Badgers sweep in inaugural meet
September 04, 2009 | Men's Cross Country
The UW men's cross country team hosted the UW Cross Country Classic, the first-ever meet held at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country course. 'This was a great first cross country meet on what I like to consider the best cross country course in the country,' said head coach Mick Byrne.
The Badger runners appeared to like the course just as much, sweeping the top four spots and seven of the top eight places in Friday's 6.3k race. Freshman Reed Connor finished ahead of the pack in a time of 18:49.0. Sophomore Phil Thomas finished in second overall in a time of 19:18.3, followed by junior Noel Bateman in a time of 19:22.1 and freshman Donald Schwaderer in a time of 19:22.4.
Connor grabbed the lead early hitting the one-mile mark at 4:46 and only added to his lead from there. The Woodlands, Texas native registered splits of 6:00 at the 2k, 9:00 at the 3k and 15:04 at the 5k.
'We knew Reed was going to get out there today and get after it, he's trained very hard for the last eight weeks,' said Byrne.
Senior Tim Pierie finished sixth overall in a time of 19:25.3, followed by sophomore Danny Buechel (19:31.4) and freshman Rob Finnerty (19:32.8).
'The race was sort of a dress rehearsal,' Byrne said. 'We wanted to see how the course looked from the spectator's point of view. While in terms of the team, it gave us a feel of where we're at right now and what decisions we will have to make for this season.'
One decision that Byrne and his staff might make is getting a faster pace car. Riding in a golf cart ahead of the pack, Connor and others passed Byrne on a straight away and never looked back.
Wisconsin will host the Wisconsin Inter-Regional Invitational on Oct. 3, and will next be in action on Sept. 19 at the Iona Meet of Champions in Bronx, N.Y.
Players Mentioned
