The Michigan women’s cross country team wanted to accomplish two things on Saturday in Terre Haute, Indiana: win the NCAA Pre-Nationals meet and rescue a cat outside its hotel.
Neither went as hoped.
When the team brought the cage to rescue the cat, it ran and hid. Adding to the disappointment, the Wolverines finished third.
The top-ranked Wolverines finished behind No. 4 Georgetown and No. 3 Oregon, respectively. Michigan beat Georgetown in last month’s Battle in Beantown, a shorter race, but Michigan coach Mike McGuire said Saturday’s result had nothing to do with distance or the course.
“Going in with the No. 1 ranking, we definitely had a little bit of a target on our backs,” said senior Brook Handler.
The opposing teams were motivated to go after the Wolverines’ pack of runners, taking advantage of a team that didn’t feel well on race day, Handler said.
Michigan felt confident in its preparation, coming off of good practices during the week and an eagerness to run in such a competitive meet. McGuire said his team’s performance didn’t match up to where the squad is at execution-wise.
“We have to be more ready on race day and more ready to compete,” Handler said.
Handler said her coach is obsessed with rescuing animals. She said he is always rescuing animals during practice and the team has really bought into it. The cat situation was just one of many instances of animal excursions.
The Wolverines may have been disappointed with their result, but there were bright spots. Michigan, led by sophomore Erin Finn, junior Shannon Osika and Handler, and Georgetown were the only teams to have three runners place in the top 25. Finn had a team-leading fourth-place finish.
“A positive note is that we’ll no longer have the target on our backs that we had,” Handler said.
Moving forward, McGuire said the team will tweak a few techniques in practice to perform better as the regular season winds down. He said this finish has not changed its spirits or goals.
McGuire said this loss may end up benefiting Michigan. The team now understands what it’s like to lose. It’ll be more motivated and hungry to capture the Big Ten title and National Championship.
“It’s really fun to be on a team that wants to be successful as much as this team does,” Handler said.
However, unlike the cat, the Wolverines hope teams won’t be able to contain them moving forward. Instead, they hope to capture the next animal they see.