Junior runner Simon Bairu made it two in a row on Sunday morning as UW captured its sixth consecutive Big Ten Cross Country Championship at the University of Iowa's newly-christened Ashton Cross Country Course. Bairu won his second overall championship with a time of 23:45, 10 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor in the 8K race.
The Badgers made a strong showing in the race, finishing in the top three positions. Sophomore Chris Solinsky finished second with a time of 23:55 and senior Matt Tegenkamp finished third with a time of 23:57. UW finished with 23 points, the fourth lowest score in Big Ten history.
\I think the guys really performed well today. They did a great job,"" Head Coach Jerry Schumacher said. ""You can never anticipate going 1-2-3 like that; that was really neat the way that worked out. We just went in to have our best performance, to have our best race today. I thought they did a great job.""
UW also placed finishers in sixth place (senior Josh Spiker) and eleventh place (junior Bobby Lockhart).
The Badgers sprinted out to an early lead on the competition. At the one-mile mark, Wisconsin held six of the top 10 positions, but runners from Michigan and Minnesota began to make their moves. By the time the pack reached the 2K mark, the Badgers held the top three positions and began to move ahead of their nearest opponents. At the 20-minute mark, Bairu opened up a 15-meter lead over his teammates and easily won his second title. Spiker finished 21 seconds behind the top three finishers.
""When I made a move, I wanted to be aggressive and I wasn't going to look back,"" Bairu said. ""I just wanted to run the best I could. I knew if I ran well, the team was going to do well and I think that's what the other guys were thinking too.""
In the women's race, Michigan won its third straight Big Ten Championship with 45 points, with Michigan State coming in second with 85.
MSU freshman Danette Doetzel won the individual championship by 20 seconds, finishing with a time of 20:33.
Wisconsin finished in eighth place. Sophomore A'Havahla Haynes was UW's highest place finisher in 13th place with a time of 21:40, a time that awarded her with second-team All-Big Ten. Sophomore Katrina Rundhaug finished 17th in the 6K race.
The men's team will now begin to prepare for the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Nov. 13 in order to qualify for the NCAA championships. The top two teams from each regional automatically qualify for the nationals on Nov. 22.
The Badgers are defending regional champs and finished second in the 2003 NCAA meet.
""We have to work on some things for the upcoming NCAA championship,"" Schumacher said. ""I think if we keep working towards improving ourselves as a team, it should be a fun part of the end of the season for us.""
-uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
