Season Review: 2023 Michigan Men's Cross Country

Big Ten Championships: Second (63 points)
NCAA Great Lakes Regional: Third (93 points)
NCAA Tournament: 19th (472 points)

The University of Michigan men's cross country team enjoyed another successful season in 2023, featuring a second-place finish at the Big Ten Championships and finishing with an NCAA appearance, placing 19th out of 31 teams. Led by 10th-year head coach Kevin Sullivan, the Wolverines notched top-three finishes at the Big Ten Championships and NCAA Great Lakes Regional, earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships where their 19th-place finish was an improvement of 10 spots from last year's race.

Team Highlights

• Michigan's strong showing at the Virginia Invitational (Sept. 23) led to an impressive team finish of 14th place with 344 points behind some of the nation's top teams, including 11 ranked squads including meet winner then-No. 1 Northern Arizona. Graduate Student Tom Brady finished as U-M's top runner for the second meet in a row with a time of 23:45.4 (28th place) over five kilometers.

• Michigan showed out for a dominant performance in the early season Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite (Sept. 29), finishing third with 154 points, trailing only IUPUI and top finisher, host Notre Dame. Graduate transfer Owen MacKenzie led the Wolverines with a second-place finish, clocking in at 24:123.7 over 8.05 kilometers.

• The Big Ten Championships brought a second-place finish for Michigan with 63 points, trailing only Wisconsin and finishing ahead of the remaining 10 competing teams. Brady and MacKenzie notched top-10 finishes for the Maize and Blue with times of 24:18.0 and 24:36.9, respectively, to finish third and eighth.

• The Wolverines' final push at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional (Nov. 10) featured impressive individual performances leading the team to a third-place finish with 93 points. Michigan trailed only then top-10 Wisconsin and Butler and finished ahead of regional Notre Dame. Four Wolverines finished in the top 25, including an All-Region honor and third overall finish from Brady. Michigan closed out the season with an impressive 19th-place finish at the NCAA Championship meet, again highlighted by Brady's 27th-place finish and All-America distinction.

Individual Highlights

• Graduate student Tom Brady consistently stacked up individual honors throughout the 2023 cross country season, including being named the Big Ten Cross Country Athlete of the Year and the USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Athlete of the Year, as well as earning NCAA Championship All-American honors. Based on regular-season performances, Brady also notched All-Big Ten and All-Region first team awards. He was the leading Wolverine in each meet this season, reached career-best times in all three distances and notched two top-three finishes overall.

• Earning All-Big Ten second team and All-Region honors, MacKenzie showed out in his first year as a Wolverine. His season was highlighted by a second-place finish at his Big Ten Championships debut, clocking a time of 24:36.2 over eight kilometers to earn eighth place as the second Wolverine runner to cross the finish line to help the Maize and Blue finish second in the conference. MacKenzie was the top Wolverine finisher and second overall at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite, finishing the five-kilometer course at the 24:13.7 mark.

• Sophomore Caleb Jarema earned multiple Big Ten honors this season, earning Michigan's allotted Big Ten Sportsmanship award as well as being selected to the All-Big Ten second team after an impressive 11th-place finish at the conference championship. Jarema finished as the third Wolverine runner and notched a 24:39.0 time.

• Graduate student Nick Foster and sophomore Luke Venhuizen were solid postseason performers this season earning All-Region Honors. Foster finished 36th at the Big Ten Championships, 16th at the Great Lakes Regional and 135th at the NCAA Championships. Vanhuizen finished 20th at the Big Ten Championships, 24th at the Great Lakes Regional and 180th at the NCAA Championships.

Honors and Awards

Tom
Brady

Nick
Foster

Caleb
Jarema

Owen
MacKenzie

Luke
Venhuizen

NCAA
All-America: Tom Brady
All-Region: Tom Brady, Nick Foster, Owen MacKenzie, Luke Venhuizen

USTFCCCA
Great Lakes Region Athlete of the Year: Tom Brady

Big Ten Conference
Big Ten Athlete of the Year: Tom Brady
All-Big Ten (First Team): Tom Brady
All-Big Ten (Second Team): Caleb Jarema, Owen MacKenzie
Sportsmanship Award: Caleb Jarema

Academic All-Big Ten
Peter Baracco, So., LSA Undeclared
Xander Black, Jr., Business Administration
Tom Brady, Gr., Management MM
Miles Brown, Jr., Movement Science
Nick Foster, Gr., Management MM
James Gedris, 5th Year, Business Administration
Anthony Hancock, Sr., Mechanical Engineering
Michael Hancock, Sr., Business Administration
Ian Hill, So., LSA Undeclared
Caleb Jarema, So., Business Administration
Henry Johnson, Jr., Applied Exercise Science
Jack Kelke, So., LSA Undeclared
Myles Liss-Riordan, So., Computer Science
Kyler McNatt, So., Aerospace Engineering
Jozef Meyers, Sr., Art and Design BFA
Oli Raimond, Sr., Computer Science
Andrew Sesti, So., Business Administration
Zach Stewart, Sr., Sport Management
Colton Yesney, Gr., Global SW Practice MSW