Peacock leads Badgers to 10th-straight Big Ten Championship
November 02, 2008 | Men's Cross Country
'It's always good to win, especially when you run like we did today ' head coach Mick Byrne said after the Big Ten Championship in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In the toughest race of the 2008 season to date, Wisconsin continued their reign over the Big Ten in cross country. For the 10th-consecutive year, the Badgers won the Big Ten Championships, but number 10 was particularly dramatic.
After stepping into the big shoes of Jerry Schumacher, Mick Byrne took over as the head coach with a very talented group of runners that had something to prove. With the top runners taking the stage in Ann Arbor Sunday morning, these athletes proved that they are a force to be reckoned with in the nation.
With a healthy dose of sophomore Landon Peacock, the Badgers won the race by 17 points over their Great Lakes rival the Michigan Wolverines. The sophomore delivered in his most impressive race in a UW uniform when he placed second overall with a time of 24:35.
'Peacock really helped with breaking the race open' Byrne said. 'At our team meeting the night before the race, we gave Landon the green light to break it open at the end of the race. It was remarkable to see him take the bull by the horns and step up in such an important race.'
After the first two kilometers of the race, the Badgers stayed very conservative, leading the pack with the Wolverines nipping at their heels. However, once Peacock hit three kilometers, the sophomore from Morley, Mich. took the race into his hands and set the tone for the rest of the runners. In only his second race of the 2008 campaign, Peacock has stepped up as one of the leaders on the team, which emerged at the Paul Short Invitational when he placed third overall.
Out of the 87 runners that participated at the University of Michigan golf course, the top five finishers for UW all placed in the top 25 spots. Behind Peacock was senior Christian Wagner, who took fourth overall with a time of 24:46. Within four seconds of Wagner crossing the finish line, sophomore Jack Bolas placed seventh overall in his second race of the season. The next two spots that counted in the race were filled by senior Stu Eagon and junior Craig Miller. For complete results from the Big Ten Championship, click id=154430"> --> here .
The Badgers netted three first-team all-Big Ten honors by placing three runners in the top seven. Peacock and Bolas earned their first career all-Big Ten bids while Wagner added his third first-team honor to his resume. Eagon and Miller registered second-team all-Big Ten honors after their 13th and 14th-place finishes.
In their first races of the season, Eagon and Matt Withrow fell out of the spotlight. Last year at the Big Ten Championship, Withrow won the individual race and Eagon placed fifth as they were the key components to the team's title. However, after both dealing with nagging injuries this season that have kept them out of competing all season, Eagon placed 13th and Withrow took 23rd.
'Not racing and being at the top of their game hurt them a bit,' Byrne said. 'I could tell that Eagon was hesitant in his running style, but it was still good to see him battle hard. Hopefully they burnt off the rust so that they can be a threat in the next few weeks.'
In two weeks the Badgers will compete in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional in West Lafayette, Indiana where Michigan will most likely be their biggest threat again. Only nine days after the regional, Wisconsin will take on the best teams in the nation in Terre Haute, Indiana at the NCAA Championship. Running like they did today with new faces leading the team every race, the Badgers could open some eyes in the next few weeks.
To celebrate this record-setting mark, Bucky's Locker Room will have a commemorative championship shirt available in the store and online Nov. 4. Click ProductCode=5004593%20"> --> here for details.
Watch an interview with coach Mick Byrne.
