark (Dexter, MI)
? 10 a.m.#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/Nm0sPgVCjf
A Look Ahead
• Friday, Sept. 20 -- at Adidas XC Challenge (Cary, N.C.), 6 p.m.
• Saturday, Sept. 28 -- at Big Ten Preview (Columbus, Ohio), 9 a.m.
Players Mentioned
