Booked and Busy: Badgers win Great Lakes and head to NCAA's

Friday, November 11

Terre Haute, IN

9 AM

Wisconsin Badgers

NCAA Great Lakes Regional

Photo by: Carol Chen

Booked and Busy: Badgers win Great Lakes and head to NCAA's

November 11, 2022 | Men's Cross Country

UW wins its 32nd NCAA regional title

By: Londyn Butler

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Thanks to placing six runners in the top-13, the No. 8 Wisconsin men's cross country team captured the program's 32nd regional title on Friday at the 2022 NCAA Great Lakes Regional at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana.

The Badgers scored 50 points to win their first regional title since 2018 and had their top six runners finish within 0.8 seconds of each other fo finish 11 points ahead of Notre Dame.

Thanks to its top-two finish, Wisconsin automatically qualified for next Saturday's NCAA Cross Country Championship in Stillwater, Oklahoma, which will be shown live on ESPNU for the third-straight year.

The pack of six runners was led by juniors Evan Bishop and Rowen Ellenberg and senior Jackson Sharp as the trio all crossed the line in 30 minutes, 7.6 seconds to finish eighth, ninth and 10th, respectively. Jack Meijer finished 11th in 30:07.7 and Charlie Wheeler crossed the line in 30:08.0. Two-time Big Ten champion Bob Liking placed 13th in 30:08.3.

Notes to Know:
- Bishop, Ellenberg, Sharp, Meijer, Wheeler and Liking all earned all-region honors for their top-25 finishes.
- Bishop, Ellenberg, Sharp, Meijer and Wheeler all set 10K personal bests on Friday.
- It marked UW's fourth win of the season after winning the Big Ten championship two weeks ago along with team titles at the Roy Griak Invitational and the Badger Open.
- UW will make its record 60th appearance at the NCAA championships next Saturday.

Straight from the Course from Mick Byrne
On qualifying for the NCAA championships:
"It was mission accomplished for our men today. That's the bottom line. You come into the regional meet with the attitude to get through it and get one of the top two spots to automatically qualify. It's the same thing for the men and women to have that attitude.

On the race:
"Early on in the race us and Notre Dame, the two top ranked teams, put ourselves out front. There were a few individuals that we were keeping an eye on, but at the end of the day we kept our pack together. That was the goal all along, to keep the pack together and not go too crazy, and the guys did an amazing job. They didn't get involved in any individual contests and that was important that guys like Bob Liking saved his legs for next week's NCAA meet. I was very impressed with the way we basically took control of the race and didn't play down to anyone. It's impressive what they were able to accomplish today without Adam Spencer, our third scorer at Big Tens and our finish really shows how deep we are as a team."

Up Next
The Badgers will head to Stillwater, Oklahoma on Nov. 19 to compete at the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championship. The men's 10K race will begin at 10:10 a.m. CT.

2022 NCAA Great Lakes Regional
Friday, Nov. 11, 2022
LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course
Terre Haute, Indiana
10,000 Meter Course

Top 10 Teams
1. Wisconsin	50
2. Notre Dame	61
3. Michigan	79
4. Butler	82
5. Michigan State	137
6. Indiana	176
7. Miami (Ohio)	220
8. Purdue	266
9. Toledo	300
10. Cincinnati	328

Top 10 Individuals
1. Barry Keane	Butler	29:38.1
2. Jesse Hamlin	Butler	29:50.1
3. Tom Brady	Mich.	29:54.8
4. Arjun Jha	Mich.	29:55.1
5. Carter Solomon	ND	29:55.8
6. Izaiah Steury	ND	30:02.5
7. Baidy Ba	Kent St.	30:07.0
8. Evan Bishop	WIS	30:07.6 PR
9. Rowen Ellenberg	WIS	30:07.6 PR
10. Jackson Sharp	WIS	30:07.6 PR