The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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NCAA championships: cross country Mark Beams (88th, 31:13.2) and freshman Ben Flanagan (99th, 31:18.8) also running strong races. U-M's fourth and fifth finishers took 154th and 172nd, respectively, disappointing coach Alex Gibby. "It was a mixed performance out of our team," Gibby said. "Our top three guys ran really well, but then we had some tactical mistakes and our bottom four didn't help us to the team result we wanted. "We're happy we improved over last year, but considering Indiana and Wisconsin ended up eighth and ninth and we had been running with them the past few meets, I felt that's where we should have been." Though the final result left the Wolverines unsatisfied, there is good news — six runners with NCAA experience will return and Ferlic will likely receive a medical hardship (stemming from 2012) that would grant him two more cross country seasons. "It will be extremely beneficial to have so much championship experience on the team the next two seasons," Gibby said. "I'm really proud of this team overall. The NCAAs are the final race, but they're not the sole measurement. "We won our first regional in 15 years, breaking Wisconsin's streak. We ran well at Big Tens [second place]. There was a definitive improvement for so many guys on the team, and the unfortunate thing is the last race, and the one that sticks out in your mind, just happens to the one we didn't run as well as had been." That happened to the women's team in 2011. The Wolverines were runner-up at the conference meet, first at regionals and then placed 15th at the NCAA Championships. A year ago, with better talent and a greater makeup, Michigan finished fifth. This year fourth, and the future remains bright because the Maize and Blue will return every runner that competed at the national championships. "The seven that ran return, plus [junior] Taylor Pogue, who was one of our best before we had to shut her down," McGuire said. "And we have three or four freshmen I really like. "We're going to focus on getting better. Certainly, if you do the math and see we were fourth and everyone comes back, then the projections will likely be lofty, but we can't get caught up in what people think we should do. "What we did this year was the result of a group of runners that made a decision to work hard, challenge each other and have fun, and that's all we can control next season." With that season eight months away, Osika permitted herself the rare moment to dream big, however. "We don't lose anyone," she said. "We get along really well. We're competitive with each other and push each other, and then we've got some freshmen that are going to push us even harder for those race-day spots. I think we're going to have a good shot as a team of running even better at Big Tens and NCAAs." — Michael Spath