With four of its top seven runners unable to compete due to sickness and injuries, the Michigan men's cross country team needed someone to step up Friday at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course. Not only did one person answer the call, but a group of freshmen and sophomores led the Wolverines against a strong field of competition, including 10-time defending Big Ten Champions Wisconsin.

Sophomore Bobby Aprill paced Michigan and finished the 8,000-meter course 35th overall (24.49.2). Aprill led a large group of inexperienced runners to a ninth-place showing at the invite, finishing behind Big Ten foes like Wisconsin (third), Iowa (fifth) and Illinois (sixth). Syracuse captured the event title by placing four runners in the top 10.

"Last year, I would have never been able to sit back and watch the race unfold in front of me, then make my move," Aprill said. "Last year, if I had done that, I would have fallen off the back. I've gained the maturity and the confidence in myself and my abilities to just be able to sit back and watch people go out hard and make my own race decisions."

The Wolverines were hindered by the absence of their best runners, fifth-year senior Sean McNamara and junior Craig Forys. To make matters worse, the young runners were caught off-guard by the blistering pace to begin the race, 4:36 through the first mile. The young harriers couldn't match such a fast start, but kept in a tight pack to battle through the five-mile race.

“The fastest mile they’ve done is 4:56 for repeats, and the leaders went out in 4:35,” Warhurst said. “They weren’t used to the fast pace, which I knew would be a problem, but we weren’t scheduled to suddenly step up the pace in practice until this week.”

Freshmen Brendon Backlaws and Zach Ornelas continue to impress early in their collegiate careers. Backlaws crossed the finish line 40th (24:53.4) and Ornelas finished 47th overall (25:11.6) among the stiff competition in the 123-man field. The transition from to collegiate cross country running hasn't slowed the pair down, and the increase from a traditional 5,000-meter course to 8,000-meter and 10,000-meter for courses has been smooth.

The meet was the Wolverines’ first in more than three weeks, but Warhurst didn’t express much concern over the lack of racing experience. The veteran coach, who is in his 36th at the helm of the program, emphasized the need for a strong base to facilitate rigorous speed workouts.

Injuries are one of the reasons that Warhurst has scaled back his usual training regimen for the team. With a number of runners lacking significant collegiate experience, he hopes that the change in training leads the Wolverines to a better finish to their season after a disappointing 24th-place finish at NCAAs last year.

“We had a disappointing finish at nationals last year and we’ve done well at Big Tens and regionals the last two years,” Warhurst said. “I felt like trying something different to sustain our push a little later in the season.”