Badgers Ranked No. 2
October 05, 2005 | Men's Cross Country
The Wisconsin men's cross country team dropped to No. 2 in the MONDO NCAA Division I Men's Cross Country Poll released Tuesday. The Badgers received seven first place votes while Arkansas took control of the top spot with nine first place votes.
The last time the Badgers were ranked No. 2 was Sept. 30, 2003. The Badgers were ranked No. 1 for the entire 2004 season and for the first three weeks of the 2005 season.
Last Friday the Badgers competed in the Notre Dame Invitational where they placed fifth out of 25 teams. Junior Chris Solinsky led the Badgers with his first place finish, which was the first of his career. He was the best of 200 runners with a time of 23:21. Solinsky's first place finish earned him Big Ten Runner of the Week honors for the week of Oct. 4.
Besides Arkansas and Wisconsin swapping spots, the rest of the top five remains the same. As for the rest of the top 10, Arizona moved into the No. 6 spot after winning the Notre Dame Invitational while Notre Dame dropped to No. 7. The Fighting Irish took second at their own Invitational. Iona and Texas held their ground at No. 8 and No. 9 respectively, while Cal Poly San Luis Obispo broke into the top 10 at No. 10.
Wisconsin was not the only Big Ten team to drop in the polls. Iowa dropped to No. 14 this week after a No. 10 ranking last week. Ohio State dropped from No. 16 to No. 18, Michigan from No. 14 to No. 19 and Indiana from No. 19 to No. 21. Minnesota held on to its No. 20 ranking from last week.
The Badgers will try to climb back to the No. 1 spot with competition at the Jim Drews Invitational, Saturday, Oct. 15 in West Salem, Wis. The Badgers will also look to capture a fourth-straight Drews title. Stay tuned to uwbadgers.com for more on Wisconsin cross country.
