Badgers Set to Compete at Pre-Nationals
October 12, 2007 | Men's Cross Country
The No. 2 Wisconsin men's cross country team competes this weekend at the 2007 Indiana State Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind. The meet takes place at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course and is set to begin at 11:00 a.m.
There will be three men's races at the meet - Men's 8,000-meter Blue Race (11:00 am,); Men's 8,000-meter White Race (11:40 am,); and Men's 8,000-meter Open Race (1:30 pm). The Blue and White sections will have the top-ranked programs evenly divided between them, to ensure competitive races.
The Badgers are set to compete in the Blue Race that will feature 38 other schools, 12 of which are nationally-ranked, including Iona (No. 4), Oklahoma State (No. 6) and Alabama (No. 8).
This will be Wisconsin's first ever appearance at Pre-Nationals.
The Badgers will once again field a young squad, with nine of 11 runners being underclassmen. Traveling for UW will be: sophomore Brandon Bethke (Lake Forest, Calif.), freshman Jack Bolas (Chapel Hill, N.C.), freshman Ryan Craven (Mount Prospect, Ill.), sophomore Ryan Gasper (Fort Atkinson, Wis.), sophomore Craig Miller (Lancaster, Pa.), freshman Landon Peacock (Morley, Mich.), freshman David Pede (Greenfield, Wis.), sophomore Tim Pierie (Mokena, Ill.), senior Ben Porter (East Troy, Wis.), freshman Noah Shannon (Fort Collins, Colo.) and junior Christian Wagner (Columbus, Ind.).
The Badgers last saw action Sept. 29 at the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Eugene, Ore. UW had a strong performance against stiff competition, but its 73 points were only good for second place as host Oregon took home the team title with 54 points. Junior Matt Withrow (Tinley Park, Ill.) captured the individual title for UW, covering the 8,000-meter course in 23 minutes and 20 seconds.
All results can be found at Indiana State's official website at www.gosycamores.com as well as uwbadgers.com following the meet.
