LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Wisconsin men's cross country duo of senior Joe Hardy and sophomore Ollie Hoare wrapped up their seasons at the 2017 NCAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday at the E.P Tom Sawyer State Park. 

Hardy, the Badgers' captain this fall, ended his UW cross country career with a top-100 showing, crossing the 10K course in 30 minutes, 35.47 seconds. 

After a solid start, Hoare finished in 185th in 31:27.54, an improvement from his finish a year ago.

Notes to know
- It marked Hardy's second top-100 finish at the NCAA meet as he was 65th at last year's national championships.
- The Badgers will host the 2018 NCAA Cross Country Championships at the Zimmer Championship. It will mark the first time since 1978 that UW has hosted the national cross country meet.

Straight from the course
UW Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne
On today's race 
"It's not the way they wanted to end their season. The last two meets, running hard at Big Tens and again at last week at the NCAA Great Lakes Regionals, I think it caught up to them today. We talked after the regional meet about them getting excited and taking the lead. I think at the end of the day it came back to bite them. 

"Unfortunately for Joe, it's his last cross country race in a UW uniform. For Ollie, my wish and hope is that he learned from this experience and just like other great Badgers, he has to be able to handle the ups and the downs. Sometimes in the moments, the downs are tough to handle, but I think he will grow from this. He's made huge strides this year."