LOUISVILLE, Ky. –  Sophomore Oliver Hoare led a young Wisconsin men's cross country team to an eighth-place overall finish at the Greater Louisville Classic Saturday morning.
 
"Today was the first time most of our guys raced this season and our results were very mixed," UW Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. "Our young freshmen had a real baptism of fire. Their world just got rocked and now the true test of their character will be how they will respond to this."
 
Hoare, one of four UW underclassmen to race on Saturday, finished the 8K race with a time of 23 minutes, 40.5 seconds.
 
"Ollie had a very solid race," Byrne said. "A year ago, Ollie was our fifth or sixth runner. This is an exciting improvement and a huge confidence booster for Ollie."
 
Not far behind Hoare was senior Joe Hardy, who finished 20th with a time of 23:57.72. The Greater Louisville Classic marks Hardy's first race of the season.
 
"Joe, our captain, had a very solid race today," Byrne said. "I expect Joe to be better with more races under his belt."
 
The Greater Louisville Classic also marks the first race for two of Wisconsin's freshmen runners. Seth Hirsch finished third for the Badgers, crossing the line in 24:43.07 while teammate Finn Gessner came in behind him, finishing with a time of 24:47.59. Also competing for Wisconsin was freshman Tannor Wagner, who finished fifth for the Badgers.
 
Following the Greater Louisville Classic, the Wisconsin men's cross country team returns to Madison to host the Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational presented by Under Armour. The meet will be held at the Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course on Oct. 13 and the meet will be streamed live on FloTrack.
 
"We will continue to come to work every day and work hard to be better next time out," Byrne said. "We have a long way to go but the season is still young. Good teams respond when they're backed into a corner."