Wisconsin Badgers
Badger Season Opener
Wisconsin starts 2015 season with Badger Opener
September 03, 2015 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
Badgers open season with home meet on Friday
Aug. 31 - Sept. 4
The Wisconsin men's and women's cross country teams open up the 2015 season on Friday with the Badger Season Opener at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course. The women will compete in a 4-kilometer race at 5 p.m. with the men's 6-kilometer run to follow at 5:30 p.m. Admission is free for the Badgers' first of three home meets during the 2015 season.
| Badger Season Opener | |
| Date | Friday, Sept. 4 | 5 p.m. |
| Location | Madison, Wis. | Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course |
| Admission | Free |
| Meet Schedule | Women (4K): 5 p.m. Men (6K): 5:30 p.m. |
| Course Info | 4K Map  | 6K Map |
| Updates | @BadgerTrackXC on Twitter |
About the Badgers
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.
• Wisconsin is one of six programs in the country to have both teams ranked in the top-15, along with Colorado, Stanford, Oregon, Iona and Michigan.
• 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 Track and Field News top-10 individual predictions.
ABOUT THE BADGER SEASON OPENER
• Wisconsin opens the 2015 season on Friday with the Badger Season Opener at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course.
• The women's race, which begins at 5 p.m., features DePaul, Loyola (Ill.), Marquette, Northwestern, Wisconsin-Platteville, Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Track Club. DePaul, Loyola (Ill.), Marquette, Wisconsin-Platteville, Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Track Club will compete in the men's race at 5:30 p.m.
• In all, 89 runners are entered the women's 4-kilometer race, while 82 athletes are scheduled to run the men's 6-kilometer race.
• Following the Badger Season Opener, the Badgers will host the Wisconsin adidas Invitational on Oct. 16 and the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Nov. 13.
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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 addias 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.
JORGENSEN QUALIFIES FOR 2016 OLYMPICS
• Former Wisconsin women's track & field standout and 2012 Olympian Gwen Jorgensen punched her ticket for the 2016 Olympic Games after winning the 2015 International Triathlon Union World Olympic Qualification Event on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro.
• Jorgensen, the reigning world champion, finished the 1500-meter swim, 40-kilometer bike ride and 10,000-meter run in 1 hour, 58 minutes, 46 seconds. The United States offered two spots for the 2016 Summer Olympics for athletes that finished in the top eight at the qualifying event. Fellow American Sarah True finished fourth to also qualify for next summer's Games.
• Jorgensen finished 38th in her Olympics debut in 2012, when she was slowed by a flat tire.
• Jorgensen has been on a record-setting run during the past year, as she has won the last 13 events she has competed in. She has won 11-straight World Triathlon Series events and will wrap up her 2015 season with the WTS Grand Final on Sept. 18 in Chicago.
• A 2009 graduate of Wisconsin, Jorgensen started her career at Wisconsin on the swim team before switching to the track. Jorgensen's 5000 meters time of 15:52.19 ranks fifth in program history, while her 10,000 meters time of 33:338.38 ranks ninth on the school's all-time list.
AHMED PLACES 12TH AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
• Former Wisconsin track and field and cross country star Mohammed Ahmed made Canadian history on Saturday morning, as his 12th-place showing in the final of the 5000 meters at the 2015 IAAF World Championships was the best-ever finish by a Canadian in the event.
• Ahmed, a native of St. Catharines, Ontario finished the race in 14:00.38.
• The final started off at a slow pace, as the pack of 15 ran the first kilometer in 3:02.04. Things quickened in the ensuing laps, but the group was bunched together heading into the final 800 meters.
• The race completely changed once the runners hit the 800-meter mark, as Kenya's Caleb Mwangangi Ndiku and Great Britain's Mohammed Farah broke away from the pack. Ndiku led Farah, the 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist in both the 5000 and 10,000 meters, until the 200-meter mark as Farah sprinted past Ndiku to win his second event in Beijing.
• A 2012 Olympian in the 10,000 meters, Ahmed also competed in the 10,000 meters at the 2013 IAAF World Championships where he finished ninth.
SCHROBILGEN COLLECTS ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA HONORS
• Malachy Schrobilgen added another honor to his long list of during his time at Wisconsin, as the sophomore was named to the 2015 Capital One Academic All-America second team.
• It marks the seventh-straight season that a UW men's track athlete has earned Academic All-America laurels, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Reed Connor earned first team honors a season ago, while Elliot Krause was honored by the organization in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Jack Bolas earned recognition in 2009 and 2010.
• A native of Oak Park, Illinois, Schrobilgen won a pair of Big Ten titles and earned All-America accolades twice during his sophomore year.
• During the cross country season, Schrobilgen won his second-straight Big Ten title and led Wisconsin to its 47th team championship. He finished 10th at the NCAA cross country championship, earning All-America honors for a second-straight season. Schrobilgen helped Wisconsin place 10th, marking the 19th-straight season the Badgers have finished in the top 10 at the national championship.
• During the indoor track season, Schrobilgen finished second in the 5000 meters at the Big Ten championships while placing fourth in the 3000 meters, scoring 13 points for Wisconsin.
• Schrobilgen shined in his first-ever 10,000 meters at the 2015 Big Ten Outdoor Championships, capturing his first Big Ten track title.
• He advanced to the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 10,000 meters and finished eighth in a personal-best time of 29 minutes, 17.07 seconds to capture first-team All-America laurels.
• Schrobilgen holds a 3.56 cumulative grade-point average and is majoring in political science and history.
Players Mentioned
