The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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������ Big Ten Championships: Cross Country Women���s Cross Country Takes Second At Big Tens Just six points separated the Michigan women���s cross country team and Big Ten champion Michigan State. And for the second consecutive season, the Spartans and Wolverines finished onetwo at the conference meet. ���Obviously we���re disappointed to come up a little short, but I was proud of the effort. Our kids competed hard,��� Michigan coach Mike McGuire said. ���I kind of thought that���s about where we would be, somewhere in that range, with our fifth scorer. Michigan State stepped up at their fifth spot probably a little bit more than I thought they would.��� Four of Michigan���s five scorers placed in the top 12 at the meet. Fifth-year senior Danielle Tauro led the way with a third-place finish (20:12). Junior Rebecca Addison was right behind Tauro, placing fourth with a time of 20:21. For their efforts, Tauro and Addison won first-team All-Big Ten honors. Junior Jillian Smith and redshirt sophomore Taylor Pogue finished with identical times (20:41) to take 11th and 12th place, respectively, good enough to garner second-team All-Big Ten honors. Senior Mary Grace Pellegrini (21:03) Fifth-year senior Danielle Tauro (292) was U-M���s top finisher at the Big Ten Championships, crossing the finish line in third place with a time of 20:12. photo courtesy u-m sports information rounded out the Wolverines��� scoring, placing 31st overall. ���Everyone ran amazing and executed their plan,��� Tauro said. ���Michigan State just showed a little more depth than us in their fourth through seventh runners. We were disappointed not to win but are that much more motivated moving forward to regionals and nationals.��� The NCAA Great Lakes Regionals take place Nov. 12. ��� Andy Reid Men���s Cross Country Ties For Third At Big Tens In Michigan men���s cross country coach Alex Gibby���s first season, the Wolverines bottomed out, finishing eighth at the 2010 Big Ten Championships. But this offseason, Gibby focused on long-term development and the strength and conditioning program, building depth and increasing the times in middle of the of lineup. That commitment manifested itself at the Big Ten Championships on Oct.��30, where the Wolverines jumped five places from their finish last year, tying No. 12 Minnesota for third place. There were no surprises at the top. No.��2 Wisconsin won its 13th consecutive Big Ten crown, outscoring secondplace Indiana by 43 points. Five of the top six individual finishers were Badgers. ���I���m pretty pleased with our performance compared to where we were at Wisconsin. We got much better execution across the board,��� Gibby said. ���Minnesota is a good team. They came in the 12th-ranked team in the country. We had them in the dead of the race and they sort of snuck back in, in the last 2,000-3,000 meters, to tie us, but I was Craig Forys, a fifth-year senior, paced U-M at the Big Ten Championships, notching an eighth-place finish with a time of 23:47 ��� just 29 seconds behind the overall winner. photo courtesy u-m sports information really pleased with what I saw in terms of our execution. We certainly didn���t beat Minnesota, but they���re a big notch in our belt right now.��� Michigan���s top five finishers all posted personal bests. Fifth-year senior Craig Forys led the way, with a team-best 23:47, just 29 seconds behind overall winner Mohammed Ahmed of Wisconsin. Forys placed eighth overall, and senior Bobby Aprill came in a second behind him, at 23:48, for a ninth-place finish. Both upperclassmen earned secondteam All-Big Ten honors. Michigan���s other scorers were redshirt sophomore Brendon Blacklaw (24:26, 23rd place), sophomore Morsi Rayyan (24:32, 31st place) and junior Zach Ornelas (24:35, 33rd place). ���There have been three very consistent Big Ten programs the last two years at a national level, and that���s been Minnesota, Indiana and Wisconsin,��� Gibby said. ���Now we���re sort of back in the picture. We���ve got some steps we need to take, but in terms of what we could have accomplished this weekend, we just about accomplished it.��� ��� Andy Reid NOVEMBER 2011��� ������ the wolverine��� 109