The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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64 THE WOLVERINE JANUARY 2018 BY AUSTIN FOX MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY Best Performance — Nov. 18 at the NCAA Championships in Louisville, Ky.: The Big Ten champions concluded its sea- son by placing 10th at the season-ending event. Fifth-year senior Ben Flanagan led the way, moving up more than 20 spots over the race's final five kilometers before finishing 20th. Classmate Connnor Mora just missed All-America honors (top-40 finish) by placing 48th. The team's show- ing was the second time in the past three years it finished in the top 10. MVP — Senior Ben Flanagan: He was named Big Ten Athlete of the Year Nov. 29, and joined head coach Kevin Sullivan (1997) as the only two men in cross country history to garner a re- gional title, All-America honors and the conference's Athlete of the Year award in the same season. The veteran's 20th- place finish at the NCAA Champion- ships marked just the 17th time in school history that a male placed in the top 20 at the event. Honors: Flanagan grabbed the NCAA Great Lakes Regional individual title Nov. 10, and as a result was tabbed as the USTFCCCA Great Lakes Regional Athlete of the Year … Sullivan was named Big Ten Coach of the Year Oct. 31 after he led the Wolverines to their second conference title in three years just two days prior. Notable: Flanagan was the fifth U-M runner to win the 10-kilometer (6.21- mile) NCAA Great Lakes Regional title (the meet debuted in 1993) … His top- 20 finish at the NCAA Championships was the Wolverines' first since Mason Ferlic placed 13th in 2014. WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY Best Performance — Nov. 18 at the NCAA Championships in Louisville, Ky.: The Big Ten champions came in ninth place in its season finale for its third consecutive top-10 national finish. Fifth-year seniors Jamie Morrissey and Gina Sereno finished 22nd and 28th, respectively, to earn All-America laurels. The Maize and Blue edged out Wiscon- sin (10th) as the top conference finisher at the race and posted its fifth top-10 NCAA showing in the last six seasons. MVP — Fif th-year senior Gina Sereno: Her second-place finish at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Nov. 10 helped the Wolverines clinch a berth to the NCAA Championships for the 16th year in a row. There, she came in 28th, becoming just the eighth different Wol- verine in school history to earn two or more cross country All-America honors. Honors: Sereno (third) and Morrissey (fourth) earned first-team All-Big Ten hon- ors while leading the team to its second straight conference title Oct. 29 … Head coach Mike McGuire was named Big Ten Coach of the Year Oct. 31 and the Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year Nov. 14. Notable: U-M's 16th straight appear- ance at the NCAA Championships marks the nation's third-longest active streak. FIELD HOCKEY (21-3 OVERALL, 8-0 BIG TEN) Best Performance — 3-0 victory over No. 10 Northwestern Nov. 12 in the NCAA quarterfinals: The win over the Wildcats advanced the Wolverines to the NCAA Final Four (where they fell to Maryland) for just the fourth time in school history, and the first since 2003. The triumph was also U-M's 18th con- secutive, and its third over Northwest- ern in as many weeks. MVP — Sophomore midfielder/for- ward Meg Dowthwaite: She led the Maize and Blue in shots on goal (53), goals (19) and points (46), the latter two of which were the most by any U-M player in the last four years. Dowthwaite also posted goals in 16 of Michigan's 24 games this season and tallied a Big Ten- best eight game-winners, including the overtime shot against No. 13 Syracuse in the first round of the NCAA Tourna- ment. She finished the year second in the Big Ten and 25th nationally in scor- ing (1.92 points per game). Honors: Fifth-year senior midfielder/ backer Katie Trombetta was named Big Ten Player of the Year, while senior goalkeeper Sam Swenson was tabbed as the conference's Defensive Player of the Year … Trombetta and Swenson also represented two of the three unan- imous choices on the All-Big Ten first team … Trombetta was named the Big OLYMPIC SPORTS FALL WRAPUP Strong Start Michigan's Fall Teams Posted Several Impressive Seasons Fifth-year senior Ben Flanagan (center) became just the second man in U-M cross country history to be named the Big Ten Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Year, win a regional title and earn All- America honors, joining head coach Kevin Sullivan. PHOTO BY JAMES BROSHER