TALLAHASSEE, FLA. -- Behind All-American Olin Hacker, the Wisconsin men's cross country team finished 11th at the NCAA Championships on Saturday morning.

Five Badgers ran personal best times as UW scored 361 points as the top Big Ten Conference team, recording their 59th top-20 finish. Wisconsin has never finished lower than 19th in an NCAA-best 59 national championship appearances.

Hacker wraps up his collegiate cross country career with his first All-American honor. The Madison native covered the 10,000-meter course in a personal-best time of 29 minutes, 27.3 seconds to finish 30th.

Sophomore Bob Liking wrapped an impressive season, finishing second on the team and 66th overall in a personal-best time of 29:50.6.

Fifth-year senior Seth Hirsch moved up continually during the race, including 59 spots over the second-half of the race, to cross in a personal best time of 30:03.8 for 84th place and third on the team.

Sophomore Rowen Ellenberg and senior Shuaib Aljabaly finished less than 20 seconds behind Hirsch to round out the Badger scoring. Ellenberg moved up five places over the last 2,000 meters to finish 115th in a personal best of 30:19.14. Aljabaly crossed in a personal best time of 30:23.0 for 126th place.

Sophomore Evan Bishop and junior Jackson Sharp rounded out the team, finishing 138th and 165th, respectively. Bishop covered the course in 30:30.6 while Sharp finished in 30:42.0

The Badgers wrapped up a successful season, finishing fourth at the Nuttycombe Invitational, winning their 52nd Big Ten Championship and finishing second at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional with five athletes earning all-region honors.

Straight from the course

Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne
"On the men's side, we were looking for a top 10 result. We fell short of that. The NCAA Championship race is unforgiving and there were many causalities out there today. Having three young guys (Liking, Ellenberg and Bishop) run two 10ks on back-to-back weekends is tough. These young guns will learn from this experience and be better next time.

"Olin Hacker did a good job finishing 30th in his final NCAA cross country race to secure his first All-American honor. I"m very proud of him."

 

Team Scores
1. Northern Arizona	92
2. Iowa State	137
3. Oklahoma State	186
4. Arkansas	195
5. Stanford	236
6. Tulsa	237
7. BYU	246
8. Colorado	249
9. Notre Dame	290
10. Wake Forest	356
11. Wisconsin	361
12. Harvard	364
13. Washington	373
14. Texas	393
15. Ole Miss	395
16. Portland	430
17. Air Force	453
18. North Carolina	460
19. Syracuse	485
20. Florida State	517
21. Minnesota	518
22. Georgetown	566
23. Princeton	567
24. Southern Utah	573
25. Michigan	588
26. Gonzaga	612
27. Alabama	640
28. Butler	643
29. Oregon	655
30. Michigan State	681
31. Furman	688

 

Top 10 Finishers
1. Conner Mantz, BYU	28:33.1
2. Wesley Kiptoo, Iowa State	28:38.7
3. Athanas Kioko, Campbell	28:40.9
4. Charles Hicks, Stanford	28:47.2
5. Morgan Beadlescomb, Michigan State	28:50.6
6. Adriaan Wildschutt, Florida State	28:52.0
7. Abdihamid Nur, Northern Arizona	28:52.9
8. Casey Clinger, BYU	28:55.7
9. Haftu Strintzos, Villanova	28:57.3
10. Dylan Jacobs, Notre Dame	28:57.5
Wisconsin Finishers
30. Olin Hacker	29:27.3
66. Bob Liking	29:50.6
84. Seth Hirsch	30:03.8
115. Rowen Ellenberg	30:19.4
126. Shuaib Aljabaly	30:23.0
138. Evan Bishop	30:30.6
165. Jackson Sharp	30:42.0