Badgers Head to Notre Dame Invitational
September 29, 2006 | Men's Cross Country
A young Wisconsin men's cross country team looks to defend its No. 1 ranking Friday at the 51st running of the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Ind. The team will compete in the Blue Division at 4 p.m. on the Notre Dame Golf Course.
The Badgers are set to race against a tough field that boasts six other teams ranked in the top 30 including No. 15 Michigan, No.16 Notre Dame, No. 24 Florida State, No. 26 Florida, No. 27 Providence and No. 28 Eastern Michigan. Four other schools competing in the Blue Division, North Carolina State, Weber State, Illinois and Texas A&M, also received votes in the latest USTFCCCA poll released Tuesday.
For many Badger runners, this will be their first action of the season, if not their career. Besides senior All-American Chris Solinsky, making his 2006 season debut, Wisconsin will run only one other upperclassmen, junior Ben Porter.
Sophomore Joe Pierre, redshirt freshman Brandon Bethke and Ryan Gasper and true freshman Craig Miller will also give the Badgers some race experience. For true freshman Jack Bolas, Andrew Lacy and Noah Shannon, this will be their first meet in a Badger uniform.
Last year the Badgers scored 174 points at the Notre Dame Invitational to finish fifth out of 25 teams. Then-junior Solinsky notched his first career collegiate cross country victory at the meet in a time of 23:21, nine seconds ahead of the Arizona's Obed Mutanya and South Alabama's Vincent Rono.
