Badger Men Finish Second at NCAAs, Women Take 19th
November 25, 2002 | Women's Cross Country
The Wisconsin men's and women's cross-country teams completed their seasons Monday at the 2002 NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., with the men finishing second and the women placing 19th. The Badger men finished the race with a combined score of 107 with Stanford winning the team title with 47 points. The UW women scored 488 points while team champ BYU finished with 85.
This year's national meet marks the sixth time the Badger men have finished second and their 20th top-five finish. The mark also matches the best finish under head coach Jerry Schumacher. All five Badger scorers finished in the top 40, including four All-Americans.
Big Ten Athlete of the Year Matt Tegenkamp was the top finisher for Wisconsin, placing 12th in 29:49.1. Senior captains Isaiah Festa and Adam Wallace placed 21st and 24th, respectively. Festa finished in 30:18.9 while Wallace, an All-American in 2000, earned the honors again, finishing 24th in 30:21.3. A pair of freshmen were among the top five finishers for the Badgers. Bobby Lockhart ended in 23rd place in 30:20.7 and Simon Bairu ran a time of 30:34.0 for 38th place.
This is the sixth time Wisconsin has had at least four runners receive All-America honors in a single year. Tegenkamp, who was an All-American in 2001, Festa, Wallace and Lockhart each received All-America laurels.
The Badger women placed 19th out of 31 teams in the 6,000-meter race. First-team All-Big Ten honoree Hilary Edmondson was the top finisher for Wisconsin placing 93rd in 21:14.4. Senior Elaine Canchola came in second for Badgers completing the race in 21:25.0 for 117th overall. Just behind Canchola was Linsey Blaisdell, placing 121st in 21:26.8.
"The remarkable thing is that our top six runners all finished within 22 seconds of each other," UW women's cross country head coach Peter Tegen said. "That means that we were a pretty balanced team. This year, every one of our runners had a great race and today was Lindsey Blaisdell's turn."
Rounding out the scoring for Wisconsin was freshman Heidi Lane coming in 143rd place in 21:34.9 and junior Michelle Lilienthal running a time of 21:35.7 for 147th.
The 2002 NCAA Championship was the 18th time the Wisconsin women have competed in the event. The Badger women won back-to-back titles under head coach Peter Tegen in 1984 and 1985. Wisconsin did not qualify last year after placing eighth in 2000.
