Columbus, Ohio –   It was another monumental day for five-time All American Alicia Monson and the No. 7 Wisconsin women's cross country team at the Big Ten Championships.

Monson, defended her 2018 individual title finishing the 6000-meter race in 20 minutes, 05.4 seconds to lead the Badgers to second- place team finish. She becomes the fourth Wisconsin women's cross country runner to win back-to-back individual Big Ten Championships (Cathy Branta, 1982,1983,1984, Stephanie Herbst 1985, 1986 and Eric Palmer 1999, 2000) and the first to do so in nineteen years. 

Monson, made her move into first place after the 3,000-meter mark and never looked back. She surged over the final 1K to extend her lead by six seconds to win her second straight individual Big Ten title. 

But Monson didnt do it alone!

Seniors, Amy Davis and Alissa Niggemann had incredible races at their last cross country Big Ten Championships.

Amy Davis improved 9 spots from last years championships, finishing 4th with a time of 20:19.0 and Alissa Niggemann had her best conference performance of her career improving 24 spots from last year, finishing 9th with a time of 20:33.1. 

Aussie, Lucinda Crouch continues to step up in her sophomore season improving eight spots from last years championships, finishing 13th with a time of 20:37.7.

Wisconsin raced five freshman at the 2019 Big Ten Championship, including redshirt freshman Peyton Sippy and true freshman Alexa Westley, Sarah Shulze, Victoria Heiligenthal and Shea Ruhly. Alexa Westley lead the way for the young Badgers placing 35th with a time of 21:13.4, Peyton Sippy was not far behind finishing 39th with a time of 21:14.8, Sarah Shulze  finished 52nd with a time of 21:23.2 and Victoria Heiligenthal rounded out the Badgers finishers placing 54th with a time of 21:27.6. Shea Ruhly did not finish the race. 

No. 9 Michigan State won the team title with 56 points,  placing five runners in the top 16. Wisconsin finished second with impressive finishes from Alicia Monson, Amy Davis, Alissa Niggemann and Lucinda Crouch. No. 8 Michigan took third with 88 points 

First team All-Big Ten
Alicia Monson- 1st
Amy Davis- 4th

Second team All-Big Ten
Alissa Niggemann- 9th
Lucinda Crouch-13th

 

Alicia Monson wins back-to-back B1G Ten Championships with a time of 20:05.4 🥇🥇#OnWisconsin #B1GXC pic.twitter.com/cCDPDjhUgu

— Wisconsin Track & Field (@BadgerTrackXC) November 3, 2019

 

Straight from the course

"I'm proud of how the team overall performed today. We obviously were trying to go for a team win and missed really narrowly against one of the best teams in the NCAA. Individually, I went out and did what I was supposed to do while keeping in mind our goal of performing at the national meet. I'm especially excited for the five freshman who performed today and saw what it takes to compete in a conference like the Big Ten, and I'm looking forward to watch as they gain experience over the season and following years."

-Big Ten Champion Alicia Monson

"It's bittersweet, we set our goals high and we've been very vocal about them. We wanted to win the Big Ten Championship, to lose it by six points is kind of a bitter pill. We had some huge finishes from some of our older women, Alicia defending her individual title was the highlight, Amy Davis was absolutely brilliant, Alissa Niggemann had the race of her conference championship career, Lucinda Crouch, sophomore for us really stepping up and having a great day. We just fell short a little bit in our five, six, seven. I will say this, we had some incredible youngsters that really committed to going for the win and we looked like we were young on the back end. That's the future of the program and I'm incredibly proud of their guts today and we'll get there to running the whole 6K before too long. "

"We've really been lucky to have three incredible seniors in Amy, Alicia and Alissa, they really set the tone for our program. We had a group of young women who should be very proud of themselves but were beating themselves up because they wanted to give those women the send-off they deserve, which is a Big Ten title. Second place by six points is not too bad in the grand scheme of things and leadership is really the legacy of these seniors along with the other women who have been a part of our program. Now we are looking at who's going to step in and fill their shoes next year when we are here with an entirely different group. In terms of the rest of the season, we are looking at just getting things going. I think we saw some huge breakthroughs from Alissa and Lucinda and how we need to race at these big level meets. Lexi Westley had an incredible day, she's never been that far up in her race early and did a great job of closing things down in the last couple hundred meters. Sarah Shulze was incredible, Peyton Sippy looked great and we had a bunch of true freshman that really stepped up and I think they're going to continue to get lots of experience as we go into the Great Lakes Regional and then hopefully the National Championship."

-Head coach Mackenzie Wartenberger

Up next

The Badgers have a break from competition next week before they are back in action at home for the Great Lakes Regional in two weeks at the Zimmer Championship Course. Women are set to race at 12 p.m. on Nov. 15.
 

Big Ten Championship Results
Team		Score
1.	Michigan State	56
2.	Wisconsin	62
3.	Michigan	88
4.	Penn State	138
5.	Ohio State	144
6.	Illinois	144
7.	Minnesota	145
8.	Indiana	177
9.	Iowa	273
10.	Nebraska	283
11.	Purdue	302
12.	Maryland	336
13.	Northwestern	353
14.	Rutgers	428

 

Individuals
1.	Alicia Monson	20:05.4
4.	Amy Davis	20:19.0
9.	Alissa Niggemann	20:33.1
13.	Lucinda Crouch	20:37.7
35.	Alexa Westley	21:13.4
39.	Peyton Sippy	21:14.8
52.	Sarah Shulze	21:23.2
54.	Victoria Heiligenthal	21:27.6