Big Ten Champions Again: No. 51

Saturday, January 30

Blue River Cross Country Course, Shelbyville, Ind.

1 p.m.

Wisconsin Badgers

Big Ten Championships

Photo by: Kevin Sippy

Big Ten Champions Again: No. 51

January 30, 2021 | Men's Cross Country

Men's cross country wins Big Ten championship

By: Diane Nordstrom

SHELBYVILLE, Ind. – There were a lot of new faces on the Wisconsin men's cross country team but that didn't stop the Badgers from winning their 51^st Big Ten Conference Championship on Saturday. The Badgers came from behind over the last 1,000 meters to defeat Indiana by 11 points on the Blue River Cross Country Course.

Wisconsin won the team title with 40 points while Indiana finished second with 51 points. Purdue and Michigan State tied for third with 97 points.

UW wins its third-straight Big Ten title and has won more conference championships than all other schools combined. This was also the 10^th Big Ten championship for Coach Mick Byrne in his 13 years at UW.

The Badgers placed all five scorers among the top-15 finishers with four athletes earning first-team or second-team All-Big Ten honors.

Redshirt freshman Rowen Ellenberg led Wisconsin from the start as six Badgers were among the top 50 runners. Halfway through the race it was down to five UW runners among the top 20 racers with Ellenberg in fifth.

With one kilometer to go, Wisconsin trailed Indiana by just five points in the team race but the top-five Badgers were among the top-14 runners. Over the home stretch, Ellenberg moved up six places to finish third overall in 24 minutes 11.1 seconds. Nebraska's George Kusche won the individual title in 24:01.2, crossing just tenths of a second ahead of Illinois' Jonathan Davis, who finished second in 24:01.8.

Sophomore Jackson Sharp finished right behind Ellenberg in 24:11.7 for fourth place while junior transfer Charlie Wheeler moved up five places over the last kilometer to finish sixth in 24:13.2. All three Badgers earned first-team All-Big Ten honors.

Two freshmen made their Big Ten debuts as Bob Liking earned second-team All-Big Ten honors, crossing in 24:22.3 for 12^th place. Evan Bishop rounded out the scoring, coming in 15^th in 24:25.8.

Other UW finishers were Seth Hirsch in 24^th in 24:41.4 and Derick Peters 60^th in 25:48.7.

Straight from the course

Head coach Mick Byrne
"It was an incredible performance today. Going into this championships, we had our backs up against the wall. When you look at the results, it's easy to see that we were without three of our top guys. We felt going into the meet that we had a depleted squad but this shows the resilience and the incredible spirit of this team, knowing they were going in there to compete for a Big Ten title. It was a very rewarding performance from a particularly young squad.

"How these guys were able to withstand the incredible pressure they were under especially with our history in this meet. This speaks volumes to the character of this team. They were not going to surrender that title easily. I think a lot of teams got very excited when the rosters were announced last night. That gave a lot of teams hope but never underestimate the heart of a Badger. These guys understand what it means to be a Big Ten champ. We're very proud of our record at this championship. When you look at how young this team is, I'm kind of excited about the future.

"We knew the big players were going to be Indiana, Purdue, and Michigan State and that's how it played out. We talked about not getting involved in any big (individual) moves and stay focused on the team, lock in on the team. We kind of matched up against Indiana. The big thing was that we were running as a team and not as individuals, we emphasized that. We emphasized patience.

"They knew that they were going to battle today. They knew they had to be very patient and execute. We knew this race was going to happen after the last 2K and that's exactly what happened."

Third-place finisher Rowen Ellenberg
"I honestly just kind of approached it like any other race. We talked a lot about being patient and managing our expectations. We didn't know how it was going to go since we didn't have three of our top five (runners) but we came into it with the mindset that that doesn't mean we can't win.

"I talked to Olin (Hacker) last night and he gave me some good advice. He said, 'This is our race. The Big Ten championship is Wisconsin's race. Go in there and remember that you're a Badger.'

"We knew it was going to be close because it was me, Jackson and Charlie, and then there were three Indiana guys right there. Every time I passed someone in red, they said 'That's who you have to get, you have to get every Indiana guy.' Coming into the last 1K, I knew I had it in me. I was there and I was feeling good, and I was like 'we can do this.'"

Team Results
1. Wisconsin	40
2. Indiana	51
3. Purdue	97
Michigan State	97
5. Nebraska	117
6. Illinois	155
7. Minnesota	160
8. Penn State	203
9. Ohio State	256

Note: No other teams competed in the championship or only had a partial team

Individual Results
1. George Kusche	NEB	24:01.2
2. Jonathan Davis	ILL	24:01.8
3. Rowen Ellenberg	WIS	24:11.1
4. Jackson Sharp	WIS	24:11.7
5. Curtis Eckstein	PUR	24:13.0
6. Charlie Wheeler	WIS	24:13.2
7. James Uhlenberg	MSU	24:13.2
8. Ben Beatch	IND	24:18.2
9. Matthew Schadler	IND	24:19.1
10. Jake Gebhardt	IND	24:20.5
11. Arjun Jha	IND	24:21.6
12. Bob Liking	WIS	24:22.3
13. Skyler Stidam	IND	24:22.9
14. Brendan Favazza	MSU	24:24.4
Other Wisconsin Finishers
15. Evan Bishop	WIS	24:25.8
24. Seth Hirsch	WIS	24:41.4
60. Derick Peters	WIS	25:48.7