Badgers Rank No. 6 in National Poll
September 16, 2008 | Men's Cross Country
After the first week of competition, the national rankings were released by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) and the Badgers currently sit at No. 6. Leading the way with a unanimous 12 first-place votes was Oregon followed by Oklahoma State, Colorado, Iona and Alabama. Despite being ranked No. 2 in the Great Lakes Regional poll behind the University of Michigan, the Badgers are two spots above them in the national poll. Minnesota is the only other Big Ten school in the top 30 sitting at No. 9 in the country. For the complete USTFCCCA rankings please click here .
Head Coach Mick Byrnes' previous school, Iona College is listed at No. 4 in the country and No. 1 in the Northeast Regional. After the success at Iona for 24 years, Byrne hopes to coach the Badgers to similar success in 2008 and move them up in the national and regional rankings.
This past Saturday, UW competed in the Northern Illinois Huskie Open against UW-Milwaukee and UW- Green Bay. The team placed the top five runners and swept the event scoring 15 points. Four of the top five finishers for the Badgers crossed the finish line together with a time of 26:40. Senior Christian Wagner, sophomore Ryan Craven, junior Ryan Gasper, and freshman Elliot Krause ran as a team and beat the fifth-place finisher by nearly thirty seconds. The next race for the Badgers is on September 27th when they compete in the Sean Earl Lakefront Invite at Loyola University in Chicago.
