Chopped down: Badgers capture Sycamore Invitational title
September 14, 2013 | Men's Cross Country
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• Results 
MADISON, Wis.-- For the second-consecutive meet, the No. 7-ranked Wisconsin men’s cross country team earned the team title, as UW totaled 25 points to claim the victory at the 8-kilometer Sycamore Invitational Saturday in Terre Haute, Ind.
The Badgers, competing on the same course in which they won the 2011 national championship and coincidentally where the 2013 NCAA meet will be held, ran together from start to finish, capturing places three through nine in almost identical times.
Junior Michael Van Voorhis and seniors Alex Brill and Jacob Naylor each finished in 25 minutes, 15 seconds, while senior Neal Berman, redshirt freshman Malachy Schrobilgen and juniors Jake Erschen and Alex Hatz finished just fractions of a second later.
Erschen placed sixth in 25:15.10, Berman and Schrobilgen finished seventh and eighth in 25:15.20, and Hatz crossed the line ninth with a time of 25:15.30. In addition, junior Matt McKenna completed the race in 26:49.40.
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“The plan was to win the competition, which is what racing is about,” Wisconsin head coach Mick Byrne said. “We wanted to win the meet, but do so by keeping everyone together. It was a good opportunity for the guys to get out there, put their spikes on and get a good competition.”
Indiana State finished runner-up, scoring 36 points behind first and second-place finishes from John Mascari and Taylor Head. Mascari captured the individual title by crossing the finish line in 24:31.30, while Head finished shortly thereafter in 25:10.90.
Although Byrne was pleased that his team won the meet, his focus was on how his guys handled a deceptively difficult course that they will see again in November for the NCAA championships. Although the national championship course will be 10 kilometers, he feels his athletes gained valuable experience on Saturday.
“(The goal) was for them to get on the Terre Haute course, and it gave them a chance to get a feel of the course,” Byrne said. “It gave us a great opportunity to go to the site of the NCAA meet, get out there and gain some race experience. Our guys were focused, and knew it was a meet in early September, and you can only put a certain amount of focus and energy into such an early race.”
Wisconsin won’t race again until Friday, September 27th, as the team will head to Boston for the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown. The meet is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. CT.
