Future is looking up for Badgers after Big Tens
November 04, 2016 | Men's Cross Country
Men’s and women’s programs look to carry momentum into November
MADISON, Wis. — Both Wisconsin men's and women's cross country teams were able to leave last Sunday's Big Ten meet with optimism heading into the NCAA Great Lakes Regional next weekend in Madison.
On the men's side, the Badgers captured their 48th Big Ten team title thanks to Morgan McDonald's individual victory. It marked the 16th time in the last 18 years that UW has won the conference crown, but this year's win meant a little more to the team and UW Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne as UW narrowly defeated Michigan State by three points.
"You could go through the whole lineup, and man for man, these guys believed in each other," Byrne said. "I will always remember this one. I've always said when you come here, you ask these kids to kick it into another gear, step up, run as a team, and when they do that, when they believe in each other, it's very rewarding for them. It's about them, and I will never forget this moment. We were down with a kilometer to go and our guys fought over that final stretch.
"That's all we ask them to do, to believe in each other and fight for each other."
"It's a massive team effort," McDonald said. "I mean every single runner counts as much as the rest. If you look at the way it works out, it's actually tends to be the fourth and fifth runners that are actually more important in a team success because they can have a lot more swing in their performance, so I attribute the win today to the amazing performances to our runners like Russ (Sandvold) and Tyson (Miehe). They came through so big today.
"I'm just so proud of them, really what got us the win is the performance of guys like that."
McDonald became the 31st individual conference champion in program history, winning the men's race by more than eight seconds.
"I haven't seen that type of dominance in this conference in a while," Byrne said. "Normally you see, the last three or four years, there's been some great athletes, Mason Ferlic from Michigan, Matt McClintock from Purdue, Malachy (Schrobilgen) of course, and you've had some great individual battles. But I've never seen someone dominate like that. He looked like he was just in a zone in a very comfortable spot."
For his efforts, McDonald was named the Big Ten Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Year, while Byrne was named the Big Ten Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year, marking the seventh time in nine seasons at UW Byrne has received the honor from the conference.
The Wisconsin women took sixth in the conference thanks to a 16th-place showing by Amy Davis, but the biggest positive was the return of three prominent runners to the Badger lineup.
Sarah Disanza, the 2014 NCAA runner-up, competed on the cross country course for the first time for UW since the 2014 campaign. Disanza was the second Badger across the line at this year's Big Ten meet, finishing in 24th.
In her first race since suffering an injury in September, sophomore Shaelyn Sorensen, last year's Big Ten Freshman of the Year, was 49th.
"When you look at the score line, you could easily be disappointed," Byrne said. "But just like the men, we asked the women to go out there and fight for each other. We knew that Sarah and Shaelyn were certainly not at their best, but having them in there gave us some depth and those girls went out there today and competed."
In addition, Jamie Shannon and Erin Wagner, who both scored at last year's Big Ten meet, raced for the first time this season.
"I'm incredibly proud of how this team has come together and supported one another through their training and recovery practices," assistant coach Jill Miller said. "They ran tough for each other today and we are all excited to have everyone healthy coming off of this race.
"We certainly aren't content with sixth place, but took a step forward today and we are confident that we can take another step forward during our preparation for the regional meet."
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On the men's side, the Badgers captured their 48th Big Ten team title thanks to Morgan McDonald's individual victory. It marked the 16th time in the last 18 years that UW has won the conference crown, but this year's win meant a little more to the team and UW Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne as UW narrowly defeated Michigan State by three points.
"You could go through the whole lineup, and man for man, these guys believed in each other," Byrne said. "I will always remember this one. I've always said when you come here, you ask these kids to kick it into another gear, step up, run as a team, and when they do that, when they believe in each other, it's very rewarding for them. It's about them, and I will never forget this moment. We were down with a kilometer to go and our guys fought over that final stretch.
"That's all we ask them to do, to believe in each other and fight for each other."
"It's a massive team effort," McDonald said. "I mean every single runner counts as much as the rest. If you look at the way it works out, it's actually tends to be the fourth and fifth runners that are actually more important in a team success because they can have a lot more swing in their performance, so I attribute the win today to the amazing performances to our runners like Russ (Sandvold) and Tyson (Miehe). They came through so big today.
"I'm just so proud of them, really what got us the win is the performance of guys like that."
McDonald became the 31st individual conference champion in program history, winning the men's race by more than eight seconds.
"I haven't seen that type of dominance in this conference in a while," Byrne said. "Normally you see, the last three or four years, there's been some great athletes, Mason Ferlic from Michigan, Matt McClintock from Purdue, Malachy (Schrobilgen) of course, and you've had some great individual battles. But I've never seen someone dominate like that. He looked like he was just in a zone in a very comfortable spot."
For his efforts, McDonald was named the Big Ten Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Year, while Byrne was named the Big Ten Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year, marking the seventh time in nine seasons at UW Byrne has received the honor from the conference.
The Wisconsin women took sixth in the conference thanks to a 16th-place showing by Amy Davis, but the biggest positive was the return of three prominent runners to the Badger lineup.
Sarah Disanza, the 2014 NCAA runner-up, competed on the cross country course for the first time for UW since the 2014 campaign. Disanza was the second Badger across the line at this year's Big Ten meet, finishing in 24th.
In her first race since suffering an injury in September, sophomore Shaelyn Sorensen, last year's Big Ten Freshman of the Year, was 49th.
"When you look at the score line, you could easily be disappointed," Byrne said. "But just like the men, we asked the women to go out there and fight for each other. We knew that Sarah and Shaelyn were certainly not at their best, but having them in there gave us some depth and those girls went out there today and competed."
In addition, Jamie Shannon and Erin Wagner, who both scored at last year's Big Ten meet, raced for the first time this season.
"I'm incredibly proud of how this team has come together and supported one another through their training and recovery practices," assistant coach Jill Miller said. "They ran tough for each other today and we are all excited to have everyone healthy coming off of this race.
"We certainly aren't content with sixth place, but took a step forward today and we are confident that we can take another step forward during our preparation for the regional meet."
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Players Mentioned
/ Men's Cross Country
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