For the Michigan State women’s cross country team, the time to win is now. And believe me, the Spartans clearly made this decision quite recently.
After winning the Big Ten Conference title, the Michigan State women demonstrated the same impressive talent and resilience in running again to win the individual and team titles at the 2010 NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship meet.
Senior Emily MacLeod led the Spartans once again by winning the 6K race in 20:18.76, successfully defending her individual title which she won for the first time in last year’s race.
MacLeod Jr. was followed by Carly Green (6th in 20:41.98), junior Rebecca Smeltzer (outstanding 11th in 20:53.17), sophomore Kristen Smith (30th in 21:32.19) and freshman Julia Ottowell (32sec in 21:38.27). Their overall average time was 21:00.88, a hair from less than 21 flats.
The Spartans were the only team to put 3 riders into the top 15 – MacLeod (1), Green (6) and Smeltzer (11).
Michigan State’s 80-point winning score was 16 better than arch-rival Michigan’s 96, as the Wolverines had to settle for second place again (they finished runner-up to Michigan in the Big Ten Conference championship).
The next eight teams were in Toulido (the third by 130), Ohio State (fourth with 139), Indiana (Fifth with 167), Notre Dame (VI with 207), Miami-Ouhayu (seventh with 220), Central Michigan (eighth by 232), Dayton (ninth by 248), Weskonsen (Al-Aham with 266).
University of Oakland (MI) Great Lakes Regional has 33 teams and 231 runners on a 3.72-mile course.
Spartan sophomore Katie Haines was 74th and freshman Sarah Kroll was 88th.
MacLeod ran a strong and intelligent race. “I was really trying to stay cool and cool,” McLeod said, “I knew the Toledo girl was going to come out quick. I stayed behind, stuck to my strategy and it all worked out.”
“Emily came out today not really wanting to lead after learning the strategy of so many other runners,” said Walt Drenth, Cross-Country Director at Michigan State.
“She kept her balance throughout the race. Before the race we talked about minimizing her mental and physical efforts in preparing for the NCAA Championships,” Drenth continued.
“After staying behind for some of the race, (she) caught up with the leaders about 400 meters out and then sprinted to win the race. When you go into a race as the defending champ, you really have a lot of people looking forward to running to you. You handled expectations well and showed what kind of person you are, and also what kind of team Michigan is. It’s about the team.”
By winning, Michigan State automatically qualified for the 2010 NCAA Tournament. By winning the individual title, Emily MacLeod became the first Spartan to win back-to-back championships. Her win was Michigan’s third in a row as Nicole Bush won the singles title in 2008, running 20:48.5.
Michigan State also won back-to-back Great Lakes titles in 2006 and 2007. Last year, the Spartan women finished fifth in the team competition.
Emily McLeod was subsequently named the 2010 Great Lakes Athlete of the Year for the second year in a row, and manager Walt Drenth was named Great Lakes Women’s Coach of the Year.
The Wisconsin men once again dominated this year’s Great Lakes Regional meet, going 2-6-7-8-9 to win with 32 points to seal runner-up Indiana’s 76 points.
This time the Badgers were led by sophomore Red Conner (second in 30:28.70), sophomore Maverick Darling (sixth in 30:31.61), junior Elliot Krause (seventh in 30:31.79), sophomore Mohamed Ahmed (eighth in 30:31.85) and senior Landon Peacock (9th in 30:32.02). Their average winning time was 30:31.20 over the 10 km (6.2 mi) course.
Do you think Wisconsin has a chance to do it again next year? Are you serious my friend? They seem to have a lock on the men’s competition for the next several years.
Sixth-place Wisconsin junior Phil Thomas finished 23rd in 30:51.93. If you thought that wasn’t fast enough, consider this: His time would have seen him finish third in scoring for 28 out of 31 teams in the competition.
The message: Don’t mess with badger guys when they’re running, or trapped with no way out—you should probably watch their asses throughout the race.
Eric Finnan of Cincinnati won the individual title in a time of 30:25.34, averaging 4:53.8 per mile.
Michigan State’s men finished fifth with Patrick Groscoff finishing 13th in 30 minutes, 39.06 seconds. He earned all-district honors for the second year in a row, and qualified for the NCAA Finals as an individual.
Copyright © 2010 Ed Bagley
