[ad_1]
For most teams, the final meet of the season serves as a culmination of the season. Everything that the team worked on in the last couple of month’s is highlighted. This was not the case for the Michigan women’s cross country team. Instead, its final meet of the regular season offered a look toward the future.
On Friday, the Wolverines returned to Dexter, Mich. for their last regular season meet against Eastern Michigan, Michigan State and Chicago State at the EMU Fall Classic. The usual suspects were absent from the Michigan lineup as it used the meet as a shake-out run to give younger competitors valuable experience. Those younger Wolverines stepped up cleanly and stole three top-five finishes. In a wide field of competition, Michigan made its presence known and in doing so looked beyond the postseason into next season.
“It was a great day to run,” Wolverines coach Mike McGuire said. “The weather gods were good to us. The course ran fast and the conditions were great. Our team took advantage of that and had a really good race.”
For four runners, this was their first meet since late August when Michigan ran the same course for the Michigan Open. Juniors Natalie Desarbo, Catrin Koselka, Gabrielle Michael and freshman Caroline Vance all returned to Dexter for just their second race of the season. They were joined by seven other returning competitors and freshman Adele Havlick, who made her debut for the Wolverines.
The meet offered Michigan a great opportunity to measure the growth of its backup runners as it ran the exact same course at the beginning of the season. Now in their final regular-season event, the Wolverines returned to the same course ready to continue developing the depth of their group. The meet garnered much more competition this go-round with Michigan competing against 45 other runners. But instead of being intimidated by the group or treating it as a consolation event, the Wolverines ran as a pack and with a ferocity that secured their success.
The top-10 Michigan finishers saw significant improvement from the late August meet, with the unit finishing roughly a minute faster. There were many factors that contributed to this — much better weather, more training time and better team cohesion to name a few. But regardless, the group showed immense optimism for next season.
“Across the board we had great improvement,” McGuire said. “We ran that course in late August, coming out of camp in tougher conditions and earlier in our training. So it gave those athletes an opportunity to measure their progress over the past eight to 10 weeks. … Collectively we moved the needle forward.”
This meet also allowed the Wolverines to bring two unattached runners to compete — freshmen Emily Tomes and Bella Harsanyi. Despite running without “Michigan” on her chest, Tomes remained in the front of the Wolverines pack and kept pace with Michael, finishing just behind her in fourth place.
From the starting pistol, freshman Katelyn Watkins and Michael remained squarely in the front of the race. The duo was expected to lead the unit, and they raced with a confidence that allowed them to remain in the front. Both of them increased their racing speed throughout the course, feeding off of one another’s energy to push through the five-kilometer race.
As a whole, the Wolverines’ racing plan was structured to allow them to settle into mini running groups, and Watkins and Michael were consistently at the forefront of it. The two pushed the group forward and set a competitive pace that resulted in Michigan taking nine of the top 15 spots.
“They both did a great job executing the race plan,” McGuire said. “Katie in particular, we told her to be measured early and Gabby is someone that’s worked really hard in our program over the last four years, so it’s great to see her enjoying herself and getting those results.”
The EMU Fall Classic offered Michigan the chance to highlight some of its younger athletes. While other programs may have taken the meet as an opportunity to gear up their top competitors for Big Ten’s, the Wolverines looked beyond this season and showed a hint of what the program will look like for years to come.
Related articles
[ad_2]
Source link
