The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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58 THE WOLVERINE JANUARY 2019 BY ANDREW HUSSEY M ichigan's fall sports teams achieved high levels of success this season, led by women's cross country. That group of Wolverines posted a No. 4 finish at the NCAA Championships in mid-November. WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY Michigan capped off a strong sea- son by finishing fourth at the NCAA Championships Nov. 17 in Madison, Wis. The Wolverines won the Great Lakes Regional to automatically qualify for the national meet. This was the third time in the last six years that Michigan has made the NCAA team podium (a top-four fin- ish) and the sixth time overall in pro- gram history. The Wolverines had the highest finish among Big Ten teams at the NCAA Championships, coming in ahead of Wisconsin, Michigan State, Indiana, Penn State and Minnesota. Michigan had seven runners place within the top 100 in the six-kilome- ter race (3.73 miles). Not since the 1994 national runner-up team had the Wolverines put all seven runners in the top 100. The Wolverines were led by a pair that earned All-America honors for their performances in the meet. Red- shirt freshman Camille Davis had U-M's best finish at 29th with a time of 20:28.84, while fifth-year senior Av- ery Evenson finished 38th (20:33.04). The other three Wolverines who scored points were freshman Anne Forsyth and fifth-year seniors Hannah Meier and Claire Borchers. Forsyth's time of 20:41.61 was good for 46th in her first championship meet. Meier (20:46.56) and Borchers (20:57.10) fin- ished 63rd and 79th, respectively. MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY The Wolverines finished their sea- son with a 19th-place showing at the NCAA Championships Nov. 17 in Madison, Wis. The Wolverines were third among the Big Ten teams at the meet, with Wisconsin finishing eighth and Indiana 18th. This was the fourth time in the past five years that Michigan placed among the top 20 in the country. However, it marked the Wolverines' lowest finish in those four years, fol- lowing a 10th-place showing in 2017, a ninth-place effort in 2015 and an 11th-place finish in 2014. After earning all-region honors at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, sophomore Jack Aho earned All- America recognition at the champi- onship meet by finishing 35th overall with a time of 29:56.71 in the 10-kilo- meter race (6.21 miles). Michigan's other top-finishers in- cluded freshman John Tatter, redshirt junior Ben Hill, redshirt sophomore Jacob Lee and redshirt sophomore Isaac Harding. In only his second 10K cross country race, Tatter finished 79th and was the eighth-best freshman in the field. Hill placed 132nd, Lee was 172nd and Harding took 175th. MEN'S SOCCER Michigan advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament be- fore falling to No. 7-seeded Notre Dame. The Wolverines held the Irish to a 0-0 draw before heading to a penalty shootout, which the Irish eventually won 11-10. The Wolverines, who finished the season with a 12-5-4 record and tied for third in the Big Ten, reached the second round of the NCAA Tourna- ment for the second consecutive sea- son. In the past two years, the Wol- verines have posted a 24-15-5 record. Junior Jack Hallahan was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-North Region first team, while seniors Rob- bie Mertz and Marcello Borges were chosen to the second and third team, respectively. Hallahan was the first Wolverine to be named to the first team since Tyler Arnone in 2013. Mertz started all 21 matches in 2018, tallying two goals and four assists. He was voted one of the 10 finalists for the 2018 Senior CLASS Award. Borges started 17 matches in 2018, helping the Michigan defense set a school record for fewest goals allowed in a single season (18 in 21 matches). Hallahan also was named a second- team All-American by the United Soc- cer Coaches. He is the fourth player in program history to be selected to an All-America team, joining Knox Cameron (2003, third team), Michael Holody (2008, third team) and Soony Saad (2010, second team). OLYMPIC SPORTS UPDATE Fall Teams Finish Strong The women's cross country squad finished fourth at the NCAA Championships Nov. 17, mark- ing its third top-four finish in six years and the sixth in program history. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETICS.