Badgers to host 2016 NCAA Great Lakes Regional

Badgers to host 2016 NCAA Great Lakes Regional

November 09, 2016 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

2016 NCAA Great Lakes Regional Live Results

UW hosts regional qualifying meet for fifth-straight year

MADISON, Wis. – For the fifth consecutive season, the Badgers will be hosting the NCAA Great Lakes Regional meet at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course. The Wisconsin men's team is aiming for their 14th title since the turn of the century following a thrilling Big Ten crown, while the women's team for a record 14th Great Lakes Regional victory. The women's side will kick off the festivities with their six-kilometer race at noon (CT) while the men's 10-kilometer race will follow at 1 p.m.

2016 NCAA Great Lakes Regional
Date	Friday, November 11, 2016
Race Times	Women: 12 p.m. \| Men: 1 p.m.
Location	Madison, Wis. \| Zimmer Championship Course
Follow	Live Results \| @BadgerTrackXC
Game Notes	Men's \| Women's
Course Maps	M en's \| Women's

ABOUT THE NCAA GREAT LAKES REGIONAL

Thirty-three additional schools are set to compete alongside the Badgers at the regional competition.
The schools are racing to earn a spot in the 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championship which will be held in Terre Haute, Indiana, on Nov. 19.
On the men's side, Wisconsin enters the meet as the No. 1 team in the region as the Badgers are ranked No. 16 in the country. UW is expected to battle No. 29 Michigan, last year's regional champion, for this year's title.
No. 18 Michigan State barely lost to UW at the Big Ten Championship, finishing three points behind the Badgers. The three-point difference was tied for the second-closest margin of victory in Big Ten history. The Spartans have also been the runner-up at the past two regional meets, and the squad is looking to break through for its first Great Lakes crown since 1998.
For the women, No. 5 Michigan has won four of the past five titles and comes in hot after winning the Big Ten on Oct. 30
No. 13 Eastern Michigan and No. 14 Notre Dame will provide stiff tests as well. Eastern Michigan is coming off a victory in the Mid-Atlantic Conference Championship while the Fighting Irish took second at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship.

ABOUT THE NCAA GREAT LAKES REGIONAL

The top-two teams from each of the nine regions automatically earn spots at the NCAA championship, while 13 teams will be selected on as at-large squads. The process for selection involves a review of regular-season competition and finish at the regional championships. Regional finish is the first criterion, for example, a fourth-place team may not be selected for an at-large berth ahead of a third-place team from the same region. But, a team with a fourth-place finish, for example, could "push" both the third- and fourth-place finishing team into the championships if the fourth-place team has enough "wins" to be the next at-large team. Wins from the regular-season are only counted if squads beat another's "A" team, defined by having competed four or more individuals in that regular-season meet that competed at the regional championships. Official designations of "A" and "B" teams can only be accomplished after the results of the NCAA regional meets have been completed. Also, only competitions starting September 26 through regional meet weekend are included in the analysis.
After teams have been determined, 38 additional individuals per gender are selected to compete at the NCAA Championships. From those teams NOT selected in the above process, the top four finishers at each regional are automatically selected (but must have finished within the top 25 of the region). Two additional athletes will be selected from the remainder of the national pool (and must have finished in the regional top 25) as at-large individuals.

ABOUT THE BADGERS - MEN

Wisconsin has won a record 29 NCAA Great Lakes Regional titles, including 14 in the last 17 years.
In that span, there has only been two individual winners for the Badgers, but junior Morgan McDonald looks to add his name to the list following a dominating effort at the Big Ten Championship.
McDonald was named Big Ten Athlete of the Year following his victory in Minneapolis, and has won two crowns in three races this season to go along with a third-place finish at the prestigious Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational.
Senior Malachy Schrobilgen has two top-10 finishes at this meet, and is gearing up for another great race after coming in fifth at the Big Ten Championship. Schrobilgen joined McDonald earning First-Team All-Big Ten honors.
Freshman Olin Hacker turned in a 12th-place finish in Minneapolis, earning Second-Team All-Big Ten honors.
Wisconsin has touted three of the largest winning margins at the Great Lakes Regionals, the most recent being in 2009 when they defeated runner-up Michigan State by 66 points. Wisconsin has also boasted three of the lowest-winning scores at the Great Lakes Regional meet with the most recent being in 2010 when they won the regional meet with a mere 32 points.
The Badgers also hold the top-two NCAA Great Lakes Regional records for consecutive regional championships with 11 (2002-12) and 8 (1981-88)
UW started off the 2016 season with wins at the Oz Memorial Invitational and at the Badger Classic. In addition to team victories, in both meets a member of the Wisconsin team brought home the individual title too.
The Badgers last Great Lakes title came in 2014, with Schrobilgen leading the team in a second-place finish. Current runners Joe Hardy and McDonald also earned top-15 finishes at the meet to propel the Badgers to their 47th consecutive NCAA Cross Country Championship appearance

ABOUT THE BADGERS – WOMEN

UW has won a record 13 NCAA Great Lakes Regional crowns, and a record 10 individual titles.
Shaelyn Sorensen will look to add to her brief but illustrious collegiate career. The sophomore won Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2014 and qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships, finishing in 92nd. Sorensen won the Oz Memorial Invitational crown earlier this season.
Junior Sarah Disanza competed at a cross country meet for the first time since the 2014 NCAA Cross Country Championships when she placed 24th at the Big Ten Championship in Minneapolis.
Disanza took second at the 2014 NCAA Championships, and was named an All-American in cross country that season.
Freshman Amy Davis has been the most consistent runner for the team this season. She has appeared in each of the four meets for UW and has been in the top two for the Badgers in all four races.
Davis led Wisconsin to a sixth place at the Big Ten Championship with a 16th-place finish, best amongst all Badgers.
UW won their home opener earlier this season, with four Badgers finishing in the top five at the Badger Classic. Senior Michele Lee led the way, winning the individual crown ahead of Davis.

LAST YEAR AT THE NCAA GREAT LAKES REGIONAL – MEN
Wisconsin's remarkable, record-setting streak has come to an end.

After qualifying as a team for the NCAA championship in each of the last 43 years -- each season since the NCAA went to its current regional qualifying format -- the UW men's cross country program will miss the national meet for the first time since 1971.

Led by sophomore Morgan McDonald, the Badgers ran to a sixth-place finish on their home course Friday in the 2015 NCAA Great Lakes Regional. The Badgers finished the day with a total of 203 points collected from their five scoring runners, McDonald, sophomore Joe Hardy, junior Malachy Schrobilgen, sophomore Troy Smith and junior Russell Sandvold.

The top two teams at each of nine regional sites across the country automatically qualified for the NCAA championship, while another 13 squads will earn at-large invitations. The Badgers, who have qualified for every national meet since 1972 while building the longest-ever streak of consecutive NCAA appearances, will not be among them.

"We've got to go back to the drawing board," Wisconsin Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. "It's very well-documented that it's been a rough year, and we'll sit down now that it's over and reevaluate things.

"That's what you have to do. You have to look at maybe we made some mistakes. We're going to look at training, we're going to reevaluate and see what we come up with. You always have to do that. We've got to take the bad with the good."

Michigan won the Great Lakes Regional title with a total of 67 points, paced by individual champion Mason Ferlic, who finished the 10-kilometer race on UW's Zimmer Championship Course in a time of 30 minutes, 18.3 seconds.

Michigan State earned a second-place finish with 88 points, while Eastern Michigan was third with 102 points. Notre Dame collected 127 points to finish fourth, and Indiana rounded out the top five with 141 points.

A pair of sophomores in McDonald and Hardy paced the Badgers squad, remaining in the lead pack near the halfway mark. As the race progressed through five kilometers, McDonald pushed to stay with the leaders as the pack began to separate from the rest of the field.

McDonald finished the race in ninth place overall, covering the course in 30:51.1, and Hardy took 24th in 31:20.1. Schrobilgen, two weeks after being forced to drop out of the Big Ten meet due to injury, finished 33rd in 31:32.8.

Smith finished fourth for the Badgers and 64th overall, clocking in at 32:21.0, while Sandvold rounded the scoring for UW with a 73rd-place finish in 32:29.8.

LAST YEAR AT THE BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP – WOMEN
On a brisk and windy afternoon at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course, the Wisconsin women's cross country team raced a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional to solidify its chances of qualifying for the 2015 NCAA Cross Country Championship

Leading the way for the Badgers was redshirt freshman Shaelyn Sorensen, who took fourth in 20 minutes, 38 seconds. It marked the sixth-straight meet that Sorensen, the 2015 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, has led UW. If the Badgers fail to earn a team at-large bid, Sorensen will qualify for the national championship on Nov. 21 in Louisville, Kentucky thanks to her individual finish.

"I definitely did not think that (my season) was going to go this well," Sorensen said. "My original goals at the beginning of the season were honestly just to get Big Ten Freshman of the Year and maybe make an All-Big Ten team but that was going to be the best-case scenario. So the fact that I'm able to do this well in the region as well makes me really happy."

"Just a fantastic performance," Wisconsin Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said of Sorensen. "The level that she has jumped to so rapidly is just awesome to see. She's got a tremendous talent and tremendous confidence."

The Badgers scored 138 points to secure fourth place behind first-place Michigan (69), second-place Notre Dame (79), and third-place Michigan State (88). Both Michigan and Notre Dame earned automatic bids to the NCAA championship.

Winning the individual title was Notre Dame senior Molly Seidel who ran away with the title in 20:04.4, while Fighting Irish teammate Anna Rohrer was second in 20:18.4.

Standing out for the Badgers were two redshirt juniors, Sarah Heinemann who placed 22nd overall in 21:03.2, and Michele Lee who finished 30th in 21:17.1.

With their top-25 honors, both Sorensen and Heinemann earned all-region accolades.

Rounding out the scoring for the Badgers were sophomore Jamie Shannon who captured 40th in 21:28.2 and redshirt freshman Erin Wagner who placed 42nd in 21:31.

Senior Grace Meurer finished 54th in 21:47.4 and sophomore Colette Richter came in 69th in 22:01.8.