Michigan
Michigan Open
Michigan Men Make Strong Debut at Michigan Open
8/30/2019 1:59:00 PM | Men's Cross Country
Site: Dexter, Mich. (Hudson Mills Metropark)
Event: Michigan Open
Distance: Five Kilometers (3.11 miles)
U-M Team Finish: No Team Scoring
Top U-M Individual: Isaac Harding, 2nd (15:05.3)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Sep. 20 -- at adidas XC Challenge (Cary, N.C.), 6 p.m.
• Complete Results (PDF) | Photo Gallery
DEXTER, Mich. -- With a third Big Ten title in five years in their sights, the University of Michigan men's cross country team began its 2019 campaign Friday (Aug. 30) at the Michigan Open, its lone home meet of the season.
For the second year in a row, Isaac Harding led the way for the Wolverines with a runner-up finish, as he covered the five-kilometer (3.11-mile) Hudson Mills Metropark course in 15:05.3. He was beaten to the line only by Australian professional Craig Huffer, who trains under former Michigan coach Ron Warhurst, in 15:01.4.
Harding's time is the fastest run by a collegian at the Michigan Open dating back to 2010, the first year the meet was held in Dexter. The previous best of 15:09.3 was run by former Wolverine Aaron Baumgarten in 2016.
From 2010 through last year, runners at this meet had only gone faster than 15:20 on 10 different occasions. On Friday, 15 men -- including nine officially competing for Michigan -- dipped below that threshold, with five runners at or below Baumgarten's mark.
Rounding out Michigan's top five were third-place Will Landowne (15:07.7), fifth-place Cole Johnson (15:09.3), eighth-place Devin Meyrer (15:12.8) and ninth-place Ben Hill (15:13.1).
The field was comprised of in-uniform Michigan runners and other Wolverines who competed "unattached" to preserve their eligibility for a redshirt season, as well as competitors from Eastern Michigan.
"I thought the guys did a good job of working within their groups and they did get pretty competitive over the last kilometer," head coach Kevin Sullivan said. "The thing that is exciting is looking at how many guys we had within four or five seconds of one another and they're running times that some of our best guys were running in this meet over the past few years. It's exciting seeing the depth in this team right now and it looks like we have a lot of interchangeable parts."
After some Eastern Michigan runners led the race in its early stages, Hill and several other Wolverines took control of the race midway through. With a race plan to take the first four kilometers more conservatively before opening up the pace in the final 1,000 meters, Harding took off from the lead group with Landowne, Huffer, Ryan Robinson, Meyrer, and unattached runners Gabe Mudel and James Gedris. Only Huffer was able to catch him in the closing stages of the race.
The performance marked a strong start to what may be Harding's final cross country season as the redshirt junior plans to graduate after this academic year.
"I really want to put everything I can into this cross country season," said Harding. "This is a good confidence builder, but I'm not going to get ahead of myself at this point in the season. We'll just take it for what it is and keep working hard to peak at the end of the season."
Landowne and Johnson, who competed in this meet unattached as freshmen a year ago, showed marked improvement from 2018 to 2019. Landowne was the third man in the race who dipped beneath Baumgarten's Hudson Mills Metropark-era meet record with Johnson tying the former standard.
Both men slashed nearly a full minute off their times from last year as Landowne improved from 16:00.0 and Johnson from 16:06.1.
Captains Meyrer and Hill rounded out the top five, with the former making his Michigan cross country debut after transferring from Baylor before the 2018 season. Hill's time was 13 seconds faster than what he ran a year ago.
Just behind Hill were true freshmen Nick Trevisan and Colton Yesney in 10th and 11th. Trevisan trimmed nearly 40 seconds from his unattached 2018 run, while Yesney blasted nearly a minute and a quarter off his 2018 performance.
All-American Jack Aho did not compete in uniform for the Wolverines on Friday.
Full Michigan Results
2. Isaac Harding -- 15:05.3
3. Will Landowne -- 15:07.7
5. Cole Johnson -- 15:09.3
8. Devin Meyrer -- 15:12.8
9. Ben Hill -- 15:13.1
10. Nick Trevisan -- 15:13.7
11. Colton Yesney -- 15:13.8
14. Jacob Lee -- 15:17.1
15. Dominic Dimambro -- 15:18.6
16. Ryan Robinson -- 15:21.5
18. Christian Hubaker -- 15:24.3
19. Joost Plaetinck -- 15:25.3
21. Jacob Branch -- 15:28.7
23. Andrew Lorant -- 15:36.6
Players Mentioned
