MacDougall and Westley earn All-Big Ten honors

Saturday, January 30

Blue River Cross Country Course, Shelbyville, Ind.

11:30 a.m.

Wisconsin Badgers

Big Ten Championships

Photo by: Kevin Sippy

MacDougall and Westley earn All-Big Ten honors

January 30, 2021 | Women's Cross Country

Women's cross country finishes sixth at Big Ten Championship

By: Diane Nordstrom

SHELBYVILLE, Ind. – Behind junior transfer Brogan MacDougall and sophomore Alexa Westley, the Wisconsin women's cross country team finished sixth at the Big Ten championships on Saturday.

Michigan State won its second-straight Big Ten title with 48 points while Minnesota was a distant second with 76 points. Wisconsin scored 135 points, to finish 25 points behind fifth-place Ohio State.

MacDougall made an immediate impact on the Badgers, finishing seventh in 20 minutes, 44.1 seconds. Westley was only five seconds back, placing 12^th in 20:49.3. MacDougall earned first-team All-Big Ten honors while Westley was a second-team All-Big Ten honoree.

The Badgers started out strong with five runners among the top-22 runners behind MacDougall, who was in 10^th place. Halfway through the race, MacDougall was in seventh place while Westley sat in 10^th place while two other runners were among the top 20 with Alissa Niggemann 19^th and Victoria Heiligenthal in 20^th.

With 1,000 meters to go, Westley and MacDougall continued to push each other as they finished among the top runners.

Senior Alissa Niggemann finished third for Wisconsin, crossing in 21:32.3 for 35^th place. Junior Vivian Hacker came on late, placing 39^th in 21:36.4. Sophomore Sarah Shulze rounded out the Badger scorers, crossing in 21:40.4 for 43^rd place.

Other finishers were Samantha Stieve, 44^th in 21:42.7; Victoria Heilifenthal, 46^th in 21:48.4; Peyton Sippy, 49^th in 21:52.4; and Scarlet Dale, 68^th in 22:20.2.

Straight from the course

Head Coach Mackenzie Wartenberger
"I think this is a great team that had a bad day. They showed that they haven't raced in a while and we have some women that really struggled on the same day. But I'm super proud of the efforts, incredibly excited about Brogan MacDougall, who transferred in and had some big eyes on her and really stepped up to the plate. I think there were a lot of question marks about how she was going to go today and she hasn't run cross country in well over a year but for her to come in and be seventh, in a really deep women's field, was just phenomenal.

"Sophomore Lexi Westley had a tough race last year as a true freshman and for her to come out and race with poise and commitment the way that she did. It was just phenomenal. I'm really proud of those women.

"We had a couple of returners I know that wanted to do better and are looking to hopefully do some better performances in indoors and get back to work. I know that this group is capable of a lot and now they have a good fire in them for next fall cross country for sure.

"We talked a lot about pack work and keeping our groups together. Lexi and Brogan did an incredible job of working together and kind of focusing on each other. It was a pretty wild women's race … with women that were used to racing in this conference not being there, so I think them working together really helped out."

Brogan MacDougall
"It definitely felt a bit surreal. It was awesome to be back on the course. I was very happy just to get the experience to race again.

"When the front pack kind of split up a bit, it felt a bit like oh I don't know where anyone is, but then I heard Lexi behind me and I was like this is awesome, this is someone familiar. For the last mile we were kind of with each other and in that last (kilometer) I was starting to go backwards, but having her there really pushed me and I owe a lot of it to her.

"This was a good starting place and hopefully if I get more experience, I will be able to keep it going."

Team Scores
1. Michigan State	47
2. Minnesota	75
3. Illinois	88
4. Indiana	92
5. Ohio State	115
6. Wisconsin	135
7. Northwestern	208
8. Penn State	217
9. Nebraska	223
10. Purdue	237

Wisconsin Scorers
7.	Brogan MacDougall	20:44.1
12.	Alexa Westley	20:49.3
35.	Alissa Niggemann	21:32.3
39.	Vivian Hacker	21:36.4
43.	Sarah Shulze	21:40.4
44.	Samantha Stieve	21:42.7
46.	Victoria Heiligenthal	21:48.4
49.	Peyton Sippy	21:52.4
68.	Scarlet Dale	22:20.2