Wisconsin Badgers
Wisconsin adidas Invitational
Badgers host seventh-annual Wisconsin adidas Invitational
October 14, 2015 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
Nation's top teams come to Madison on Friday
Oct. 12 - Oct. 17
The Badgers will host their second meet of the season with the Wisconsin adidas Invitational, which takes place on Friday at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course. The women's championship race will be a 6-kilometer race which kicks off at 11:00 a.m. (CT) and the men's championship race will be a 8-kilometer race starting at 11:45 a.m. Following the championship races will be the women's 6-kilometer "B" race which starts at 12:30 p.m., and the men's 8-kilometer "B" race which starts at 1:10 p.m. The women come into the race ranked No. 14 while the men are ranked No. 11.
| Wisconsin adidas Invitational | |
| Date | Friday, Oct. 16 | 11:00 a.m. (CT) |
| Location | Madison, Wis. | Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course |
| Admission | Free |
| Meet Schedule | Championship Races Women (6K): 11:00 a.m. Men (8K): 11:45 a.m. "B" Races Women (6K): 12:30 p.m. Men (8K): 1:10 p.m. |
| Course Info | Course Map  |
| Video | FloTrack Pro ($) |
| Meet Info | 2015 Wisconsin addias Invitational |
| Results | Live Results |
| Notes | Men's Notes Women's Notes |
| Updates | @BadgerTrackXC on Twitter |
ABOUT THE WISCONSIN ADIDAS INVITATIONAL
• In its seventh year of existance, the Wisconsin adidas Invitational has grown to one of the largest meets in the country as 36 teams will come to Madison looking to gain points heading into championship season.
• Twenty ranked women's teams will compete at the Zimmer Championship Course, while 17 of the top-30 men's teams will race in Madison.
LAST YEAR AT THE WISCONSIN ADIDAS INVITATIONAL - MEN
The No. 9 Wisconsin men's cross country team ran Badger tough at the sixth annual Wisconsin adidas Invitational.
"I said at the press conference on Monday, 'If we get in the top five or six, it's going to be a great job,'" Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Mick Byrne said. "To walk out of here in third place with a ton of points, that's awesome."
The Badgers finished third with an impressive team score of 176 points on the Zimmer Championship Course.
Leading the Cardinal and White amidst one of the nation's most competitive pre-championship seasons was senior Michael Van Voorhis, as the field featured 15 of the top 20 teams including six of the top ten teams.
"We put two 18-year-olds out there, Joe Hardy andMorgan McDonald, (and) both of those guys did an incredible job." Byrne said. "Michael Van Voorhis did a great job. He was our first finisher."
"It is a pretty windy day out here," Van Voorhis said. "We went out pretty slow through about four or five kilometers. I found myself in the top half and I just kind of went for it."
The conditions of the race were less than favorable with 20-plus mile-per-hour winds.
"The race was very slow early on and became very tactical," Byrne said. "At some stage out there, beyond four or five kilometers, they started to really, really rip it."
Crossing the finish line first was Stanford's Maxim Korolev with a time of 23 minutes, 43 seconds. Rounding out the top five finishers were Northern Arizona's Futsom Zienasellassie in 23:47, Washington's Aaron Nelson in 23:51, Portland's Scott Fauble in 23:53 and Northern Arizona's Matt McElroy in 23:54.
Overall, Syracuse won the team title with a score of 85 points. Syracuse's top three finishers, Martin Hehir, Justyn Knight and Max Straneva, placed in the top 20. In second place was Iona with a team score of 154 points, followed by Wisconsin with 176 points, Portland with 211 points and Stanford with 220 points.
LAST YEAR AT THE WISCONSIN ADIDAS INVITATIONAL - WOMEN
Following a 17th-place team finish less than a year ago, the Wisconsin women's cross country team continued its successful streak to turn up an extraordinary fourth-place team finish at Friday's Wisconsin adidas Invitational at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course.
After a cool and windy 6-kilometer trek, the No. 15 Badgers came out to impress with a score of 227 points, enough to edge out West Virginia (245 points) and secure a top-four finish. UW's Sarah Disanza was the first individual finisher for the Badgers, taking 12th place overall in a time of 20 minutes, 10 seconds.
Molly Hanson placed 22nd in 20:24, while Emma-Lisa Murphy was 31st in 20:29. Gabi Anzalone was the fourth Badger to cross the line, finishing in 20:51 to place 69th. Rounding out the top-five for Wisconsin was Colette Richter, who crossed the line in 21:13 to finish 105th.
No. 2 Michigan State took home the team title with 87 points, with No. 5 Arkansas (191), No. 8 Iowa State (213), No. 15 Wisconsin (227), and No. 20 West Virginia (245) finishing out the top-five. Crystal Nelson of Iowa State won the individual title with a time of 19:35.
Disanza also lead the Badgers at the 2013 adidas Invitational, where she finished 42nd in a time of 20:34. Not far behind her a year ago were Emma-Lisa Murphy (20:47) and Molly Hanson (21:15), who also finished in the top-three for the Badgers. The trio were able to build on their times from last year, as each of the three registered improvements.
BADGERS IN THE RANKINGS
• In the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association National Coaches' Poll released on Tuesday, the Wisconsin men's cross country team checked in at No. 11, while the women's team is ranked No. 14.
• The men, previously ranked fourth, are now ranked eleventh after pacing themselves at the Greater Louisville Classic. Meanwhile, the women's team moved down from 11th to 14th after their meet in Louisville.
AHMED BREAKS CANADIAN 5000 METERS RECORD
• Wisconsin alum Mohammed Ahmed capped off an incredible track and field season by setting the Canadian record in the 5000 meters this past Friday at the Diamond League meet in Brussels, Belgium.
• A native of St. Catharines, Ontario, Ahmed broke the 17-year-old Canadian record with a time of 13 minutes, 10 seconds en route to a 12th-place showing against the world's best in the final Diamond League meet of the 2015 season. Ahmed bested Jeff Sciebler's old Canadian record of 13:13.96 that was set in 1998.
• During the 2015 track and field season, Ahmed, who trains under former Wisconsin coach Jerry Schumacher with the Bowerman Track Club, won the 10,000 meters at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto in 28:49.96.
• Following his gold medal performance at the Pan Am Games, Ahmed finished 12th in the 5000 meters at the 2015 IAAF World Championships, the best finish ever by a Canadian in the event at the world meet.
BADGERS EARN TOP-15 PRESEASON RANKINGS
• The Wisconsin men's cross country team tied for fourth in the preseason U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association National Coaches' Poll, its highest ranking since 2012, while the women checked in at No. 11 in the preseason ranks.
• The national rankings come on the heels of the USTFCCCA regional rankings, as the men's team were ranked No. 1 in the Great Lakes Region, while the women were ranked No. 2 behind defending NCAA champion Michigan State. The men's program won the NCAA Great Lakes Region title at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in 2014, marking their 29th NCAA Great Lakes Region crown. The women finished runner-up at the meet thanks to a third-place showing by Sarah Disanza.
• The Badgers also fared well in the preseason Track and Field News rankings, as the men's squad was ranked fourth, while the women were ranked 10th. In addition, Sarah Disanza, last year's runner-up at the NCAA meet, along with Malachy Schrobilgen, a two-time All-American, were ranked sixth in the top-10 individuals.
THREE HOME MEETS HIGHLIGHT BADGERS SCHEDULE
• Three home meets at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course, including the Wisconsin adidas Invitational and the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, highlight the Wisconsin men's and women's cross country schedule for the 2015 season.
• The Badgers will host the seventh-annual Wisconsin adidas Invitational on Friday, Oct. 16. Wisconsin welcomes 36 men's and women's teams for the prestigious meet. The invite features 25 of the 31 women's teams that competed at the 2014 NCAA Cross Country Championship and 20 of the 31 men's teams that ran at last year's national meet.
• Wisconsin will host the 2015 NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Friday, Nov. 13, marking the fourth-straight year the Badgers have hosted the NCAA qualifying meet. The top-two teams from the regional championship earn automatic spots to the 2015 NCAA Cross Country Championships on Nov. 21.
• The Badgers open their season at home with the Thomas Zimmer Open on Friday, Sept. 4, at their home course.
• Following their season opener, Wisconsin heads east to the Iona College Meet of Champions in Bronx, New York, on Sept. 19. Prior to arriving at Wisconsin in 2008, Byrne coached cross country teams for 24 seasons at Iona, where the men's cross country team won an astonishing 17 consecutive MAAC titles and earned 12 trips to the NCAA championship.
• The Badgers head to Louisville, Kentucky to compete at the Greater Louisville Classic on Oct. 3, the site of 2015 NCAA Cross Country Championship. Both Wisconsin's men's and women's squads won team titles at the meet last year.
• Championship season begins for Wisconsin on Nov. 1 with the 2015 Big Ten Cross Country Championship in Chicago. The men's squad won its 47th Big Ten crown last season as sophomore Malachy Schrobilgen won his second-straight Big Ten individual title.Sarah Disanza finished second overall to lead UW to a runner-up finish on the women's side.
Players Mentioned
