Badgers' successes reliant on unlikely strategy
November 10, 2010 | Men's Cross Country
Nov. 10, 2010
MADISON, Wis. -- Roles.
When it comes to achieving its goals, the Wisconsin men's cross country team's successful strategy seems to focus on the individual roles of each player.
But, what does that exactly mean?
For head coach Mick Byrne, it all boils down to an unlikely inspiration: Soccer.
"Since I am a big soccer fan, we implemented soccer terminology going into the Big Tens," Mick Byrne said. "We really focused on our formation, similar to the formation of players on a soccer field."
At the Big Tens, one of the roles that Byrne assigned to his players was that of the sweeper, known as the last line of defense in soccer.
"We designated some guys to be sweepers," Byrne explained. "Reed Connor and Phil Thomas had to watch what was going on with every other team, in terms of where their third through sixth man was."
Their sweepers controlled the tempo of the race, making sure no opponents slipped by them and ran faster than them. Similar to soccer if you think about it.
It seems that this soccer strategy worked well for the Badgers, as they won their 12th-straight Big Ten Championship.
But what were the roles of the other guys?
"Elliot [Krause] is the team leader," Byrne said. "[He] kept an eye on Landon [Peacock] and Mohammed [Ahmed], but also paid attention to what was happening in the race."
So, Krause seems to be the center midfielder. Making sure the team runs as a well-oiled machine and sticks to the game plan. Seems to have worked.
Senior Landon Peacock earned the individual title and first-team All-Big Ten honors, in addition to Big Ten Athlete of the Year hardware. Sophomore Mohammed Ahmed's fourth-place finish also gave him first-team All-Big Ten accolades.
But, the reason why this soccer terminology works so well for the Badgers is what a soccer team and the Badgers have in common: team focus. In playing these roles on the course, each individual seems to make a sacrifice for the team's objective, which is what Elliot Krause and Maverick Darling seem to have done at the Big Tens.
"Elliot Krause played a huge role [at the Big Tens], and probably sacrificed his own race." Byrne said.
"Maverick breaking out like he did at the 1-mile mark, he got the race rolling." Byrne added. "Again, just like Elliot [Krause], he sacrificed his own race all for the team."
Maverick's sacrifice didn't go unnoticed among his teammates. After the Big Ten meet, Peacock and Krause were quick to point out how important his actions were to the team.
"What Maverick did today was a selfless act. It hurt him, but it helped the rest of us," Peacock explained.
It seems that this cycle of self-sacrifice on behalf of the team is a recurring theme.
"[Maverick] took a page out of Landon's book from two years ago when it was a tight race, and that year Landon made a hard move and broke that race open, probably winning us the 2008 title," Krause said. "Maverick did that today and it might have won us the team race right there."
Since the Badgers' strategy has been working so well year after year, you can expect these guys to be playing similar roles at NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Nov. 13th.
"Elliot Krause will be called upon again to play his role again this weekend," Byrne said, looking ahead to the meet at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich.
Aside from athlete roles, the main objective of the Wisconsin men's cross country team is to undoubtedly qualify for the NCAA Championships. In doing so, the Badgers will have to address the change in distance from 8-kilometers to 10-kilometers.
"We are moving up from 8-k to 10-k, and all you can hope for is that the 10k race doesn't beat them up too much." Byrne said. "The guys that would be going to the line the following week at the NCAA Championships will only have a certain number of days to recover from it, so they can't put too much strain on themselves."
Just because the Badgers' main objective is to get to Terre Haute, that doesn't mean Byrne is about take away from the importance of Regionals.
"Not to downplay any other team in the meet, it's just a different ball game for us now." Byrne said. "There was a ton of pressure on our kids going into the Big Tens because it was at home and they were trying to keep the streak alive."
Are the Badgers feeling the same pressure to win their eighth-straight NCAA Great Lakes Regional?
"There is definitely less pressure," Byrne said. "We are going to have other teams watching what we are doing, but we just have to remember our objective."
"Our focus for this weekend is to get out there and run together as a team, feed off of each other, and know that we have to keep a little bit in the tank for the following week," Byrne stressed.
A formula for success? We will just have to wait and see.
---
Monique Hughes
UW Athletic Communications
