The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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five individual Big Ten champions, but only one has done it as a fresh- man (Deanna Arnill, 1994). Finn would become the second Michigan rookie to best the entire field, finishing eight seconds better than Michigan State's Leah O'Connor with a time of 20:48.3 over the 6,000-meter course. "Mike and I had talked a little bit about putting myself in position for the win, but I didn't really expect to beat everybody. It was definitely a shock to cross the finish line in first place," Finn said. While she may not have expected to place first and earn Big Ten Ath- lete of the Year honors in women's cross country, Finn did go into her rookie season with the goal of being the league's top freshman. But she stopped there, refusing to calculate times in her head or add additional pressure. "I didn't really set many limits for myself," she said. "I wanted to make it to each of the three NCAA meets, but there was nothing in terms of I wanted to finish a certain place na- tionally or run this specific time. I just wanted to compete and run the best I could." Two weeks after her win at Big Tens, Finn took second at the NCAA Great Lakes Region, actually improv- ing her time by 39 seconds, and she placed 30th at the NCAA Champion- ships Nov. 23 with a time of 20:40.3, garnering All-America honors. Most importantly, she helped Michigan to a fourth-place team finish, redemp- tion for U-M's second-place showing at the conference meet. With the cross country season be- hind her, Finn focused her attention on the indoor track campaign, un- derstanding the significant challenge with peaking a second time in the same year. "Track and cross country are so dif- ferent that you don't always see the same athletes winning," she said. "I acknowledged that and I didn't re- ally feel that pressure, but I do admit, I love to win. When I got a little taste of it then the pressure came from within." Finn started her Big Ten Indoor Championships Feb. 28-March 1 by placing second in the 3,000-meter run — nipped in the final few meters — and rebounded to set a school record in the 5,000-meter run with a winning time of 15:52.11, capturing U-M's first 5K victory since 2007. She struggled at NCAAs March 14- 15, finishing 12th in the 5,000-meter run, but actually led the field for al- most 80 percent of the race before falling back to clock a 16:52.10. That could have been a turning point, a moment where the physical and emotional wear and tear caught up to the performer, and a first-year athlete needs a hiatus. But Finn di- aled up her effort, crushing the field in the Big Ten 10,000-meter run May 16 — Finn's time of 32:41.65 was 1:18.37 ahead of the runner-up and destroyed the Big Ten outdoor record of 32:54.37 established 28 years before in 1986. Finn wasn't done, though, winning the 5,000-meter run May 18 with a Big Ten outdoor record 15:48.90, this time bettering a 2009 mark by more