Wisconsin Badgers
Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational
Five things to know: No. 28 Badgers host Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational
October 11, 2017 | Men's Cross Country
UW hosts prestigious competition on Friday at the Zimmer Championship Course
Nuttycombe Wisconsin
Invitational Coverage
Friday, Oct. 13 | 11 a.m. — Zimmer Championship Course.
MADISON, Wis. – The No. 28 Badgers will compete against 34 teams from across the nation in the prestigious Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational presented by Under Armour on Friday.
The event will begin at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course with women's and men's "B" races at 11 a.m. and 11:40 a.m., respectively. The women's championship race starts at 12:20 p.m. and the men's championship race begins at 1 p.m. The meet will be streamed live on FloTrack and more information about the meet can be found here.
1. On this year's Nutty: Twenty of the top 30 teams in the nation will head to the Zimmer Championship Course on Friday to compete in the Nuttycombe. Five of the top 10 programs will be in attendance including last year's team champion No.1 Northern Arizona as well as No. 3 Syracuse and No. 4 Stanford.
"It seems like every year we talk about the Nuttycombe Invitational, we talk about the incredible field that we've put together," UW Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. "When you look at having the top teams in the country coming here, anytime you've got that type of quality you expect your athletes, you expect the coaches to get excited this week.
"I can guarantee you as the coaching staff, we are all excited about putting on a good show this weekend."
2. Last year at the Nutty: Morgan McDonald led the Badgers last year at the 2016 Nuttycombe Invitational finishing in third place, the best finish by a Badger in the history of the Nuttycombe event. McDonald's finish with help from Olin Hacker in 60th place, Joe Hardy coming in 77th and Ben Eidenschink in 81st steered the Badgers to an 11th place finish overall.
3. Last time out: Last time we saw the Badgers was at the Greater Louisville Classic where sophomore Oliver Hoare led a young UW team to an eighth-place finish thanks to his eighth-place showing. Hoare was named Big Ten Athlete of the Week for his efforts. Aside from senior, Joe Hardy who was the second Badger to finish in the top 20, the underclassmen stole the show for UW. Freshmen Seth Hirsch, Finn Gessner and Tannor Wagner all finished in the top 100, placing 60th, 65th and 83rd respectively.
"Our younger guys had a baptism of fire and that's to be expected from when you step up from 5000 meters in high school to 8000 meters and 10000 meters in college," Byrne said. "We warned our freshman on the guy's side that their world was going to get rocked stepping up to that 8K and it looks like that's what happened."
4. Setting the stage This year's Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational will serve as another test run before Wisconsin hosts the 2018 NCAA Cross Country Championship at the Zimmer Championship Course. Next year's national meet will mark the first time UW has hosted it since 1978.
5. Road to the Championships:Â Following the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, the UW cross country teams will start to prepare for championship season beginning with the 2017 Big Ten Championship. The Badgers return to the IU Championship Cross Country Course in Bloomington, Indiana on Oct. 29 looking to defend their Big Ten crown.
Players Mentioned
