MADISON, Wis. — The 25th-ranked Wisconsin women's cross country team had an outstanding showing at the Nuttycombe Invitational on Friday. With redshirt senior Alissa Niggeman leading the way, Wisconsin finished 10th out of 38 teams with 322 points.
Third-ranked New Mexico won the team title, edging No. 1 NC State 93-102. Third-ranked BYU finished third with 152 points while sixth-ranked Minnesota took fourth with 188 points. Wisconsin finished ahead of several teams ranked above them in the national poll, including No. 7 Washington, No. 9 Stanford, No. 17 Michigan State, No. 18 Portland, No. 20 Villanova, No. 23 Notre Dame and No. 24 Gonzaga.
All top-five Badger finishers completed the 6k course within 40 seconds of each other. Niggemann began the race sitting in 59th place but rapidly moved up to the top-50 by the halfway mark. As Niggemann approached the final few hundred meters, she jumped up to 29th, securing her leading finish for Wisconsin in 21 minutes, 40.8 seconds.
Junior
Victoria Heiligenthal was the second Badger to cross the line. She secured 61st place by running a personal best by over 20 seconds with her time of 21:02.4. Stella Gilliman finished just a second behind Heiligenthal in 21:03.4 to secure 63rd place.
Shea Rhuly (21:12.0) and
Scarlet Dale (21:12.2) solidified the 10th-place finish for Wisconsin with their 85th and 86th place finishes, respectively.
Other Badger finishers were
Lucinda Crouch 89th in 21:16.3;
Samantha Stieve 98th in 21:17.8; and Alexa Westley 111th in 21:22.3.
Danielle Orie leads UW to second place in the B Race
Wisconsin finished second in the B race with all top-five Badgers securing top-30 spots, finishing within 26 seconds of each other.
Senior
Danielle Orie ran among the lead pack the entire race, securing an eighth place in 21:25.0.
Heidi Heuerman quickly followed Orie with her 15th-place finish in 21:33.6.
Peyton Sippy was the third Badger to cross the line in 21:38.4 to earn 18th place.
The redshirt freshman duo of
Emma Watcke (21:46.9) and
Ellen Van Doorn (21:51.3) wrapped up the team scoring for Wisconsin by finishing the race in 21st and 22nd place, respectively.
Straight from the Course:
Head Coach Mackenzie Wartenberger:
"It was really exciting to see the women get out there. Alissa (Niggemann) ran beautifully, and we knew last spring, with the way her track season went, that she is capable of some really special stuff, but for her to be able to do that in cross country was exceptional. We are happy with 10th place. ot satisfied (because) I think we have some spaces where we want to be better, but they got the job done. This group has never raced together before, so for them to come together and do what they were able to do, I was just really proud of them."
Alissa Niggemann:
"We executed our plan fairly well through the first 2-3k thanks to Scarlett Dale. She was the one I was trusting to get me through that first 3 or 4k and she's really good at maneuvering her way through people. She's like "that's my one special talent is that i know how to open doors between people." I was really keying off of her, which Coach Mack really wanted us to do and along that we had
Shea Ruhly and
Lucinda Crouch also working together."
Up Next:
Wisconsin has two weeks before traveling to Penn State for the Big Ten Cross Country Championships on Oct. 29 in University Park, Pennsylvania.
Championship Race Results:
| Top 15 Teams |
| 1. New Mexico |
93 |
| 2. NC State |
102 |
| 3. BYU |
152 |
| 4. Minnesota |
188 |
| 5. Oklahoma State |
206 |
| 6. Colorado State |
236 |
| 7. Syracuse |
265 |
| 8. Providence |
268 |
| 9. Iowa State |
306 |
| 10. Wisconsin |
322 |
| 11. Notre Dame |
378 |
| 12. Michigan State |
412 |
| 13. Utah State |
421 |
| 14. Butler |
437 |
| 15. Washington |
463 |
| Top 10 Individuals |
| 1. Celli McCabe |
WVU |
19:57.4 |
| 2. Kelsey Chmiel |
NC ST. |
20:00.2 |
| 3. Taylor Roe |
OSU |
20:01.1 |
| 4. Jenna Magness |
MSU |
20:05.6 |
| 5. Katelyn Tuohy |
NC ST. |
20:08.4 |
| 6. Bethany Hasz |
MINN |
20:09.5 |
| 7. Cailie Logue |
ISU |
20:10.7 |
| 8. Alison Pray |
SU |
20:11.4 |
| 9. Amanda Vestri |
SYR |
20:13.3 |
| 10. Abby Kohut-Jackson |
MINN |
20:19.1 |
| Wisconsin Finishers |
| 29. Alissa Niggemann |
WIS |
20:40.8 |
| 61. Victoria Heiligenthal |
WIS |
21:02.4 |
| 63. Stella Gillman |
WIS |
21:03.4 |
| 85. Shea Ruhly |
WIS |
21:12.0 |
| 86. Scarlet Dale |
WIS |
21:12.2 |
| 96. Lucinda Crouch |
WIS |
21:16.3 |
| 98. Samantha Stieve |
WIS |
21:17.8 |
| 111. Alexa Westley |
WIS |
21:22.3 |
B Race Results:
| Top 6 Teams |
| 1. New Mexico |
24 |
| 2. Wisconsin |
46 |
| 3. BYU |
56 |
| 4. Michigan State |
115 |
| 5. Minnesota |
130 |
| 6. Eastern Michigan |
160 |
| Top 10 Individuals |
| 1. Elise Thorner |
MN |
20:57.8 |
| 2. Haley Johnston |
BYU |
21:00.5 |
| 3. Aliandrea Upshaw |
NM |
21:02.1 |
| 4. Rilee Rigdon |
OSU |
21:09.0 |
| 5. Andrea Markezich |
WASH |
21:10.6 |
| 6. Hannah Miller |
NM |
21:20.9 |
| 7. Gionna Quarzo |
NC ST |
21:22.5 |
| 8. Danielle Orie |
WIS |
21:25.0 |
| 9. Isabel Zimmermann |
NC ST |
21:29.8 |
| 10. Madi Moffitt |
BYU |
21:32.2 |
