Men's Cross Country Opens Season Ranked First
September 11, 2007 | Men's Cross Country
The University of Wisconsin men's cross country team earns the No. 1 spot in the first U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, released Tuesday. The Badgers, who finished second at the 2006 NCAA Championship, received five first-place votes to total 379 points.
Defending NCAA champion Colorado picked up four first-place votes to be ranked second with 369 points. Iona College, which finished third at last year's NCAA meet, is ranked third with one first-place vote and 363 points. Oregon picks up the remaining three first-place votes and rounds out the top-four teams with 362 points.
The Badgers return five of their top-seven runners from the 2006 season, including junior All-Americans Stu Eagon and Matt Withrow. Other returning members of the UW 's second-place NCAA team are junior Christian Wagner and sophomores Brandon Bethke and Craig Miller. Tenth-year head coach Jerry Schumacher must replace All-Americans Tim Nelson and Chris Solinsky in his lineup. Wisconsin returns nine letterwinners on a roster that has only one senior.
Wisconsin, which has won a record-tying eight consecutive Big Ten Conference championships, is the only league team in the top 15. Minnesota comes in ranked 18th while Michigan State is 21st and Michigan is 26th.
The UW opens its season this weekend at the Carroll College Pioneer Invitational at Minooka Park in Waukesha, Wis.
