No. 18 Badgers eye Big Ten title Sunday

Sunday, October 30

Minneapolis

11 AM

Wisconsin Badgers

Big Ten Championship

Photo by: Eric Miller

No. 18 Badgers eye Big Ten title Sunday

October 29, 2016 | Men's Cross Country

UW heads to the Twin Cities for 2016 Big Ten Cross Country Championship

MADISON, Wis. – The Badgers will look to win another meet at the Les Bolstad Course in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, on Sunday, Oct. 30. This time, it would mean a little more. Wisconsin heads into the 2016 Big Ten Cross Country Championship as the No. 19 ranked men's team in the country, fresh off competing in the most talented meet of the season.

The Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational Presented by Under Armour was the premier event of the 2016 cross country season, with 19 of the 30 ranked teams participating in the loaded field at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course on Oct. 14. Junior Morgan McDonald delivered one of the best races of his career to finish in third-place, just behind two All-American runners, Justyn Knight of Syracuse and Futsum Zienasellassie of Northern Arizona.

After his stellar performance at the Nuttycombe meet, McDonald will look to lead the Badgers back into Minnesota, where he captured the individual crown at the Oz Memorial Invitational in September.

"We went up there that very first meet, that first weekend in September and it was very soft," UW Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. "They'd had a lot of rain up there just like we had here. We told the kids, this is what it's going to be like at the Big Ten's in October. So having that opportunity to see the course, run on it, is huge."

The races at this year's Big Ten meet can be seen live on BTN, marking the first time in conference meet that the championship will air live on television.

"We, as coaches in the Big Ten have been pushing for this for years," Byrne said. "It's exciting for our athletes, it's exciting for fans who can't make it to Minneapolis. Anytime you get the opportunity to put your kids out there on TV and put your name out there, it's awesome."

Wisconsin is led by McDonald, who jumped up to No. 5 in the Saucony Flo50 Men's Individual Cross Country Rankings, and decorated senior Malachy Schrobilgen. Schrobilgen appears in the national rankings also, coming in at No. 15. After battling through an injury at last year's Big Ten Championship, Schrobilgen is setting his sights on something that has only been done seven times in the history of the conference, winning three Big Ten individual titles.

After taking home the individual crown in 2013 and 2014, Schrobilgen is aiming to become the third Badger to win three big Ten titles, joining Tim Hacker and Simon Bairu in that category. Although Schrobilgen had to drop out of the Nuttycombe, the two-time Cross Country All-American is ready to help his team win back the Big Ten title and compete for the individual prize.

"Malachy is good, he's healthy, he's done some good workouts," Byrne said. "We are talking about a kid that has won two Big Ten titles. He was tenth the last time he ran at the NCAA Championships. Malachy has a knack and race-savvy to know how to run this race and that's going to be exciting for us."

Joining Schrobilgen and McDonald are a couple of freshman that have provided Wisconsin with great performances this season. Olin Hacker and Benjamin Eidenschink have each collected a top-10 finish during one of the meets, while scoring points for the Badgers in each of their two races. Hacker is coming off of a second-place finish for UW at the Nuttycombe, while Eidenschink came in fourth for the team.

Another fixture on the UW squad is junior Joe Hardy, who ran one of the best races of his career during the 2015 Big Ten Championship, finishing in tenth while earning a personal record in the process. Following a sixth-place showing at the Oz Memorial Invitational, Hardy took third for UW at the Nuttycombe. Hardy is one of eight members of the Wisconsin team to compete on the Les Bolstad Course earlier this season, and Byrne is hoping that pays dividends this weekend.

"We're prepared for it, we've been preparing for this all year," Byrne said. "We've told all the kids, we've given them maps of the course, and we've told them their job is to study it. They're job is to know every twist and turn, every bump in that course, every little rise."

One of the other Badgers that took the course earlier in September is Russell Sandvold. The senior has competed in all three meets for Wisconsin this year, including a victory at the Badger Classic to open the home season.

The meet is set to begin at 10 a.m. with the women's championship six-kilometer race. Shortly after, the men's championship eight-kilometer race will begin at 11 a.m. Besides earning a 16th conference title in 18 years, the Badgers are going for a 48th championship in the program's illustrious history, which would give Wisconsin 34 more than any other school.

"It's our conference meet, it's huge," Byrne said. "It means a lot to us, it means a lot to the University and it means a lot to our fans. So we're going in there and we're going to give it everything we've got to try to win that trophy back."