Wisconsin opens 2014 season with the Badger Opener
September 04, 2014 | Men's Cross Country
Sept. 4, 2014
MADISON, Wis. - Both the Wisconsin men's and women's cross country teams open the 2014 season together at the Badger Opener this Friday at 5 p.m. at the Zimmer Championship Course.
The women, ranked No. 16 in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association preseason national coaches' poll, will compete first with a 4-kilometer run against Northwestern, DePaul, Loyola, Marquette, Illinois State and Edgewood College. The men, ranked No. 11 in the initial coaches' poll, will then run a 6-kilometer race after the women at 5:30 p.m.
"We have two young teams and a lot of new players on both teams," Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. "It will be exciting to see how these young kids develop over these next few meets and over the course of the season."
After finishing 21st at the 2013 NCAA Cross Country Championship, the No. 16 women's team returns their top-three scorers, including 2013 cross country All-American Emma-Lisa Murphy, Sarah Disanza and Molly Hanson, who earned second-team All-America honors on the track last spring in the 1500 meters. This year, Byrne is also keeping his eye on Gabrielle Anzalone.
"Gabi Anzalone is in tremendous shape," Byrne said. "Gabby turned things around during the outdoor season. Things started going well for her again and she took a lot of confidence from that. You throw Gabi in there with Emily-Lisa Murphy, Molly Hanson and Sarah Disanza and they all look really good out there."
The No. 11 Wisconsin men's cross country team returns reigning Big Ten champion and cross country All-American Malachy Schrobilgen along with 2013 Great Lakes Region honorees Michael Van Voorhis and Alex Hatz.
"Obviously, we have some senior leadership on the men's side with Van Voorhis, Schrobilgen and Hatz," Byrne said. "The project now is to find the supporting cast for these guys and there is a lot of young talent."
The men finished ninth last year at the NCAA cross country championship giving confidence to returning runners.
"There are a couple older guys that have good leadership skills for the freshmen to learn the ropes from," said Byrne.
As to who will fill in the missing spots on the lineup, Byrne is far from deciding as 18 freshmen will make their collegiate debuts on Friday.
"We are not going to rush in and make any decisions on who is running and who is going to be a redshirt," Byrne said. "These kids are too young and we will just have to wait and see how things develop over these next couple of weeks. It is way too early to even predict the lineup and what we are going to do."
Byrne emphasized that the freshmen have to remember that what they did in high school does not matter anymore.
"It's about how you live up to running an 8K on the men's side and a 6K on the women's side," Byrne said. "There are a lot of variables there and it will be exciting to see how things play out over the bulk of September. I'm excited about it and our kids are excited so it should be fun."
As for the Badger Opener this Friday, Byrne plans on having no surprises.
"I'm going to be running everybody that we can without putting our freshmen in uniform," Byrne said. "I'm interested to see how the freshmen handle things. It is kind of like a dress rehearsal for us. It will be interesting just to take them through the routine."
