Badger Harriers Retain Top Spot
November 01, 2006 | Men's Cross Country
The Wisconsin men's cross country team retained the top spot in the latest U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) poll released Tuesday.
The Badgers staked their claim for the No.1 ranking after winning their eighth consecutive Big Ten Conference title on Sunday in Bloomington., Ind. UW scored 27 points to defeat runner-up Michigan by 58 points, the third largest margin in Big Ten history. This mark is only surpassed by UW's 85 and 81 point victories in 2005 and 2004, respectively.
Following the Badgers, the next five teams remained relatively unchanged as No. 2 Colorado (Big 12), No. 3 Iona (Metro Atlantic), No. 4 UTEP (Conference USA), No.5 Arkansas (SEC) and No. 6 Oregon (Pac-10) each won their respective conference titles.
Rounding out the top 10 were Pac-10 runner-up Stanford; Atlantic Coast Conference champion North Carolina State; West Coast Conference champion Portland; and SEC runner-up Florida.
Big Ten rival Michigan, one of the teams making the biggest jump this week, moved up seven spots to No.11 on the heels of their second-place finish at the Big Ten meet. Minnesota (No. 15), Michigan State (No. 27) and Iowa (No. 28) also placed in the top 30 for the Big Ten.
The Badgers are idle this week and will next compete Nov. 11 at the NCAA Great Lakes regional in Bowling Green, Ohio. The race will be held at the Mel Brodt Cross Country Course and is slated to begin at 1:15 p.m. ET.
