The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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28 THE WOLVERINE AUGUST 2017 and redshirt junior Jaimie Phelan placed 65th with a surging finish. "People just stepped up on race day," McGuire pointed out. "Avery Evenson was 14th in the Big Ten and 18th in the national meet. If there's a correlation, if you're 14th in the Big Ten, you're probably going to be about 50th in the nation. She really stepped up with a big day. "Erin has been Erin for four years. Sereno had a really solid day. I thought Trevisan was fabulous as our fourth scorer. Maddy was about 35th in the Big Ten and 46th in the national meet, and was one of the top fresh- men to cross the line. "Phelan doing what she did at the end of the race was great. We came up one short on her place, but Jaimie made up 36 places in the last [1,000 meters]. She went from 101st to 65th." The Wolverines proved both physi- cally and mentally ready at nationals, seeing things break their way early on at the Lavern Gibson Champion- ship Course. They put themselves in position to win, via their strong start. "Things have to happen right dur- ing the race," McGuire noted. "We were fortunate that we established really good positioning early in the race. We've had years where we've gotten buried. If you get yourself bur- ied a bit at that level of competition, it's hard to dig yourself out." Not so this time, with Finn flying and four Wolverines moving in the top 50. McGuire positioned himself at a checkpoint, then dialed up assistant coach Nicole Sifuentes — positioned on the opposite side of the course — midway through the race. He told her then, "Hey, we're right in this, to win." "We relayed that information to our kids as they went on," McGuire re- called. "You just kind of know. They have a sense, 'Hey, I'm up a little higher than I thought, and so is my teammate.' It was a wave of collec- tive energy going on throughout the race." Finn's effort certainly didn't hurt. The senior just named Academic All- American of the Year for Women's Track and Cross Country by Col- lege Sports Information Directors of America earned high grades in every way at Michigan. She finished an All-American No. 2 at nationals, and No. 1 in Michigan cross country annals, according to her coach. "She sets the pace," McGuire said. "She sets the standard. She doesn't have a national title to her credit, but I think she'll go down as the best dis- tance runner we've ever had in the program. I don't think [former All- American] Katie McGregor would argue that. "She's been knocking at that door now, several times. We feel like that door is eventually going to open for her. To put yourself in that position is evidence that her body of work is at such a high level. "She loves to compete, and she loves to prepare to compete — prob- ably better than anybody I've ever had." Finn led Michigan's trio of veter- ans, including Sereno and Phelan, in accepting the younger runners and making them feel comfortable. That played no small part in Michigan's conference-winning effort. "That's the Michigan way," Mc- Guire said. "Those people are em- braced and not looked at from arm's length. The atmosphere just devel- oped as the season went along. "We preach that you're accountable to your teammates. We proved that throughout the season." Finn also led Michigan's winning effort at the Big Ten Championships, run at Minnesota's Les Bolstad Golf Course. Her victory marked her third Big Ten individual championship (2013, '15 and '16), the first time any individual has won three non-con- secutive titles and the first three-peat by anyone since the Big Ten extended Senior Erin Finn (No. 260) won six of the eight cross country meets she competed in, including the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, and placed second at the NCAA Championships. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS