Wisconsin Badgers
NCAA Great Lakes Regional
Five things to know: No. 17 Badgers at NCAA Great Lakes Regional
November 08, 2017 | Women's Cross Country
UW looks to continue its momentum at regional qualifying meet on Friday
NCAA Great
Lakes Regional
Friday, Nov. 10 | 10:15 a.m. — Terre Haute, Ind.
MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin women's cross country team will return to Indiana once again to compete in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship meet at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute on Friday. The meet will begin with the women's 6K race at 10:15 a.m. (CT) followed by the men's 10K race at 11:15 a.m.
1. Looking back at last year's regional Alicia Monson led the Badgers to a third-place finish at the 2016 NCAA Great Lakes Regional at the Zimmer Championship Course by capturing an 11th place individual finish. Sarah Disanza followed in 12th place and Amy Davis in 15th. All three runners earned Great Lakes All-Region honors for their top-25 performances.
2. Badgers take third at Big Tens:Â A top-10Â performance from senior Sarah Disanza led the Badgers to a third-place finish at the Big Ten Championship meet. Sophomores Amy Davis and Alicia Monson followed not far behind in 21st and 22nd place. Disanza, Davis and Monson were the top scorers at last year's Big Ten meet but saw a three-place improvement thanks to two new runners in the fourth and fifth place positions. Sophomore Alissa Niggemann followed close behind in 23rd place as did junior Shaelyn Sorensen who rounded out the scoring in 26th place.
3. Eyes on the prize:Â The Wisconsin women's team remains at the No. 17 spot nationally after their third place showing at the Big Ten Championship meet. Three other top-30 nationally ranked teams will fight for the top spot at the Great Lakes Regional meet including No. 8 Michigan, No. 21 Michigan State and No. 27 Eastern Michigan. UW also checks in at No. 2 in the USTFCCCA Great Lakes Regional rankings heading into the regional championships.
4. Super Sophomores The sophomore class has had a strong start to the 2017 season on both the men's and women's side and there's no slowing them down as they compete through the championship season. Amy Davis and Alicia Monson have had strong showings, as Davis won the Indiana Open to begin the season while Monson won the Wisconsin Mayflower Day Open in September. The duo also helped UW to a ninth-place finish at the 2017 Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational and scored major points at the Big Ten meet last month.
In addition, Alissa Niggemann has stepped up for UW in October, scoring for UW at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational and the Big Ten championships as she was UW's fourth runner to cross the line at Big Tens.
5. Road to regionals:Â The Great Lakes Regional meet is the first step to the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Louisville, Kentucky. The top two teams at each regional competition will automatically advance to Louisville while 13 at-large teams will be selected on Saturday. In addition, the four individual qualifiers who aren't already a part of a qualifying team that finish in the top 25 in their region will advance to the national meet.
The national meet will take place on Saturday, November 18 at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park starting with a women's 6K race at 9:45 a.m. CT followed by the men's 10K race at 10:45 a.m. The meet will be shown live on FloTrack.
Players Mentioned
