Wisconsin Badgers

Badgers claim first NCAA Championship

The strategy called for members of the University of Wisconsin cross country team to run in bunches, making sure that no one was left far behind. But Coach Dan McClimon said he was concerned that the wet, muddy conditions might throw his runners off stride.

“The course was a real mudhole,” McClimon said this morning, less than 24 hours after his team had won the National Collegiate Athletic Association title on Indiana University’s 10,000-meter course at Bloomington, Ind.

The Badgers, who became the first Big Ten team to win the NCAA crown since Michigan State accomplished the feat in 1959, pulled off the victory by placing five runners in the top 26. Tim Hacker and Scott Jenkins were fourth and fifth, respectively, while John Easker was 16th, Joe Stintzi 23rd, and Jim Brice 26th. As a result, Wisconsin finished with 59 points and easily defeated runner-up Providence, which had 138.

“Our strategy was to run in pairs and that’s pretty much what happened,” said McClimon. “Jenkins and Hacker ran pretty much together, and Easker, Stintzi and Brice all came together at about the two-mile mark. They picked each other up for the rest of the race, and the crowd really acknowledged it. There were about 5,000 to 6,000 people watching and they were really rooting for us.”

Mark Scrutton, an Englishman attending Colorado, took the lead 300 yards from the finish to win the individual title.

Hacker, a sophomore from Menomonee Falls, was timed at 30:26.9, and Jenkins, a sophomore from Kenosha, finished at 30:30.8. Easker’s time was 30:42.2, while Stintzi finished in 30:50.5 and Brice in 30:55.2.

Team unity, McClimon said, was the key ingredient for Wisconsin.

“All season long these guys ran as a team,” he said. “I still honestly don’t think they really care who wins. Just as long as they do well as a group.”

—By Don Lindstrom
Wisconsin State Journal
Nov. 23, 1982

Hacker leads Wisconsin to national title

Running on a familiar, but icy, Dretzka Park course less than two miles from his Menomonee Falls home, Tim Hacker became the University of Wisconsin’s second national champion and led the Badgers to the NCAA cross country championship Monday.

The undefeated Badgers, ranked first in the nation throughout the season, placed five runners—Hacker, Joe Stintzi, Scott Jenkins, Kelley Delaney and Rusty Korhonen—in the first 43 runners to score 67 points and defeat defending champion Arkansas in the 49th annual meet.

Hacker ran the hilly, snow-covered 10,000-meter course in 29 minutes, 17.88 seconds, the fastest time in the NCAA championships since Texas-El Paso’s Suleiman Nyambui ran 29:04.0 in 1980. Hacker had to sprint away from Iowa State’s Yobes Ondieke and Marquette’s Keith Hanson in the final 1.5 miles to become the Badgers’ first national winner since Walter Mehl in 1939. It capped a  perfect season which included titles in the Badger Classic, Big Ten Conference and NCAA District IV meets.

“This is something really special—the best one ever,” said Hacker, who was only the second American champion since 1978. “We were happy to win the team championship in 1982, but to win the race and win the team title again is really something.”

Arkansas finished second with 104 points. Colorado was third with 167, Arizona fourth with 175 and North Carolina fifth with 200 in the 22-school field.
It was the second national championship for Wisconsin. Its victory total was the best since 1982 when the Badgers won with 59 at Indiana.

Capping the stunning effort by the Badgers were Stintzi, 11th in 30:05.99; Jenkins, 24th in 30:25.05; Delaney, 26th in 30:27.58; and Korhonen, 43rd in 30:45.47. Wisconsin’s effort was so impressive that four runners—Hacker, Stintzi, Jenkins and Delaney—earned All-America honors.

—By Don Lindstrom
Wisconsin State Journal
Nov. 26, 1985

Badgers a cut above the rest

The disposable razor and can of shaving gel in Rusty Korhonen’s possession proved that the Wisconsin men’s cross country team was a cut above the rest on Monday.
Korhonen shaved his beard when the top-ranked Badgers trimmed the field and won the NCAA title at Jester Park, about 10 miles from Des Moines. This title, UW’s third overall and second in four years, came without an individual in the top 15.

“I think this performance is a reflection of everyone this whole season long,” said UW coach Martin Smith. 

“We felt if we could get our five men within 20th to 40th, we could win this thing,” said Badgers senior Chris Borsa. 

UW finishes from 17th to 44th proved more than adequate when the team score was computed. The Badgers finished with 105 points. Northern Arizona was second with 160.

Borsa led the way in 17th place. He covered the 10,000-meter course in 29 minutes, 51 seconds—31 seconds slower than the winning time posted by Indiana freshman Robert Kennedy.

Four Badgers followed Borsa across the finish line over the next 34 seconds. Scott Fry was 24th (29:59), Phil Schoensee 25th (30:00), Korhonen 32nd (30:09), and Mike Huffman 44th (30:24).

“I thought around five miles, the guys ahead of me were looking pretty good,” Huffman said. “And I knew I was going to be able to finish pretty strong.”

As it turned out, each of the Badgers had a strong kick.

“We were saving our mental and physical preparation for the big one—which is this one,” Borsa said. “I think we showed everyone that Wisconsin was ranked No. 1 and deserved it.”

—By Rob Hernandez
Wisconsin State Journal
Nov. 22, 1988

Bairu, Badgers Win National Title

That 800-pound gorilla can no longer keep up with the University of Wisconsin men’s cross country team.

The Badgers ran away from the proverbial monkey on their backs Monday at the NCAA championships in Terre Haute, Ind., demolishing the rest of the field to win the program’s fourth national title after three straight years of runner-up finishes.

Wisconsin, behind individual champion Simon Bairu and third-place finisher Chris Solinsky, placed all five of its scoring runners in the top 17 for a total of 37
points, the fifth-lowest score in the 67-year history of the competition.

How dominant were the Badgers?

Consider this: Even without Bairu and Solinsky, Wisconsin still would have finished ahead of runner-up Arkansas, who finished with 105 points.

All but one of the Badger runners earned All-American status. Bairu, who defended his individual title, and Solinsky were joined by Matt Withrow (ninth), senior Antony Ford (14th), Stuart Eagon (17th) and Tim Nelson (18th). Christian Wagner was the team’s final runner across the line in 58th.

“I think the thing they did better today than I’ve ever seen them do was they ran a race like they would typically run but they didn’t put a lot of emotional energy into the
first half of the race,” Wisconsin coach Jerry Schumacher said. “They really were patient.”

The race was run on the same course as last year’s championships, where the Badgers were dealt a crushing four-point defeat by a Colorado team that surprised everyone with its come-from-behind victory.

But unlike last season, when Wisconsin entered the race as the heavy favorite, the 2005 Badgers were seen as a virtual lock. And they did not disappoint.

The Badgers’ front five stuck together through the first half of the race, hitting the 5,000-meter mark in 14 minutes, 55 seconds. The Wisconsin quintet was clogged up with 10 other runners, all just a second off the front-runners’ pace.

—by Jason McMahon
The Capital Times
Nov. 23, 2006

Badgers storm to fifth national title

Perhaps no runner at Monday's NCAA men's cross country championships had more to prove than University of Wisconsin senior Elliot Krause.

The Badgers' co-captain physically collapsed on the final straightaway of last year's competition, laboring through the final 400 meters en route to a shocking 137th place finish.

This time around at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course, Krause got his redemption and then some.

The senior finished 17th overall, one of four UW runners to claim All-American honors as the top-ranked Badgers dethroned two-time defending national champion Oklahoma State to claim their first national title since 2005 and the fifth in program history.

UW finished with 97 points, followed by the Cowboys (139) and third-place Colorado (144). Arizona freshman Lawi Lalang won the individual title in 28 minutes, 44.1 seconds 

"I mean, this is what I came to Madison for, to try to get out there and win a national title," said Krause, who covered the 10,000-meter course in 29:41.6 — nearly two minutes better than his 2010 NCAA meet finish. "And so to do it when everything's on the line, (senior) year, kinda coming back after having a pretty awful last straightaway of the meet last year and really just falling apart, it really means a lot to me. Especially doing it with this group of guys and (coach) Mick (Byrne), I can't explain it. It's awesome."

The Badgers' triumph also represented a certain degree of vindication for Byrne, who had gone his first 22 years as a head coach without winning a national title.

"I'm super happy," said junior Mohammed Ahmed, who led the way with a fifth-place finish in a personal-best time of 29:06.7. "All I was saying to myself was, ‘Do it for Mick ... Do it for Mick,' you know? For me and Mick, we have a great relationship. He's a father figure to me. I'm from Canada, so my mom and dad aren't with me all the time. So he's definitely helping me out a lot."

The Badgers won in dominant fashion, leading the race wire-to-wire to prove they were no doubt deserving of the No. 1 ranking they received at the start of November.

Senior Ryan Collins (23rd, 29:52.2), junior Reed Connor (36th, 30:08.6) and junior Maverick Darling (46th, 30:20) rounded out UW's five scorers. Top-40 finishers earn All-American honors.

"We talked last night about it; this was still the same team today, no matter what happened," said Byrne, UW's fourth-year coach who spent the previous 19 seasons of his career building tiny Iona (N.Y.) University into a national powerhouse. "First, second, third place, I wasn't going to let anybody say (we) were a failure if we didn't pull this thing off."

Darling, the Badgers' other co-captain, wasn't happy with his performance. But seeing Krause redeem himself in the biggest meet of his career was the perfect ending to a remarkable season.

"You work with somebody everyday like that who's a hell of a worker, hard-working kid and a guy who really gets after it," Darling said. "So for him to go out an All-American, it's great. He's that guy that, no one deserved it more than him."

Nov. 21, 2011
by Nick Sunderland-Saied
Wisconsin State Journal