Aside from strong showings from junior Bobby Aprill and junior Craig Forys, the Michigan men's cross country team's inexperience showed in a disappointing 23rd place finish at the NCAA Pre-Nationals this past weekend.

Stanford lived up to its No. 1 ranking, dominating the field at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Ind.

Michigan coach Alex Gibby came into the weekend with top-15 expectations, so given the outcome, he wasn’t thrilled when all was said and done.

“I would probably give the weekend mixed reviews,” Gibby said. “The Pre-Nationals is probably the most difficult meet of the year. I saw definitive steps forward from guys like Aprill and Forys. But at the same time, we were a little sloppy in our late-race execution out of other personnel.”

Led by Aprill, the Wolverines’ 595 points placed them 23rd out of 35 teams. Aprill, pacing the team for only the fourth time in his career, finished with a career-best time of 24:22.3. His run, which landed him 41st individually, was nearly a minute behind Stanford’s Chris Derrick’s No. 1 finish. But as his coach pointed out, it’s not always about how fast you run.

“It’s a little more about place than time,” Gibby said. “It was a good time, but he was really a half-step away from really knocking one out. If he makes a few decisions a little bit differently, shows a little more composure, he’s in that top-20 group (of All-Americans).”

Forys, who got off to a late start in training due to a quad injury he suffered during the team's Sept. 25 meet at Oklahoma State, was the next Wolverine to finish. Forys came in 24:31.9, landing him No. 58. After this weekend, the Howell, New Jersey native said he is healthy and motivated.

“We have a lot of room for improvement,” Forys said. “Things didn’t go amazing for us, but it’s there and it’s just waiting to come out. We’re getting after it these next two weeks pretty hard. This weekend shook some of the cobwebs out.”

After Aprill and Forys, the rest of the Michigan squad struggled due to their inexperience in races of this magnitude.

“We have a pretty strong 1-2 punch in Bobby and myself,” Forys said. “After us, we just need the rest of the guys to stick with the pace and not fall off late in the race like what happened on Saturday.”

The other three Michigan runners to score were sophomore Zach Ornelas at 139th, freshman Sean Bone at 178th and sophomore Dallas Bowden at 179th. Sophomore Derek Henning and freshman Morsi Rayyan, who came in 187th and 195th, respectively, didn’t score in the event.

“Craig and Bobby ran mature races,” Gibby said. “Everyone else got rattled early by the numbers and the quality of the people around them. (The freshmen) have their hands tied behind their back because every situation is a learning experience, but all these guys have done a really good job of what’s being asked of them.”

For the Wolverines, the experience gained in the race was vital. In just over a month, on Nov. 22, the team will return to Terre Haute to run the same course in the national meet.

“We’re really going to have to be sharper in execution, or we’ll be on the backside,” Gibby said. “If we execute well, get more disciplined in what we’re doing and more focused, we’ll be on the front end.”

Gibby will be looking for these improvements when Michigan wraps up its regular season next weekend at the EMU Fall Classic on Saturday in Dexter. Postseason play begins with the Big Ten Championships the following weekend and the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Nov. 13, before the team heads back to Indiana for Nationals.

“We learned this weekend that we just can’t float through,” Gibby said. “We can’t get through with certain habits or we’ll be exposed very quickly. You want to put your best effort forward and let the chips fall.”