Team Results 1. Oregon 125 2. Michigan 126 3. Colorado 134 4. NC State 223 5. Stanford 255 14. Wisconsin 451

Individual Results 1. Karissa Schweizer Missouri 19:41.6 2. Erin Finn Michigan 19:44.2 3. Anna Rohrer Notre Dame 19:44.6 4. Katie Rainsberger Oregon 19:51.1 5. Sharon Lokedi Kansas 19:52.2 54. Sarah Disanza Wisconsin 20:33.4 96. Alicia Monson Wisconsin 20:49.7 127. Michele Lee Wisconsin 20:57.1 131. Shaelyn Sorensen Wisconsin 20:58.0 160. Amy Davis Wisconsin 21:06.8

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Eight days ago at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, the Wisconsin women's cross country team entered the meet as underdogs, ranked seventh in their region and unranked in the U.S. Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association National Coaches' Poll.

Wisconsin surprised the cross country community, finishing third in one of the nation's toughest regions to advance to the national championship.

On Saturday at the 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championships, the No. 25 Badgers continued to surprise the nation, finishing 14th at the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course.

"I think our team was really in it for each other and we put our best effort forward," junior Sarah Disanza said. "We've been preparing mentally for this for quite some time. We went into the race extremely relaxed and we were all in it for each other."

"Going from unranked two weeks ago to finishing 14th in the country is incredible," UW Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. "We knew the door was open for them after Big Tens and they took advantage of their opportunity.

"These women believed in Coach (Jill) Miller, they stuck with her and her program and now they are being rewarded."

Wisconsin defeated a pair of teams in the top-10 of the coaches' poll in No. 8 Penn State and No. 9 Arkansas thanks to a team score of 451 points.

"You could not ask anything more of them," assistant coach Jill Miller said. "They came in as an unranked team and to finish 14th in the country is a huge day for them. We're young and they'll learn from this experience and only be better in the upcoming track season, as well as cross country next year, which is really exciting for our future."

Oregon took the team title with a score of 125 points, one point ahead of Big Ten foe Michigan. UW was the third-highest placing team in the Big Ten, while Michigan State placed eighth.

In only her third meet of the season, Disanza led the Badgers with a 54th-place finish, crossing the six-kilometer course in 20 minutes, 33.4 seconds.

"It was nice to be back and knowing that I could really give as much of myself to the team as possible," Disanza, who was sidelined last year due to injury, said. "Going into the season, I didn't really know what I was going to be able to do and the goal was to just to be able to make sure that I was contributing and scoring points for the team. Being able to be back as the top finisher means that I was really able to give as much of myself as I could."

Miller was pleased with Disanza's effort.

"Our number one goal with Sarah is to keep her healthy," Miller said. "We've been very conservative over the last two months of training to get her to this meet. For her to run as well as she did today off of so little actual running is amazing. She went out there and fought hard and moved through the pack very, very well."

Freshman Alicia Monson earned a top-100 finish as she ran a time of 20:49.7 to place 96th. She ranked 13th among all freshman in the race.

Senior Michele Lee was 127th in 20:57.1, while sophomore Shaelyn Sorensen finished close behind at 131st in 20:58.0.

Redshirt freshman Amy Davis was the fifth Badger across the line, running a time of 21:06.8 to place 160th.

Wisconsin started the race in a close pack, a tactic that worked for the Badgers at the regional meet.

With just over two kilometers to go, Disanza broke away from her UW teammates in the windy and cold conditions.

"They are also very strong mentally, so when they come out to the course and feel 40 mile-per-hour gusts, it doesn't scare them," Miller said. "They stayed strong mentally and physically throughout. The worse the elements are for them, the better we are against other competition."

The Badgers have now finished in the top-15 of the NCAA cross country championship 21 times and will return four of their five scorers from Saturday's championship next season.

"I think the future is looking really bright for us as a team," Disanza said. "We have a lot of really experienced girls at the top right now and I think our younger runners saw what it's like to be on a team that can be successful as the season goes on rather than starting out strong."