Men's Cross Country Closes Out Season at Nationals
November 16, 2007 | Men's Cross Country
The No. 5-ranked Wisconsin men's cross country team closes out its season at the NCAA championships Monday in Terre Haute, Ind. The 31-team men's 10,000-meter race is slated to begin at 11:05 CT on the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course. Both men 's and women's races will be broadcast live on CSTV.
Wisconsin, which is making its 36th straight appearance at the national meet, is the only school to qualify for all NCAA championships since regional qualifying began in 1972. In the last five years, the Badgers have not finished lower than second at the national meet, including the championship in 2005.
Last season, 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.
Wisconsin returns five of its top-seven runners from last season's championship meet, including All-Americans in juniors Stu Eagon (11th) and Matt Withrow (24th).
After struggling through injuries for much of the last year, Withrow bounced back this season in a big way, taking first place at the Big Ten Conference meet and being named the conference's Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Year.
'He's worked really hard, basically the last year or so,' head coach Jerry Schumacher said. 'He came off his last injury, probably it was late cross country season last year and track season was a struggle just to kind of maintain some sort of fitness. And then he had a great summer this year and we've been very careful to keep him healthy and keep him training.'
Eagon has had own health concerns this season, battling an ankle injury since August that limited his training early on. However, Schumacher is confident that the continually improving Eagon will have a strong showing Monday.
'I think Stuart, he's a savvy veteran now,' Schumacher said. 'The one thing I can count on with Stu is that he will do his job as a team member and we'll get what he's capable of doing on that day. It won't be anything less.'
Wisconsin will face a host of traditional cross country powers in their quest to capture the fifth team title in school history. While No. 1 Oregon is considered the favorite, Schumacher noted that No.2 Colorado, the defending champion, and at least six other teams all have the talent to come out on top.
'If they all run to their potential, it's going to be a fun race, ' Schumacher said. 'This will be a fun one that we haven't seen in recent years. A lot of times it's come down to a two- or three-way team battle out of 31 teams, and this year I think there's eight of those 31 that are really going to be banging away for the win.'
The Badgers qualified the NCAA Championships by winning their sixth straight NCAA Great Lakes Regional title in Bloomington, Ind., last weekend.
The Badgers scored 68 points to claim a share of the title with Big Ten rival Michigan, who also scored 68 points.
Withrow led the way for UW, covering the 10,000-meter course in 30 minutes and 28.42 seconds to place second overall.
Next for the Badgers was junior Christian Wagner, who finished ninth in 30:59.73. Sophomore Brandon Bethke finished only a few steps behind, capturing 10th place in a time of 31:03.31. Freshmen Landon Peacock finished 17th in 31:18.92. Withrow, Wagner, Bethke and Peacock all earned all-region honors.
Rounding out the scoring for the Badgers was freshman Jack Bolas, who placed 30th in 31:44.54.
For more information on the 2007 NCAA Cross Country Championships, visit the Indiana State Athletics website at DB_OEM_ID=15200&KEY=&SPID=7268&SPSID=65221"> --> gosycamores.com .
Check back to uwbadgers.com for results upon completion of the meet.
