 | | | 2014 NCAA Championship
LaVern Gibson Championship Couse • Terre Haute, Ind. • Distance: 6 Kilometers
Complete Results  | Photos  | |
Team Results
| | 1. | Michigan State | 85 | | 2. | Iowa State | 147 | | 3. | New Mexico | 188 | | 4. | Georgetown | 189 | | 5. | Arkansas | 209 | | 10. | Wisconsin | 382 | | |
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Nov. 22, 2014
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Wisconsin’s Sarah Disanza capped off a tremendous sophomore campaign with a runner-up finish at the 2014 NCAA Cross Country Championship to lead the Badgers to a 10th-place showing at the national meet on Saturday.
Disanza ran the race of her life, clocking in at 19 minutes, 39.9 seconds and finishing behind only Iona’s Kate Avery, who won the title in 19:31.6.
It was a stellar improvement for Disanza from her first NCAA championship a year ago, where she placed 104th. Her second-place finish marked the best finish by a Badger since 1999 when Erica Palmer won the individual crown.
| Fast Facts | | • Sarah Disanza finishes second at the NCAA meet | | • The Badgers improve to a 10th-place finish from last year's 21st-place finish | | • The Badgers crack the top-10 at the NCAA meet for the first time since 2006 | |
“Anytime you come out and you finish runner-up at the NCAA championships, that’s amazing,” Director of Track and Field and Cross County Mick Byrne said. “She executed the race plan to perfection. She was confident, she believes in her training. She got after it, put herself in a position right away from the start, and ran the race of her life. She’s got a great future, she’s only a sophomore.”
Disanza was among the leaders off the start of the race, and moved up from seventh through the first four kilometers to second. Avery build an early lead and maintained a five-second gap on her competition for a majority of the race.
“I was really just hoping to be getting top 20 overall, but I didn’t really expect anything else higher than that,” Disanza said. “I was just hoping that if I did, then so be it, it would be a great day. I definitely did not expect that coming in. Placing as high as I did, I’m ecstatic.”
“It’s incredible, especially because it’s obviously so early in my career, so it just gets me really excited to see what’s to come.”
The Badgers’ 10th-place showing marked the 26th time in program history that UW finished in the top 10, and their first top-10 finish since 2006.
After completely exceeding the expectations of herself and her teammates, Disanza looks ahead to her years to come within Wisconsin’s track and field and cross country programs.
“I don’t really know what (track and field) event suits me the best yet, whether it’s the 1500 or the 5k, so I’m just hoping that the trend continues no matter what path I choose,” Disanza noted.
Her teammates were just as excited as she was, if not more. Junior Molly Hanson explained her reaction to Disanza’s race today after the rest of UW’s roster had less than satisfactory finishes.
“That was incredible, I can’t even tell you how inspiring that is that she got second,” Hanson said. “You can’t focus too much on your individual disappointment.”
Finishing second for the Badgers today was Hanson, who finished in 74th with a time of 21:03.9. Senior Gabi Anzalone closed out her cross country career with a 100th-place finish in a time of 21:12.3.
2013 All-American junior Emma-Lisa Murphy finished 143rd in a time of 21:30.1, while freshman Colette Richter made her NCAA championship debut in a time of 21:44.4, which was good for 176th place.
Although today’s team finish wasn’t what the Badgers were hoping for, it capped off an incredible season for Wisconsin. The Badgers finished second at the Big Ten Conference meet, second at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional and fourth at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational.
“I don’t think we’re that happy with how we did today, but the season overall just blew our expectations out of the water,” Hanson said. “This was an incredible season, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’m really, really happy for this team and the way we’ve turned the program around.”
Disanza notes the strong team dynamic as one of the key factors for the success this season.
“I think we did really well,” Disanza said. “We’ve had such a strong team dynamic in the past, and we’ve had such incredible success already, so just hoping that the trend continues.”
Wisconsin absolutely made their mark today by illustrating the level of prestige that is Wisconsin cross country, and Byrne looks forward at what’s to come for the Badger women’s program.
“Overall, it’s been a great year,” Byrne said. “I don’t know how much more you can squeeze out of one year. I’m excited about where we’re at right now, we’re in a good spot, and the future looks good. “
