CHICAGO -- Thanks to a seventh-place finish by redshirt freshman Shaelyn Sorensen, the Wisconsin women's cross country team turned in a fifth-place showing at the 2015 Big Ten Cross Country Championship on Sunday at the Sydney R. Marovitz Golf Course.
 
Sorensen finished the 6-kilometer course along Lake Michigan in 20 minutes, 15.9 seconds and was the top freshman finisher among the field of 122 runners.
 
"What a gutsy performance by Shaelyn today," UW Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. "She stepped up as a redshirt freshman and led us to a top-five finish as a team."
 
Fellow redshirt freshman Erin Wagner was the second UW runner across the line, taking 31st in 21:01.2.
 
The Badgers' other three scorers hit the line consecutively, as sophomore Jamie Shannon was 34th in 21:04.4, junior Michelle Lee was 35th in 21:06.0 and senior Grace Meurer was 36th in 21:09.0.
 
"We tried to stay together as a team," Sorensen said. "The start was pretty bad as far as getting off the line, but I was able to get around a huge group of people. After that it was just about just progressively picking people off, and I think it ended up pretty well."
 
Wisconsin totaled 139 points for its fifth-place finish. Penn State won the team title with 53 points and Michigan (58) was second, led by race winner Erin Finn.
 
"Our original goal was to get top-three finish," Sorensen said. "We looked at how good Penn State is, and Michigan was already going to be a front-runner. We were close to Minnesota and Michigan State so we were, overall, very happy with how we did." 
 
The Badgers got off to a slow start, but Shannon and Sorensen were among the top 30 through the first part of the race. Sorensen, a Lake Elmo, Minnesota, native, accelerated her way to 10th at the halfway point of the race before moving up to seventh.
 
The pack behind Sorensen did its job, as Wisconsin placed six runners in the top 50. UW moved from eighth in the team standings after one kilometer to its fifth-place finishing position.
 
"It was a good performance," Byrne said. "When we made the decision to redshirt Molly Hanson and then Sarah Disanza and our top freshman, Amy Davis, some counted us out. But gosh, those girls we had run today ran tough -- they ran with courage.
 
"Shaelyn and Erin both had a great run and then the supporting cast did a really good job. They fought the whole way and I don't think as a coach you can ask your kids to do anything more than that.
 
"They can only get better, and they will be better."
 
The Badgers return home for the 2015 NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Nov. 13. The two highest-finishing teams automatically will advance to the 2015 NCAA Cross Country Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, on Nov. 21.