Badgers Head to Notre Dame Invitational
September 30, 2005 | Men's Cross Country
The Wisconsin men's cross country team looks to defend its No. 1 ranking today at the Notre Dame Invitational. The team will compete in the Blue Division at 5 p.m. on the Notre Dame Golf Course.
The Badgers will race against 24 other Division I teams, five of which are ranked in the MONDO NCAA Division I Men's Cross Country poll. No. 6 Notre Dame hosts the event while No. 7 Arizona, No. 14 Michigan, No. 18 Florida State, No. 26 Colorado State and No. 30 Butler are also set to compete.
The Badgers enter the Notre Dame Invitational with a No. 1 ranking for the third consecutive week. The team received eight first place votes after a second place finish at the Roy Griak Invitational last weekend. At the race, the team scored 151 points and was led by senior Simon Bairu. The Regina, Saskatchewan native finished first of 225 runners to win the Griak with a time of 24:43. Bairu's efforts earned him Big Ten Runner of the Week honors last week.
This year marks the 50th running of the Notre Dame Invitational. The Badgers did not compete in last year's race yet are no strangers to success at the Invitational. Wisconsin owns two Invitational titles, the last being in 1976.
Last year, Stanford won the Invitational with 89 points. Stanford will not compete Friday but Notre Dame and Butler finished second and third, respectively, last year and will be in attendance.
Check back to uwbadgers.com for results following the Notre Dame Invitational.
