Badgers ready to race regional battle

MADISON, Wis. — For the fifth-straight year, the Wisconsin cross country program hosts the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, which serves as the region's qualifying competition for the 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championship later this month in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Thirty-four women's teams and 31 men's teams will come to the Zimmer Championship Course looking for a top-two finish, which would guarantee them a spot at the NCAA meet on Nov. 19.

The UW men are coming off of a thrilling victory at the 2016 Big Ten Cross Country Championship, as they scored 63 points, only three points more than runner-up Michigan State. Morgan McDonald was the meet's individual champion, winning his first career cross country Big Ten title by more than eight seconds.

"I will admit we were a little slow on closing the door on the Big Ten Championships," UW Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. "Coming back from last year's performance and having the burden of that the whole year, but we were able to go into Minneapolis and win that title, and that's exciting. Then we move forward, again as I said we were a little lazy on Monday and Tuesday last week, and made sure that our kids enjoyed that performance, enjoy that championship.

"But again, we have to close the door on it and move forward to Friday."

UW will see many of the same teams they saw a couple of weeks ago at the Big Ten meet, including Michigan State, Michigan and Indiana. The four Big Ten teams are expected to contend for the NCAA Great Lakes Regional title as the quartet are ranked in the top five in the USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Rankings.

"Michigan State, who we beat by three points, and Michigan are going to be very good," Byrne said. "We expect a big competition out of Indiana and also Eastern Michigan. So again, it's an opportunity and the ultimate goal is to move forward to the national championships."

The Wisconsin women look to build on their performance at the Big Ten meet where the Badgers finished sixth. The meet marked the first meet of the season for 2014 NCAA runner-up Sarah Disanza after battling injuries last year and only the second meet of the year for Shaelyn Sorensen, who was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year last season.

Disanza was the second Badger to cross the line, ultimately finishing in 24th, while Sorensen earned a top-50 finish.

"They ran solidly at the Big Ten meet," Byrne said. "You could see out there that there were some struggles, some lack of strength from not having a lot of work done, a lot of reps. But it's incredible how fit these young women can get in two weeks and we're looking for a huge contribution. They know they got through that on a very difficult course up at Big Tens and now they're kind of excited about running at home.

"There's a huge advantage being at home. They train out there a couple of times a week and they're very familiar with the terrain. At this level, it's all about confidence and I think they're pretty confident."

The women open the NCAA meet with a 6-kilometer race at noon, while the men will compete in a 10-kilometer race at 1 p.m. Admission is free for the meet and parking information can be found here.

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Badgers ready to race regional battle

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