BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — It was a friendly philosophical exchange between members of the Wisconsin cross country coaching staff.
In one chair sat Mick Byrne, the director of men's and women's track and cross country for the Badgers who oversees the men's team.
The seat next to him on the interview podium was occupied by Jill Miller, who calls the shots for the women's program.
They were discussing the weather forecast for the NCAA championships, which Wisconsin will host Saturday at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course.
For the sake of the event managers and course manicurists, Byrne hoped for dry conditions with icy temperatures.
"Thirty degrees, that's not cold," he said. "We will take advantage of that weather. We will take that weather any day.
"We hope it gets colder. Bring it on. Let's get to 29 degrees."
Miller endorsed the brisk temps, but wished aloud for more extreme conditions.
"It's not about the times," she said. "It's about who's the tougher team out there on the line.
"Make it colder. Make it windier. Let it snow, rain, sleet. Cross country is a test of toughness."
Make no mistake, the Badgers have some distinct advantages when it comes to staging the men's and women's national championships on their home course.
One, obviously, is the weather, which can be a mixed bag of misery in mid-November, especially if your campus is more temperate.
Stanford coach Chris Miltenberg said he and his staff, based in Palo Alto, California, have been checking Madison area weather forecasts daily.
"It doesn't look too bad," he said hopefully, mindful that the meet was still nine days away.
The other home-course advantages for Wisconsin competitors are more predictable. They've been practicing and racing here since the venue opened in 2009.
"Just being able to run on it every week and knowing it so well, it's a big advantage," senior Morgan McDonald said. "You don't have to think. You just know where you are on the course and how far into the race you are and how far you have to go."
McDonald is one of the prime contenders for the men's title, a status enhanced by his victory in the talent-laden Nuttycombe Invitational held at the Zimmer course in September. He said you have to use different mental and physical gears to maximize the 10-kilometer layout. He said there are spots that invite speed and aggressiveness and there are areas where you can opt to downshift and gather yourself if needed.
"Because it's next to a golf course people assume it's going to be nice and easy, but it's not," McDonald said. "It's certainly got some solid hills on there and tough parts."
Wisconsin junior Alicia Monson, a contender for the women's title after winning the star-studded Nuttycombe race, said it helps to know the course like the back of her hand.Â
"Working out on the course is super helpful," Monson said. "Even just going for regular runs helps because you see different things no matter what speed you're going."
Or direction apparently. Monson said a recent workout consisted of running the Zimmer course backward.
"We realized just how many downhills we have on the course," she said.
All the top teams in the country have a general knowledge of the layout having participated in multiple Nuttycombe events as well NCAA Great Lakes regional meets. Miltenberg said the Cardinal have run the Zimmer course multiple times over the years and is looking forward to another go-round.
"It's an incredible venue, probably one of the very, very best cross country-dedicated facilities in the country and certainly sets the standard for what a cross country venue can be," he said.
"The big thing is it's deceptively challenging. At no point is it completely hilly, but at no point also is it completely flat. It's not a course where you find a consistent rhythm, so it's very challenging and a fair course, which is what you want for a national championship.
"We think we have a really good feel for what we need to be prepared for."
Wisconsin's men are vying to become the first program to win an NCAA title on their home course since Michigan State did it in 1959.
"I would certainly consider it a home-course advantage for the Badgers in many ways," Miltenberg said.
So would Monson, who'll use it to try and chase down Ednah Kurgat, the reigning champion from top-ranked New Mexico, and her teammate Weini Kelati, who was second at the Nuttycombe behind Monson.
"I definitely have the advantage," Monson said.
Wisconsin junior Olli Hoare said the Zimmer layout has "secrets" that he'd rather not share.
"Having a relationship with that course, it's good to understand where it's going to hurt and where it's going to be easy and really train off that," he said.
"Being around a course, you learn more and more about yourself as an athlete and how you react to that sort of course. For us, it's very important for our guys.
"There are secrets about the course, but also secrets about ourselves."
Hoare said the key to running at Zimmer has to do with respecting it.
"The course can beat you," he said. "It can knock you down."
Another advantage for the Badgers will come from the crowd. Miltenberg said the hosts should derive an "enormous sense of confidence from knowing the course really, really well and the energy that comes from being at home."
Monson, who hails from Amery, Wisconsin, said having supporters from around the state in her corner will give her and her UW teammates a boost.
"My home-field advantage coming into nationals is just knowing how much running at Wisconsin means to me and our team," she said.
No matter what the weather forecast says.
