TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Despite the blustery, 35-degree weather conditions in Cross Country Town, USA, the Wisconsin men's cross country team prevailed once again and won the NCAA Great Lakes Regional meet for the second time in three years. Thanks to a score of 49 points, the regional title secured the No. 3 Badgers a spot to race at the NCAA Cross Country Championships next weekend on home turf in Madison.
 
The Badgers stuck together in the lead pack through the first 5K while Ben Kendell of Detroit Mercy amassed a lead over the rest of the field. Things got interesting with 2K to go, with Wisconsin starting to put themselves in position to win the team title. Down the last stretch, runners began to close the gap and Jaret Carpenter of Purdue pulled ahead of Kendell, winning the individual title, while three Badgers took the 5th, 6th and 7th place spots.
 
Coming off of a 19th place finish at the Big Ten Championship, Olin Hacker put up a spectacular performance, leading the way for the Badgers with his fifth-place overall finish in the 10K race in 31 minutes, 13.1 seconds. This finish marks Hacker's best at the regional meet since he finished 12th overall in 2016.

Finishing right next to Hacker were Olli Hoare and Morgan McDonald. Hoare finished sixth in 31:13.2 and McDonald crossed the line with the same 10K time as his fellow Sydney, Australia, native teammate Hoare.

"I'm feeling really good," Hacker said. "Definitely Big Tens was a hard race for me. We were coming off of a hard block of training, and I think I handled it a little bit worse than everyone else, and I was a little bit more tired. But, I think that just speaks to the strength of our team. When I have a bad race, all my guys are there to step up for me. This week, I'm really happy to come back and step up for them."
 
Next to score for the Cardinal and White was Ben Eidenschink, who took 15th overall in 31:28.1 while freshman Shuaib Aljabaly rounded out the scoring for Wisconsin, cruising through with a time of 31:29.4 to place 16th overall.
 
All of Wisconsin's scorers earned All-Great Lakes Regional Honors, which are awarded to the top-25 finishers at the regional meet. Eidenschink, Hoare and Hacker win their second career regional honors while McDonald wins his fourth accolade. Aljabaly earned his first regional honor for his 16th-place showing.
 
Also competing in Friday's NCAA Great Lakes Regional meet were senior Tyson Miehe and junior Andrew Schilling. Miehe took 28th overall in 31:46.3 while Schilling came through with a 10K time of 32:29.2
 
Wisconsin won the NCAA Great Lakes Regional title with 49 points to best runner-up Purdue, who finished with 91 points. Last year's regional runner-up Michigan took third with 109 points.

"I'm so excited for NCAA's," said Hacker. "We've known that we're going to host NCAA's for about two years, and I think everybody's been looking forward to it every day since we learned that. I know there's going to be a lot of alums there, and I'm excited to show people what we can do."

Straight from the coach:
Director of Cross Country and Track and Field Mick Byrne
On Friday's NCAA Great Lakes Regional meet:
"You know, you come out here and know exactly how it is going to play out and everybody is watching the main contenders. Everybody is wanting to do the same thing: get in, qualify, and get out of here without doing any damage. We saw in the first 5K that everybody just kept the brakes on, a lot of looking around and a lot of guys getting anxious. A lot of guys being patient and you just let it unfold. Our guys are very good at that and reading the race. That comes with experience. Today, Olin Hacker came back after a poor performance at Big Tens and look what he did. He looked fantastic. We had a true freshman, Shuaib Aljabaly, step in today and have a tremendous performance. Tyson had a rough day. Ben I'm sure, although it wasn't that bad, just didn't look like he did at Big Tens, and maybe he hasn't recovered, but that's what a good team is. When someone has a rough day, someone else steps up and performs."

On heading into NCAA's:
"I'm excited for our kids. November 17th is a long time coming when you start doing this in July and putting the plan together. These guys were here all summer together training and we hope to have a great performance next week. We've been on a mission all along. It certainly makes amends for last year but we can't keep talking about that. We are heading into nationals week and the guys are excited. It is going to be a great week for them. Parents are traveling. Olli and Morgan's parents are traveling in from Australia. All of the kids' parents are staying downtown, it is just going to be a great family occasion. And more importantly, a great occasion for the university and for our teams and for our fans. We've got to do whatever we can to get as many fans out there, wearing red and screaming their heads off, rooting for the team and hopefully we won't disappoint our fans."

Up Next:
Now that the Badgers have qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships, they will look to impress at the last championships of the season. Featuring the top Division I teams from across the nation, the NCAA Championships will take place on home turf at the Zimmer Championship Course on November 17 and are scheduled to begin with the women's championship 6K race at 10:45 a.m. (CT) with the men's championship 10K race to follow at 11:45 a.m. (CT). 

Parking and admission information for the 2018 NCAA Cross Country Championships can be found here. 

2018 NCAA Great Lakes Regional Results
Team Results:
1. Wisconsin – 49 pts.
2. Notre Dame – 91 pts.
3. Michigan – 109 pts.
4. Purdue – 121 pts.
5. Indiana – 124 pts. 

Individual Results:
5. Olin Hacker – 31:13.1
6. Oliver Hoare – 31:13.2
7. Morgan McDonald – 31:13.2
15. Ben Eidenschink – 31:28.1
16. Shuaib Aljabaly – 31:29.4
28. Tyson Miehe – 31:46.3
69. Andrew Schilling – 32:29.2