Badgers Look to Capture Sixth Straight Regional Title
November 09, 2007 | Men's Cross Country
The No. 4 Wisconsin men's cross country team heads to Bloomington, Ind., this Saturday to compete in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. The 10,000-meter men's race begins at 10 a.m. on the Indiana University Golf Course.
The Badgers are looking to automatically qualify for their 36th consecutive NCAA Championship by finishing as one of the top-two teams at the regional. Since regional meets began being held in 1972, UW is the only school to qualify for all 35 NCAA championships.
In addition to the two automatic qualifiers from each region, 13 at-large teams from all nine regionals will be selected to fill the NCAA championship field on Nov. 19 in Terre Haute, Ind.
Head coach Jerry Schumacher will choose seven out of the nine runners who competed at the Big Ten Championship to compete at the meet. In addition, senior Ben Porter (East Troy, Wis.) and freshman David Pede (Greenfield, Wis.) will also travel with the team.
Last season, the Badgers won their 22nd Great Lakes title and sixth in a row by scoring 52 points to best Notre Dame by 52 points. Junior Stu Eagon (Portland, Ore.) led the way for Wisconsin, covering the 10,000-meter course in 31 minutes and 7.65 seconds to place fifth overall.
Senior Chris Solinsky finished only a step behind Eagon, placing sixth in 31:07.67. Next for the Badgers were a trio of sophomores, led by Craig Miller (Lancaster, Pa.), who finished ninth in 31:25.71. Following close behind was Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year Brandon Bethke (Lake Forest, Calif.), who placed 10th in 31:25.71. Rounding out the scoring for Wisconsin was Andrew Lacy (McFarland, Wis.), who crossed the line in 31:49.52 to finish 22nd. All five UW runners earned all-region honors.
The Badgers will be competing against 31 teams from Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Three ranked teams including No. 22 Notre Dame, No. 23 Michigan and No. 30 Ohio State headline the competition the Badgers face this weekend. In-state rivals Marquette, UW-Green Bay and UW-Milwaukee are also set to compete.
The Badgers last competed Oct. 28 in Columbus, Ohio, where they captured their ninth-consecutive Big Ten title. With the win, Wisconsin set a new Big Ten record for consecutive conference championships. UW also held the previous record of eight straight titles between 1985 and 1992.
The Badgers had five runners finish in the top 10 and scored 33 points to best Minnesota by 32 points.
Wisconsin was led by junior Matt Withrow (Tinley Park, Ill.), who took home the individual title by completing the 8,000-meter course in 23:44. Withrow became the eighth Wisconsin harrier to win the Big Ten men's individual championship in the past 10 years. Eagon finished fifth in a time of 23:55.35. Both Withrow and Eagon earned first-team All-Big Ten honors.
Andrew Lacy (McFarland, Wis.), Landon Peacock (Morley, Mich.) and Brandon Bethke (Lake Forest, Calif.) rounded out the top 10, garnering second-team All-Big Ten honors, finishing eighth through 10th, respectively.
All results can be found at Indiana's official website at www.iuhoosiers.cstv.com as well as uwbadgers.com following the meet.
