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