The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Tuesday, November 14, 2017 — 7

Michigan finishes 1-2, both advance to NCAA Championships

The 
Michigan 
women’s 

cross 
country 
team 
came 

into the NCAA Great Lakes 
Regional as a heavy favorite 
after winning the Big Ten 
Championship. 

The Wolverines lived up 

to that expectation Friday, 
finishing 
first 
overall 
– 

outracing 
second-place 

Michigan State by 16 points. 
It 
was 
Michigan’s 
third 

consecutive regional win and 
sixth in the past seven years.

“It 
feels 
pretty 
good,” 

said Michigan coach Mike 
McGuire. “It’s a nice reward 
for the hard work the women 
have put in this year and a 
continuation of a nice legacy 
established in the past.”

The 
first-place 
finish 

guarantees 
the 
Wolverines 

an automatic bid to the NCAA 
Championships 
next 
week 

in Louisville, Ky. It will be 
Michigan’s 16th appearance 
in the championships – the 
third-longest 
qualifying 

streak in the nation.

Fifth-year 
seniors 
Gina 

Sereno and Jamie Morrissey 
led the Wolverines in the 
regional, finishing second and 
third, respectively. Morrisey 
improved her time from last 
year significantly, jumping up 
18 spots from 21st place.

“They’ve had an outstanding 

year,” McGuire said. “Jamie 
really has stepped up her 
game, running at the highest 
level she has ever been. Gina 
has just been a tremendous, 
steady 
force 
for 
the 
last 

several years, so you know, it’s 
definitely nice having a two-
headed attack to get started.”

The pair was never far 

behind 
Indiana 
runner 

Katherine 
Receveur, 
who 

finished 
first 
overall. 

Receveur was unsuccessful in 

carrying fifth-place Indiana 
to a qualifying spot at next 
week’s nationals. 

Michigan was the only team 

to finish with five runners in 
the top 30 – a key factor toward 
its 
success. 
Junior 
Claire 

Borchers finished 15th overall, 
another steep improvement 
from her 39th – place finish a 
year ago. Sophomore Madeline 
Trevisan finished 22nd and 
fifth year senior Haley Meier 
finish 29th. 

In terms of preparing for 

nationals 
next 
week, 
the 

Wolverines plan on continuing 
the routine that has worked 
well so far this season.

“There isn’t any magical 

workout 
that’s 
all 
(of 
a) 

sudden 
gonna 
change 
the 

world,” McGuire said. “I don’t 
see us improving our national 
ranking, but I don’t see us 
going backwards either. We’ll 
probably be eighth ranked 
nationally going in.”

A year after surprisingly missing 

out on the NCAA Championships, 
the No. 10 Michigan men’s cross-
country team came into this season 
seeking redemption. A top-two 
finish at the Great Lakes Regional 
Championship would ensure that 
the Wolverines would secure an 
NCAA berth this time around. 

Friday afternoon, they got the 

job done.

At LaVern Gibson Championship 

Course, Michigan punched its 
ticket to the national championship 
with a second-place finish. Led by 
a platoon of fifth-year seniors, the 
Wolverines posted an excellent 
team score of 79. Although No. 13 
Michigan State edged Michigan by 
11 points, coach Kevin Sullivan isn’t 
too worried about not winning the 
meet outright.

“Our focus has been on making 

nationals. That’s been our focus all 
year,” Sullivan said. “Today was 

just getting the job done, qualifying 
for nationals and keeping everyone 
healthy.”

As he has all season, fifth-year 

senior 
captain 
Ben 
Flanagan 

spearheaded the Michigan effort. 
Amidst a field of 268 elite runners, 
Flanagan stormed ahead for a 
first-place finish. Running with 
a combination of discipline and 
ferocity, he pounded his feet across 
the line with a time of 30:54 — an 
astonishing six seconds faster than 
his closest competitor.

“(Flanagan) has got a lot of 

talent,” Sullivan said. “And he backs 
that up with a lot of commitment 
and dedication to better himself in 
every area, both in athletics and 
academics. Those are traits that 
really set him apart.”

Flanagan 
wasn’t 
the 
only 

Wolverine that excelled, though. 
Fellow fifth-year senior Connor 
Mora also finished strong, ending 
up in seventh place. Three more 
Michigan runners finished in the 
top 26 — illustrating their valuable 

depth, and executing Sullivan’s 
strategy perfectly.

“We just wanted our guys to be 

in the main pack, in the all-region 
spots, and we felt that if we had five 
guys in the top-25, we’d go back to 
nationals,” Sullivan said. “We were 
a little short of that, our fifth guy 
was one spot out of all-region, but 
everything else kind of played out 
the way we planned.”

Next 
Saturday, 
Michigan 

will compete in the national 
championship race in Louisville. 
Out 
of 
30 
championship 

appearances, the Wolverines have 
failed to finish higher than fourth 
place. They have only finished in 
the top-10 once since 2004, but 
Sullivan believes Michigan is 
capable of it this year.

“Our focus is on trying to be a 

top-10 team next week,” he said.

If his team can repeat its 

performance from regionals, that 
finish is within its grasp.

They just need to get the job 

done — one last time.

Sereno leads women’s cross country team to regional title
Flanagan wins, men’s cross country team comes in second

EMMA RICHTER/Daily

Fifth-year senior Gina Sereno finished as the runner-up individually, and the Wolverines finished as champions.

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Fifth-year senior Ben Flanagan stormed ahead for a first-place finish in a field of 268 runners in the regional.

DELANEY WALKER

For the Daily

DYLAN CHUNG
Daily Sports Writer

‘M’ seeks villain role

The 
two 
most 
important 

weeks of the season have arrived 
for the Wolverines.

With its final two games of 

the year coming up against No. 
8 Wisconsin and No. 13 Ohio 
State, the Michigan football team 
(5-2 Big Ten, 8-2 overall) has 
one last chance to make a push 
into contention for the Big Ten 
Championship.

But in order to pull off the feat, 

Michigan will have to play spoiler. 
The Wolverines have embraced 
that role wholeheartedly.

“I think we’ve taken on the 

role of the villain a little bit,” said 
fifth-year senior center Patrick 
Kugler. 
“People 
have 
been 

doubting us, saying we haven’t 
beaten a team with a winning 
record this year — that’s kind of 
the big one that’s going around 
right now.

“The next two games are big 

ones, Wisconsin and Ohio State. 
So if we can come out on top, then 
the villain wins, and that’s kind 
of a fun role to play.”

It certainly won’t be easy. The 

Badgers are currently undefeated 
atop the Big Ten West standings, 
and the Buckeyes have only one 
conference loss to lead the Big 
Ten East faction. 

“We’ve got two big weeks, but 

we’re going to take it one week at 
a time,” said sophomore defensive 
end Rashan Gary. “... This whole 
week in practice is going to be 
getting after each other and 
making sure everything is perfect. 
We got an opportunity in front of 
us, and we don’t want to let it go.”

If Michigan manages to win 

both contests, a 10-2 season 
is within reach. That record, 
along 
with 
tiebreakers 
over 

the two highest-ranked teams 
in the conference, might be 
enough to guarantee a spot in 
Indianapolis for the Big Ten 
championship game. That’s been 
the Wolverines’ goal all along.

“Our goal is still to go to the 

Big Ten championship, and that’s 
still a possibility,” said junior 
receiver Grant Perry. “So we’re 
just gonna do what we can, and 

just win.”

A few weeks ago, the picture 

looked entirely different for 
Michigan.

After a blowout loss to then-

No. 2 Penn State, coupled with 
an unexpected loss to then-
unranked Michigan State two 
weeks before, the Wolverines 
were pushed out of consideration 
for the College Football Playoff.

Their season could have gone 

off the rails, but Michigan coach 
Jim Harbaugh made sure it 
didn’t.

“We talked about staying 

together as a family, as a team, 
especially after a couple of tough 
losses,” Kugler said. “And that’s 
exactly what we’ve done.”

The goal since then has been 

to win out. And Michigan is three 
games in and two games away 
from accomplishing that goal.

Meanwhile, the rest of the 

top competitors in the Big Ten 
have been knocking each other 
down a peg. Ohio State lost to 
Penn State, which then lost to 
Michigan State, which then lost 
to Ohio State. Now, the Nittany 
Lions and Spartans have two 
conference 
losses, 
just 
like 

Michigan — though the former 
two own those tiebreakers. The 
Buckeyes might only have one, 
but if the Wolverines beat them, 
the entire pool would be in for a 
chaotic finish.

Still, 
as 
Kugler 
noted, 

Michigan has been unable to 
shake off its doubters.

“I mean, obviously we’re not 

getting a lot of love in the playoff 
polls,” he said. “... But we’re a very 
tight-knit group. We know what 
we’re capable of, and we’re just 
excited for the chance.”

As far as the Wolverines are 

concerned, Wisconsin is just 
the next team on the schedule 
on their road to a possible Big 
Ten Championship berth. But 
stopping other teams along the 
way has become a new part of 
their goal.

“It’s just kind of fun to ruin 

seasons,” Kugler said. “... It’s just 
kind of fun to go into a hostile 
environment like Wisconsin and 
come away with a victory. There’s 
nothing better than that.”

Mike Rodriguez makes special appearance 
at Wolverine dual meet at Catholic Central

NOVI, Mich. — Friday night, 

Catholic Central’s high school 
gymnasium was filled to the 
brim. All sections of the blue 
bleachers 
had 
been 
pulled 

out to maximize capacity, but 
spectators 
still 
spilled 
into 

the upper deck. They lounged 
against the railings circling the 
deck, where numerous state 
championship banners hung. 

The Michigan wrestling team 

stood on the left side of the gym 
while Arizona State stood on the 
right. High school staff lined the 
edges of the mat, waiting for the 
meet to begin.

Everyone quieted down as the 

announcer began to talk. The 
two teams would wrestle, but 
before that, a man would lead the 
pre-meet prayer.

That 
man 
was 
Michigan 

wrestling legend and former 
Catholic Central coach Mike 
Rodriguez.

“That was great,” said senior 

Adam Coon. “That was great to 
have him here. There was a lot of 
tradition there, both for Catholic 
Central and for the University of 
Michigan. It was great to have 
him sitting on our bench and I 
definitely loved the prayer that 
he led with. That was a very class 
act, and I very much enjoyed 
having him on the bench with us 
for sure.”

Added Michigan coach Joe 

McFarland: “It was an honor to 
sit next to him on the bench — 
it was an honor to have him on 
our bench, I should say. I mean, 
you think about how many lives 
that guy has changed. Seriously. 
From 40 years of coaching here? 
There’s a lot of lives he molded.”

The prayer was short and 

brief, but it was everything it 
needed to be. Rodriguez handed 
the microphone back as quickly 
as he’d gotten it, but the audience 
didn’t let the brevity of the 
moment get away from them, 
applauding until he took his seat.

“Coach Rod” led the Catholic 

Central wrestling program for 40 

years, coaching the Shamrocks to 
seven state championship titles. 
He coached in over 730 dual 
meet wins, earning a spot as one 
of the winningest high school 
wrestling coaches in Michigan 
history.

When he was in high school, 

Rodriguez was a senior with 
15 
different 

collegiate offers. 
But he knew he 
wanted 
to 
go 

to 
Michigan. 

He 
ended 
up 

in prep school 
for a couple of 
years 
because 

he didn’t have 
the grades for 
Michigan yet. He 
had to focus on 
rigorous academics at that time, 
explaining how he had to sit in a 
room for an hour and write about 
a single topic.

He really wasn’t a fan of the 

intensity.

“I wrote half a page in a whole 

hour,” Rodriguez said. “I was not 

into the writing thing. I wrote 
half a page, came back bloody. 
He asked me, ‘Well, what are you 
doing in here?’ I said, ‘I’m gonna 
go to college.’ He says, ‘Well, 
where? Wayne State?’ And I said, 
‘No, I want to go to Michigan.’ 
And he said, ‘Michigan? You are? 
Who’s gonna help you?’ It was a 

struggle, but I 
got there and it 
was well worth 
it.”

Before 
his 

coaching career, 
he was a three-
time 
Big 
Ten 

champion 
and 

two-time NCAA 
finalist. He even 
was a member 
of the basketball 

team until he was cut between 
his sophomore or junior season. 
A new coach came in wanting 
to build his team around height. 
Rodriguez didn’t fit that mold.

He wasn’t happy about it, but 

he took it out on the mat. That 
seemed to pay off, as Rodriguez 

graduated as one of the most 
decorated Michigan wrestlers in 
history. He even went on to place 
fifth at the World Championships 
in Japan.

After that? He went home.
Rodriguez spent the next 

40 years coaching at Catholic 
Central. So with the Wolverines 
set to wrestle the Sun Devils 
at Catholic Central, it was only 
fitting that Rodriguez led the 
prayer.

“I saw a young man that 

was here when I had him as a 
freshman, some state placers, 
and it’s just such a joy to see them 
back again and still living and 
being productive,” Rodriguez 
said. “They own businesses or 
are doctors or lawyers, and it’s 
just such a blessing to work at 
this place because they come 
here to be successful.

“And you see all of (these 

banners) up on the wall, it’s all 
put up there by hard work. God 
tells us a man should know how 
to work hard, and that’s what I 
tried to teach them here.”

FOOTBALL

BETELHEM ASHAME

Managing Sports Editor

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Former Michigan wrestler and Catholic Central coach Mike Rodriguez led a prayer at the start of Friday night’s meet.

LANEY BYLER
Daily Sports Editor

It was an honor 

to sit next to 
him on the 

bench

