The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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58 THE WOLVERINE ❱ JANUARY 2025 Men's Cross Country The season came to a close on Nov. 15 at Silver Creek Metro Park in Norton, Ohio, with the Wol- verines grabbing a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. Junior Luke Venhuizen paced U-M in the event with a 22nd-place finish and a personal-best time (29:43.9). That allowed him to earn All-Region honors as a top-25 finisher in the event. Women's Cross Country Junior Penelopea Gordon represented the pro- gram at the NCAA Championships as an individual on Nov. 23 in Madison, Wis., crossing the finish line in 169th place to close out the program's 2024 season. In her debut season in Ann Arbor, Gordon was the lead runner down the stretch and its best finisher in the last three races of the year, which included three straight personal best times and a 23rd-place finish at the Big Ten Championships. Field Hockey Sixth-ranked Michigan fell to No. 8 Virginia 2-1 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Nov. 15, bringing a stellar campaign to a close. Graduate student Kate McLaughlin scored for the Wolverines down 2-0 with 1:33 to go, and the Wolverines had a chance on a penalty corner in the waning moments but could not do enough to stay alive. The team finished the year 15-5 and won a Big Ten Tournament title en route to the 20th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. Men's Soccer The Wolverines saw their season conclude on Nov. 24 with a 2-0 loss to No. 5 seed Dayton in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Sopho- more Isaiah Goldson had a career-high 9 saves in the game, but U-M fell and finished the 2024 season with a 9-5-7 record. Volleyball Team captain and graduate student Allison Ja- cobs was an honorable-mention selection to the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-North Region team. Jacobs also was an All-Big Ten first- team performer and the program's sportsmanship honoree. She tallied 335 kills on a .234 hitting percentage this year after missing the 2023 season due to surgery. U-M went 18-13 this season and posted an 8-12 mark in Big Ten play to finish 10th in the confer- ence standings. Men's Gymnastics U-M kicked off its 2024-25 schedule with the Maize and Blue intrasquad meet on Dec. 7 at Cliff Keen Arena with the Blue squad taking down the Maize by a margin of 194.300-191.100. It is the second win in a row for team Blue. The 2025 regular season opens at home on Jan. 11 with Greenville and Simpson coming to town for a 1 p.m. start. Women's Gymnastics The Wolverines grabbed a win in its annual ex- hibition against Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan on Dec. 6 at Crisler Center, pacing the event with a 195.600 team score, while WMU was just behind at 194.175 and EMU finished with a 191.700. Graduate Carly Bauman won the titles on the balance beam and uneven bars, while freshmen Sophia Diaz and Jahzara Ranger shared the vault title. Sophomore Kayli Boozer won the floor title. The season officially kicks off on Jan. 5 with a trip to Colorado to take on the Denver Pioneers. Men's Swimming & Diving The 17th-ranked U-M swimmers and divers tal- lied 1,418 points to win the Georgia Tech Invita- tional on Nov. 24. Senior Gal Groumi turned in a headlining performance, breaking the men's program record in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 41.98. He would break his own record with a 41.75 mark in the same event hours later. Fresh- man Jon Jøntvedt took first place in the mile swim with a time of 14:48.20. The team returns to action on Jan. 10 when it heads to Bloomington to face off against No. 3 Indiana. Women's Swimming & Diving The No. 11 women matched the men with a win at the Georgia Tech Invitational with 1,475 points, more than 100 points over the next closest team. Freshman Rebecca Diaconescu grabbed a victory in the mile swim with a time of 15:56:12, earning an NCAA 'B' cut for her showing. Freshman Marian Ploger and sophomore Madison Smith finished second and third, respectively, giving the Wolver- ines a sweep of the top three in the event. The Wolverines get a long break before return- ing to competition on Jan. 10 against the No. 3 Indiana Hoosiers. Wrestling Graduate student Jacob Cardenas grabbed the 197-pound title with a second-period fall against Northwestern's Evan Bates in the championship final of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Dec. 7. The No. 17 Wolverines had four more wrestlers place in the event — Sergio Lemley (141) and Brock Man- tanona (165) in seventh, while Dylan Ragusin (133) and Jaden Bullock (184) finished eighth. It helped the team earn a seventh-place finish in the standings. U-M is on a break until the Midlands Champion- ships on Dec. 29-30 in Evanston, Ill., before return- ing home on Jan. 10 to take on Maryland at Crisler Center. — Anthony Broome ❱ OLYMPIC SPORTS UPDATE Fall/Winter Sports Roundup Sophomore goaltender Isaiah Goldson had a career-high 9 saves but the U-M men's soccer team fell 2-0 to No. 5 seed Dayton in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETICS