LINCOLN, Neb. – Four weeks ago at the 2018 Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational Presented by Under Armour, Wisconsin women's cross country junior
Alicia Monson made a statement to the cross country world, winning the individual title while defeating the reigning NCAA champion.
Monson proved her win at the Nuttycombe was no fluke at the 2018 Big Ten Cross Country Championships on Sunday as the junior became the first Badger since 2001 to win an individual conference title.
Monson covered the 6K course at the Mahoney Golf Course in 19 minutes, 49.3 seconds to lead No. 11 UW to a third-place finish with 89 points. The Badgers finished behind No. 7 Michigan, who won with 57 points while Michigan State was second with 75 points.
A native of Amery, Wisconsin, Monson stayed at the front of the pack throughout the race, before breaking away from the lead pack with Aubrey Roberts of Northwestern with less than 2K to go.
After letting Roberts lead for a couple of minutes, Monson passed Roberts and accelerated to the finish, beating the Wildcat by almost 10 seconds.
Monson became Wisconsin's first individual conference champion since Bethany Brewster in 2001 and captured UW's 11th individual title.
Amy Davis was the next Badger to cross the finish line, taking 13th place with a time of 20:31.5. For her efforts, Davis earned second-team All-Big Ten honors.
Two other Wisconsin runners finished in the top-30 in the conference championship. True freshman
Lucinda Crouch took 21st with an impressive 20:43.8 finish.
Crouch finished just ahead of
Shaelyn Sorensen, who took 22nd with a finish of 20:44.2.
Alissa Niggemann, the sophomore out of Amherst, Wisconsin, rounded out the Badger scorers. She took 33rd at the meet with 20:59.3 as her final time.
Rachel Werking,
Kristen Garcia, and
Emma Langer also saw action for Wisconsin today. Werking took a 73rd place finish with her time being 22:10.2 seconds.
Garcia competed in her first race for Wisconsin and finished 83rd at 22:21.1.
Emma Langer cross the finish line in 112th with a final time of 23:24.1.
Straight from the Course
Junior Alicia Monson
On winning the Big Ten title:
"It feels great. We have been looking forward to the postseason all throughout the summer and season. To finally be at this point where we are in the championship season, it's nice to really be competing at this level."
On the course:
"It was definitely more challenging than we expected. Honestly, when I thought Nebraska I thought it would just be flat the whole way but we really had to pay more attention to how the hills can be deceiving here."
On the team heading into the NCAA Great Lakes Regionals:
"I definitely think that we have room to grow. I think that our training has shown more than what we showed here today. We are a little bit disappointed but we know that we competed with some really great teams out here so we are looking forward to improving at each race."
Up Next:
Wisconsin will turn its attention to the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Friday, Nov. 9 in Terre Haute, Indiana.
2018 Big Ten Championship Results:
Team Scores:
- Michigan – 57 points
- Michigan State – 75 points
- Wisconsin – 89 points
- Penn State – 103 points
- Indiana – 110 points
Wisconsin Scores:
- (1) Alicia Monson – 19:49.3
- (13) Amy Davis – 20:31.5
- (21) Lucinda Crouch –20:43.8
- (22) Shaelyn Sorensen – 20:44.2
- (33) Alissa Niggemann – 20:59.3
