Oct. 16, 2010

•  Individual Results    |    Team Results 

TERRE HAUTE, Ind.— The Wisconsin women’s cross country team was once again led by the solid performances of freshman Emily Sisson and junior Caitlin Comfort to a 27th-place team-finish at the Pre-NCAA Invitational on Saturday.

Sisson made her presence known amongst the fierce competition, as she crossed the finish line first for the Badgers, placing 15th overall with a time of 20:42.3.

Comfort was the not far behind Sisson with her 24th-place performance, clocking in at 20:57.2.

The LaVern Gibson Championship Course is accustomed to hosting top-ranked teams in the USTFCCCA national poll, and Saturday’s race was no exception. Out of the 83 teams competing in the Pre-NCAA Invitational, 17 were nationally ranked.

Among those competing against Wisconsin in the white race was No. 5 Georgetown, who snagged a first-place team finish with 100 points. Ninth-ranked Colorado and No. 17 Stanford finished second and third, respectively, with Colorado scoring 123 points and Stanford just two points behind. Twelfth-ranked Stony Brook took fourth-place with 216 points, and No. 26 Minnesota rounded out the top five team scores with 241 points. 

After Sisson (14th-place) and Comfort’s (27) finishes at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational, head coach Jim Stintzi was impressed with their improvements at the PreNats.

“Emily [Sisson] and Caitlin [Comfort] made great efforts today,” Stintzi said. “They both took big strides from two weeks ago.”

Beyond Sisson and Comfort, Stintzi is looking for others on the team to elevate their performances.

“I have to say I am very disappointed and not pleased with our mental toughness,” Stintzi explained. “Our workouts have been excellent but we have not been able to translate that into solid performances on the course.”

The Badgers have two weeks off to make adjustments until they host the Big Ten Championships, which will be held at their own Zimmer Championship Course on Oct. 31.

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Monique Hughes
UW Athletic Communications