Wisconsin Badgers
NCAA Championships
Five things to know: The Big Dance
November 16, 2022 | Women's Cross Country
Wisconsin competes at NCAA Championships
Here are five things to know before Saturday's race.
1. THE BADGERS ARE BACK: The Badgers return to compete on the national stage, last season UW took 12th at the competition with 376 points. UW is returning to the championship race with senior Victoria Heiligenthal who was the second Badger to cross the finish line taking 83rd in 20 minutes 16.3 seconds. Alexa Westley and Lucinda Crouch are also back competing in the big dance, last year at the race they took 98th in 20 minutes and 29.5 seconds and 107th in 20 minutes and 32.6 seconds respectively.
2. LAST TIME OUT: Last weekend, the Badgers showed their dominance at the Great Lakes regionals as they came in fifth as a team scoring 129 points. Samantha Stieve, led Badgers crossing the finish line in 20:15.1 for eighth-place finish. Shea Ruhly continued her strong season crossing in 20:18.6 for 14th place. Graduate student Lucinda Crouch placed 21st in 20:29.1 while senior Victoria Heiligenthal took 40th in 21:05.1
3. THE COMPETITION: The Badgers have faced up against many of the 31 teams competing in this year's NCAA championship, out of all of the teams that qualified 23 of them competed alongside the Badgers at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational. The Badgers took 14th overall at that race showing how strong of a team they are, and will look to do the same this weekend.
4. HONOREES: Awards keep coming for the Badgers as Ruhly, Stieve, and Crouch earned 2022 All-Region honors after their performances last weekend in Indiana at the Great Lakes Regional.
5. FOLLOW ALONG: The championship race will be streamed live on ESPNU and live results will be accessible through PTTiming. Fans can also follow @BadgertrackXC across all platforms in addition to reading recaps that will be posted on UWBadgers.com
Players Mentioned
