HOUSING

4B — September 6, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsTuesday

Michigan busts rust at 
season’s opening meet

Finn runs 

unattached as 

Wolverines kick off 

2016 campaign

By LANEY BYLER 

Daily Sports Writer

DEXTER, Mich. — It took 

46.6 seconds for the next com-
petitor to catch up to Erin Finn 
at the 5,000-meter Michigan 
Open, the first race of the sea-
son.

The nonscoring event con-

sisted of 27 athletes, five of 
whom ran unattached. It was 
the first competition setting 
outside of practice for the No. 
9 women’s cross country team, 
which allowed coaches to see 
areas where the runners could 
use work, and help determine 
which individuals would be 
redshirted.

Finn, now in her senior sea-

son, dominated the race as an 
unattached athlete, finishing 
with a time of 16:44. The next 
runner, graduate transfer Kira 
Garry, crossed the finish line at 
17:31.

But, it was junior Avery Even-

son who really impressed coach-
es and spectators at the event. 
After transferring to Michigan 
last year and sitting out the 
season with an injury, Even-
son competed in the Michigan 
Open as her 
first race in 
uniform. She 
finished 
the 

race with a 
time of 17:43, 
and was the 
top attached 
finisher 
for 

Michigan, 
claiming 
third place.

“It was def-

initely a good meet, a nice rust-
buster for everyone,” Evenson 
said. “We just got back from 
camp, so we’re all coming in 
with some tired legs, but I was 
still really pleased. Coach told 

us to try and run with our sub-
groups that we’ve been practic-
ing with, and I think there were 
some packs that were doing 
really well with that.”

If packing up was a main 

priority for the Wolverines, 
then runners three through six 
accomplished just that. Just 

nine 
seconds 

separated 
Evenson from 
redshirt junior 
Jamie 
Mor-

rissey, 
who 

took sixth with 
a time of 17:52. 
Redshirt junior 
Gina 
Sereno 

took 
fourth 

with a time of 
17:50 and red-

shirt sophomore Ellie Leonard 
claimed fifth (17:51).

Madeline Trevisan, an unat-

tached freshman, topped the 
incoming class with a time 
of 17:54 and claimed seventh 

place. Runners eight through 
10 included redshirt sopho-
more Claire Borchers in eighth 
(17:58), graduate student Erika 
Fluehr at ninth (17:58) and red-
shirt junior Jaimie Phelan at 
10th (18:07).

Despite the packing effort 

demonstrated by the middle 
runners, Michigan coach Mike 
McGuire would still like to see 
more of it throughout the lineup.

“To critique today, I would 

just say that we could have 
packed up a little bit more, 
to 
have 
everyone 
running 

controlled and side by side,” 
McGuire said. “But overall I 
thought we had a good, solid 
opener.”

With the first race out of the 

way, Michigan has an entire 
season ahead to focus on pack-
ing together. But even if the 
majority of the Wolverines do 
accomplish that, there’s a good 
possibility one runner will still 
be about 46 seconds ahead.

‘M’ wins Michigan Open

By MIKE PERSAK 

Daily Sports Writer

DEXTER, Mich. — Every 

time the leading runners broke 
into open space at the Michigan 
Open on Saturday, the same four 
men led the way for the Michi-
gan men’s cross country team. 
Redshirt junior Aaron Baumgar-
ten, redshirt junior Micah Beller 
and seniors Ben Flanagan and 
Connor Mora battled for posi-
tion throughout the race, with 
Baumgarten edging Flanagan by 
just 1.6 seconds.

The pack’s pace-setting effort 

in their first meet of the year 
comes as no surprise, though. 
The group owned four of the top 
five times for returning Wolver-
ines in the 5k coming into the sea-

son, and the upperclassmen will 
carry a heavy workload through-
out the 2016 season.

Though the event was non-

scoring, the heavy competition 
between Baumgarten, Beller, Fla-
nagan and Mora is nothing new 
either. The four have been run-
ning together for four years now 
and partially credit their success 
to the constant pushing from 
their own teammates.

“Throughout all of our work-

outs and our runs, we really stick 
together and try to have a pack 
mentality,” 
Baumgarten 
said. 

“When you’re running with three 
of your best friends, it’s a lot eas-
ier to push yourself harder than 
you ever have. Working together 
like that is critical for racing in 
championship meets.”

Added Michigan coach Kevin 

Sullivan: “If they get in the habit 
of working together now, it’s 
going to help them late in the sea-
son. When one guy is on and one 
guy is feeling a little rough, they 
can work together and help pull 
each other along.”

The Michigan Open was not 

a championship meet. In fact, 21 
of the 30 competitors in the meet 
were Michigan runners. So the 
Wolverines primarily used it as 
a tune-up for the remainder of 
their season.”

“It’s not a high-stress situation 

for us,” Sullivan said. “We came 
off of a good two weeks of camp, 
and we just wanted to get a race, 
simulation-type effort.”

Michigan will now turn its 

attention to the Indiana State 
Sycamore 
Invitational 
next 

weekend, and coming off its first 
Big Ten Championship since 
1998, keeping their eyes set on 
the future is something that Sul-
livan and his staff has impressed 
on the team.

“Last season was obviously 

great,” Beller said. “But I think 
the big thing this year was not to 
let that get in the way of moving 
the ball even further this year.”

Added Baumgarten: “(Coach 

Sullivan) has said this before: ‘All 
right, we were Big Ten champi-
ons, we had our moment. That 
doesn’t mean anything now. It’s 
about getting a Big Ten Champi-
onship this year, getting top ten 
at nationals this year. We can’t 
dwell on our past victories.’”

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

Redshirt junior Aaron Baumgarten won the Michigan Open on Saturday in Dexter, Mich.

AMANDA ALLEN/Daily

Avery Evenson was Michigan’s top attached runner at the Michigan Open.

“Overall I 

thought we had 

a good, solid 

opener.”

