The Michigan men's cross country team traveled to Orono, Maine, this past weekend for the Murray Keating Invitational.
The ninth-ranked Wolverines finished second with 59 points, behind No. 3 Stanford (29).
Army finished third, followed by New Hampshire, Kansas and Marquette.
The Wolverines wanted to keep pace with Stanford's runners, who Michigan coach Ron Warhurst said he expected to finish strong.
"I wanted to stay within 20 (to) 30 points of Stanford, and they beat us by 30," Warhurst said.
"We faced really tough competition in the last two weeks, and it's going to do nothing but help this week and in the Big Tens, districts and nationals."
In an attempt to save energy for the end of the race, Warhurst had the Wolverines test a different racing strategy.
"We experimented with some of the guys going out a little slower, but that backfired," Warhurst said.
At the two-mile mark, eight runners were in front of Michigan's third man, and Stanford's pack was 25-30 seconds in front of Michigan's.
"We had to run like hell for the last three miles," Warhurst said.
Michigan sophomore John Mortimer was not part of the experiment. He finished first with a time of 23:47. His time beat the course record, set last year by fellow Wolverine Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan is out this year with bursitis.
"The field of runners was a lot deeper compared to last year and a lot stronger," Mortimer said.
Mortimer bettered the time he recorded last year on the same course by 20 seconds. He attributes his improvement to having a year of college running under his belt and a strong summer training program.
Freshman Jay Cantin, who previously ran junior varsity races, moved into the varsity lineup for the first time and impressed Warhurst with his 18th-place finish and time of 24:54.
"I was happy with my race, but we would have liked to have been closer, and we definitely have room to improve for Sunday," Warhurst said.
Fellow freshman Steve Lawrence finished 26th.
"Stanford packed it up," Lawrence said. "They had a big group in front.
"(But) we were able to pick off a lot of people toward the end of the race," Lawrence said.
"But the Cardinal established itself in front, and it was difficult to overcome it."
Other Michigan finishers include Todd Snyder (16th), David Barnette (17th), Nic Watson (36th), Jeff Beuche (37th), Ryan Swan (39th), Jeff Rogers (57th) and Ryan Bert (65th).
The condition of the race course was an important factor for the runners. This weekend's race was harder than previous races. There was heavy footing due to recent rain, and some of the race was on roads as opposed to the usual all-grass courses.
Cantin said that since part of the race was on asphalt, the runners could not wear their spikes. Instead, they wore racing flats, which he said are slower and make a noticeable difference.
This weekend, the Wolverines will host the Michigan Interregional Invitational at 11 a.m.
Teams from all eight districts of the country will participate.
Warhurst said the Wolverines will not hold back in the beginning as they did Friday.
"We are training to go out faster," he said.