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