Wisconsin continues postseason competition at home

Friday, November 11

Madison, Wis.

12 PM

Wisconsin Badgers

NCAA Great Lakes Regional

Women's Cross Country Big Ten Starting Line

Photo by: Walt Middleton

Wisconsin continues postseason competition at home

November 10, 2016 | Women's Cross Country

Badgers to host NCAA Great Lakes Regional meet on Friday

MADISON, Wis. – After finishing sixth at the Big Ten Championship, the Wisconsin women's cross country team continues their postseason schedule, hosting the NCAA Great Lakes Regional at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course on Friday. The women's race will kick off the meet at noon and will be followed by the men's race at 1 p.m.

The top-two teams from the Great Lakes region, which consists of Division I schools from Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, will earn automatic berths at the 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championship. There are also 13 at-large bids dispersed throughout the country based on head-to-head results throughout the season and team's performances at their regional meets.

Wisconsin will toe the line on Friday against 33 other teams for a NCAA bid.

"The door's open," Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. "There's no clear favorites, although Michigan and Michigan State, two Big Ten schools that we faced last week, are probably favorites. But the door's open and we do have an opportunity."

After making their return from injury at the Big Ten meet, senior Sarah Disanza and sophomore Shaelyn Sorensen are geared up to race at home for the first time this season.

"They ran solidly at the Big Ten meet," Byrne said. "But 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 two weeks later, it's incredible how fit these young women can get and we're looking for a huge contribution."

The Badgers will also rely on redshirt freshman Amy Davis, who led the team at the Big Ten meet. She has proved to be a key contributor this season, placing second for UW at all of their meets up until the Big Ten Championship.

Rounding out the scoring five at the conference meet were freshman Alicia Monson, senior Michele Lee, and senior Sarah Heinemann. All three ran well at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational and will use that home course experience to their advantage of Friday.

"Obviously there's a huge advantage being at home," Byrne explained. "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. As I said, the door's open and we just have to go and grab this opportunity."