MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin men's cross country team had a dominant showing in its first home meet in 22 months with five Badgers finishing in the top five against DePaul on Friday at the Zimmer Championship Course.
Olin Hacker, Charlie Wheeler, and David Vannucchi all ran the 6k in 18 minutes, 26.5 seconds. Senior Seth Hirsch crossed the finish line .01 seconds behind the trio to secure his fourth-place standing. Sophomore Jackson Sharp solidified the perfect score for Wisconsin with his fifth-place finish in 18:32.1.
Freshman Oliver Paleen and junior Kavanaugh FitzPatrick also secured top-10 standings. Paleen came in seventh in 18:55.5 while Fitzpatrick finished in 9th in 19:12.4.
Straight from the Course
Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne
"The Badger Classic gave five or six guys an opportunity to get out there today and open up. It's a great rust burner so we know where they are right now. Next we'll put some more guys out and see where they are at but the important thing for us thinking long term, looking for what's coming down the road and we're always thinking about that. It's always about who's ready to go, who can we put out there, who's not going to get too excited and go deep into the well. They did a great job at that today. We threw in a couple of young guys, 2 or 3 of the older guys and there was a good balance there."
Up Next:
Following Friday's meet, Wisconsin has a month of training before competing in the Greater Louisville Classic on October 2.
Badger Classic
Sept. 10, 2021
Zimmer Championship Course
6K Race
Team Scores
1. Wisconsin - 15 points
2. DePaul - 47 points
Individual Scores:
1. Olin Hacker 18:26.5
2. Charlie Wheeler 18:26.5
3. David Vannucchi 18:26.5
4. Seth Hirsch 18:26.6
5. Jackson Sharp 18:32.5
7. Oliver Paleen 18:55.5
9. Kavanaugh FitzPatrick 19:12.4
13. Ben Schnoor 19:39.3
