Wisconsin Badgers
Big Ten Championships
Five things to know: Badgers at 2017 Big Ten Championships
October 26, 2017 | Men's Cross Country
UW looks to defend its conference title on Sunday in Indiana
2017 Big Ten
Championships
Sunday, Oct. 29 | 9:45 a.m. — Bloomington, Ind.
MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin men's cross country team heads to Bloomington, Indiana for the 2017 Big Ten Championship Cross Country Championships. The meet, which will take place at the IU Championship Cross Country Course, starts with the men's 8K race at 9:45 a.m. CT followed by the women's 6K race at 10:45 a.m.
A recap will be available following the meet at UWBadgers.com and a tape-delayed broadcast of the meet will air on BTN on Monday at 7:30 p.m. .
1. Looking to go back-to-back: The Wisconsin men's cross country team currently holds the record for the most Big Ten team titles won, coming in with 48 wins in the 108 years that the meet has been held. They also hold the record for the most individual Big Ten team titles, with 31 runners earning these honors. The Badgers won the Big Ten Championships last year, and are hoping to defend their Big Ten crown at this year's event.
"It's going to be an exciting championship, it's wide open," UW Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. "Right now, Michigan is probably the favorite but we run the race for a reason and again, it's not like the Nuttycombe, it's just a completely different beast. We're not going to roll over, we're going to go there and defend our championship. Our guys are going to wear that singlet, they're going to be proud, they're going to get excited about it and we're not giving up this title, that's for sure."
2. Badgers Return to the IU Course:This year's Big Ten championships in Bloomington will mark the second time that the Wisconsin men's cross country team has raced at the IU Championship Cross Country Course this season. The Badgers raced there at their first meet of the season at the IU Open on September 2nd, where they placed fifth overall.
"It's a quite challenging course, not as difficult as what we faced last year up in Minnesota but there are some challenging parts, they come pretty early in the race," Byrne said. "It will play a factor in how people approach the race, so just having been on the course and having been through it before; it certainly helps, it's not going to hurt us."
"On the women's side we feel like we're in a really good spot right now," UW Director of Track and Field Mick Byrne said. "We can look back two weeks ago and look at the Nuttycombe results but in our sport it's not worth looking back, we got to look forward. Our women had a very solid performance at Nuttycombe
3. Coming off of the Nutty:Â The Wisconsin Badgers recently hosted the ninth-annual Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, featuring 34 men's teams from across the nation. Senior Joe Hardy led the Badgers, placing twenty fifth overall and first for Wisconsin to guide his team to a 25th overall finish at the meet. .
4. Sophomores' time to shine:Â UW will look to rely on its deep sophomore class this weekend at Big Tens as sophomore Ben Eidenschink is coming off of a top-100 showing in his season debut at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational. Oliver Hoare also looks to make an impact this Sunday as the sophomore earned Big Ten Athlete of the Week honors after his top-10 finish in Louisville earlier this year. In addition to Eidenschink and Hoare, sophomore Zack Snider, who scored in the 10K at last year's Big Ten meet, is expected to make his season debut for the Cardinal and White.
5. Road to regionals: After Big Tens, UW will continue its championship season at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. This year's meet will be held in Terre Haute, Indiana on Nov. 10 as the top two teams will automatically qualify for the 2017 NCAA Cross Country Championships.
