Madison, Wis. – Wisconsin's
one-two punch of
Alicia Monson and
Amy Davis lead the No. 7 Wisconsin women's cross country team to a third-place finish at the 2019 Great Lakes Regional on Friday at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course. The seniors had a memorable last home races, finishing first and third, respectively.
Monson, defended her 2018 individual title, finishing the 6000-meter race in 19 minutes, 59.9 seconds to lead the way for the Badgers. Davis was not far behind, finishing third overall with a time of 20:07.4. She improved her time by over 40 seconds and eight spots from last year's regional.
The senior duo stuck with the front of the chase pack from the beginning, making their move over the last 1,000-meters to narrowly finish ahead of Michigan State's second-place finisher Annie Fuller (20:01.1) and Michigan's fourth-place finisher Ericka VanderLende (20:08.1).
The success didn't stop there!
Alissa Niggemann and
Lucinda Crouch lead the middle pack for UW, coming in third and fourth for the Badgers. Niggemann finished 26th with a time of 21:00.5 and Crouch finished 31st with a time of 21:06.1.
Redshirt freshman
Peyton Sippy, true freshman
Alexa Westley and sophomore
Kristen Garcia had phenomenal races this afternoon. Sippy led the way for the young Badgers placing 39th with a time of 21:15.0, Westley finished 46th in 21:26.9 and Garcia took 61st with a time of 21:43.1. Sippy and Westley have proven to be strong fifth and sixth runners over the course of the season.
No. 6 Michigan State and No. 11 Michigan clinch automatic bids to this year's NCAA Championships after finishing top two in the region. Michigan State won the team title with 56 points and Michigan finished second with 74 points. The Badgers finished third with 100 points and will find out on Saturday if they are one of 13 at-large teams selected for the NCAA Championship.
All-Region
Alicia Monson - 1st
Amy Davis - 3rd
Straight from the course
"Staying with the chase pack, that was the goal for the day just because this was regional qualifiers. Really next week is the goal race for us so it was just kind of coming out here, doing the work, working together and seeing who can race in the last home stretch. NCAAs, I'm excited for it, going into my senior year for my last cross season, obviously I'm going for the title, so are a lot of other people but I'm excited for it, going back to Terra Haute."
-Great Lakes Regional Champion Alicia Monson
"Its always a little stressful to not be one of those auto qualifying spots but I couldn't be happier with the performances from Alicia and Amy. Lucinda and Alissa had tough days but did their jobs. We had a really impressive showing from
Peyton Sippy, Lexie Westley and then
Kristen Garcia kind of coming out of the reserves for us. That group of women really had wonderful runs. Today was just about getting the job done and I think we did that. now we will start to get excited, make sure they're feeling as ready as possible and get ready to go.
"For Alicia today, it was about sharpening up a tool box. We know she has proven throughout the year that she can make big moves with 2K to go. We were trying to work on her top-end speed and waiting a little bit later to make that move and she did excellently today. With Amy, she has proven time and time again that she can run with the very best in the NCAA. We are very lucky in the Great Lakes Region to have some of the best individuals in the country and we are moving out of this race thinking that she can run with the very best runners in the country so that will be our goal in eight days.
"I don't know if anyone is ever really ready for their first national championship but today was a big step in the right direction for our young runners. We saw them committing to being a little bit farther up in the race, running a little bit more confidently the last 1500 meters to a 1000 meters. I think if they can pack up the way they did and continue to make good on those lessons they're going to be set up well to have a great performance."
-
Head coach Mackenzie Wartenberger
Up next
The Badgers await selection Saturday to see if they will be one of the 13 at-large teams to punch their ticket to the NCAA Championships held on Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Indiana.
| NCAA Great Lakes Regional Results |
| Team |
Score |
| 1. |
Michigan State |
49 |
| 2. |
Michigan |
74 |
| 3. |
Wisconsin |
100 |
| 4. |
Ohio State |
134 |
| 5. |
Notre Dame |
144 |
| 6. |
Indiana |
175 |
| 7. |
Butler |
234 |
| 8. |
Purdue |
280 |
| 9. |
Eastern Michigan |
283 |
| 10. |
Xavier |
320 |
| 11. |
Cincinnati |
374 |
| 12. |
Miami (Ohio) |
386 |
| 13. |
Oakland |
393 |
| 14. |
Akron |
411 |
| 15. |
Dayton |
423 |
| 16. |
Toledo |
433 |
| 17. |
Marquette |
464 |
| 18. |
Milwaukee |
516 |
| 19. |
Ball State |
533 |
| 20. |
Youngstown St. |
590 |
| 21. |
Wright State |
591 |
| 22. |
Western Michigan |
599 |
| 23. |
IUPUI |
604 |
| 24. |
Indiana State |
610 |
| 25. |
Ohio |
652 |
| 26. |
Bowling Green |
671 |
| 27. |
Evansville |
820 |
| 28. |
Valparaiso |
851 |
| 29. |
Cleveland St. |
869 |
| 30. |
Purdue Fort Wayne |
940 |
| 31. |
Wisconsin - Green Bay |
971 |
