UW wins 7th straight Great Lakes Regional
November 15, 2008 | Men's Cross Country
Team running seemed to be a successful strategy on Saturday at the Great Lakes Regional in West Lafayette, Indiana. After winning their 10th straight Big Ten Championship a week ago, the men's cross country team placed four of their runners in the top seven spots on Saturday morning to capture their 24th Great Lakes title.
One of the main concerns coming into the race was the conditions of the course. With Mother Nature taking action in West Lafayette on Friday with loads of rain, the mud slowed down the pace of the race. Wisconsin won the race with a total of 39 points, with second place Michigan earning 62 points. Wisconsin and Michigan were far and away the most competitive teams from the Great Lakes Regional as the next closest was Butler with a total score of 104.
'The conditions were a big problem today and we had to change our strategy to accommodate the mud' head coach Mick Byrne said. 'We didn't want to be too aggressive and screw the screws too tight because there were a lot of short hills that could have been a threat if we approached them poorly.'
Four Badgers ran together in order to set the tone for the race and were catalysts to the Badgers seventh straight title. Sophomore athid=6103&deptid=195"> --> Landon Peacock , senior athid=5257&deptid=195"> --> Stu Eagon , senior athid=5192&deptid=195"> --> Christian Wagner and junior athid=6105&deptid=195"> --> Craig Miller led the way for the Badgers finishing fourth through seventh, respectively. They all crossed the line a second apart, with Peacock taking charge with a time of 31:33 in the 10k race at Purdue University.
'There were several times when I could tell that Landon [Peacock] and Craig [Miller] wanted to makes moves toward the top runners' Byrne said. 'Because of the weather, they realized that the best way to be successful was to be controlled and run as a group. They showed great competitive impulses and truly controlled the tempo of the race.'
Finishing first overall was Patrick Smyth from Notre Dame, completing the course in 31:06. He was followed by Andy Baker from Butler and Chris Lemon from Dayton. Following the herd of Badger runners toward the front of the race, University of Michigan placed the following four spots only seven seconds behind UW. For complete team results from the Great Lakes Regional, click event=081115F002&d=greatlakesreg"> --> here .
In a week on Monday, November 24th, No. 6 ranked Wisconsin will compete in the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. In his first season, staffid=1045"> --> Mick Byrne has a Big Ten Championship and a Regional Championship under his belt, but he realizes that everything culminates to the race on Monday. The race is set to take place at the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course around 12:30 pm.
