Men's Cross Country Places Second at Nationals
November 20, 2006 | Men's Cross Country
Its hard to be disappointed with a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships, but that's exactly what happened to the top-ranked UW men's cross country team. After winning the national title last season, the Badgers entered this year 's meet as the favorite but it wasn't to be on the muddy LaVern Gibson Championship Course Monday.
The Badgers scored 142 points to finish 48 points behind champion Colorado. The Buffs, who edged the UW for the 2004 title, won with 94 points. Iona finished third with 172 points.
'The guys did a good job today,' said UW coach Jerry Schumacher. 'You're not going to win every time. The guys ran well. We just didn 't get 100 percent effort from everyone.'
One person who struggled with the wet and sloppy course was senior Chris Solinsky. A pre-meet favorite for the individual title, the Stevens Point, Wis., native struggled with the fast early pace, falling behind to finish fourth on the team.
'I could tell it just wasn't going to be my day for the individual title at about 5K so I just kept trying to check myself off,' explained Solinsky. 'But my stubbornness kept me in that lead pack.
'I had decided that when I knew that it wasn't going to be in the cards for the individual title, I had to do what I could for the team but I think I got myself in a little bit too much trouble too early. Between 7-8K, when it went bad, it went bad quick.'
Solinsky finished 73rd in 32 minutes, 15 seconds. BYU senior Josh Rohatinsky won the 10,000-meter race in 30:44.9.
'He gave it all; that's what you ask from everybody,' said Schumacher of his senior leader. 'It just wasn't his day. It definitely wasn't from lack of effort."
The Badgers still picked up three All-Americans at the meet. Sophomore Stu Eagon led the team, finishing 11th overall in 31:12.1. Senior Tim Nelson was 18th in 31:23.3 and sophomore Matt Withrow came in 24th in 31:25.7.
'It's very disappointing anytime we leave here without the team championship,' said Eagon. 'I saw my teammates coming in and I think everyone of them was giving it everything they got on a given day.
'Over the last two to three years we've learned something about how we need to run in these muddy conditions and how we need to approach this race and that 's the main thing we can take from this day and that's the learning experience. We have to know that if it's muddy on this course next year, we need to approach it maybe a little bit more conservatively.'
Solinsky and Eagon ran with the lead pack for most of the race while Nelson and Withrow moved up consistently as the race progressed.
Freshman Craig Miller ran an impressive race, finishing fifth on the team and 90th overall in 32:30.0. Sophomore Christian Wagner was 95th in 32:33.9 while freshman Brandon Bethke finished 198th in 33:43.5.
With five of their top runners returning next season, the Badgers will be looking to once again return to the top of the awards stand.
Schumacher was positive of that. 'They worked hard all season and we 'll be back next year.:
Under Schumacher the Badgers have never finished lower than sixth at the NCAA meet and have finished second five times'1999, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006.
