Imagine a mid-season NCAA football tournament featuring LSU, California, Ohio State and a plethora of other nationally-ranked teams. For cross country, this competition is called Pre-Nationals.
This Saturday Oct. 13, Wisconsin's No. 2 men's and No. 25 women's cross country teams will look to stand out in a field of nearly 80 squads at Terra Haute, Ind., against 26 and 23 of the nation's top 30 men's and women's teams, respectively.
It's sort of an unofficial first round of the NCAA Tournament,"" women's head coach Jim Stintzi said. ""It'll ultimately have an impact on which teams qualify for the NCAA championships.""
The UW men's team will probably not face No. 1 Oregon, who took the top ranking from UW two weeks ago at the Ducks' home course. UW's top competition will most likely be defending NCAA champions No. 3 Colorado or No. 4 Iona because teams are split into two equally strong ""white and blue"" races, representing Indiana State's colors.
Wisconsin's Matt Withrow won the Bill Dellinger Invite two weeks ago in a blistering 23:20, but will face even stiffer competition at the Pre-NCAA meet, including Liberty's Josh McDougal who set the 8000-meter course record at 23:14 last year.
Head coach Jerry Schumacher usually sends his team to a more low-key meet instead of Pre-Nationals, but apparently decided UW's young squad, with only three upper-classmen, would benefit from the competition.
Two of the less-experienced runners are sophomores Andrew Lacy and Brandon Bethke, who went 2-3 for UW two weeks ago. Oregon prevailed over the Badgers with quicker 4th and 5th runners, so sophomore Craig Miller and junior Christian Wagner will need to be in top form for Wisconsin to reclaim the top ranking.
Unless Schumacher decides to put junior Stu Eagon back on the racing circuit, redshirt freshman Landon Peacock and sophomore Ryan Gasper will likely fill the sixth and seventh spots.
The women's team will be looking to improve their No. 25 ranking after they placed fourth at the Paul Short Invite in Pennsylvania two weeks ago, falling from No. 5.
""It was an eye-opener,"" said Stintzi. ""It told us we got some work to do.""
Redshirt freshman Cassie Hintz has been UW's top performer this season, and sophomore Hanna Grinaker has been close behind each race.
At the Paul Short Invite last meet, Hintz and Grinaker both placed in the top 10, but 3-4-5 runners Gwen Jorgensen, Kait Hurley and Sarah Hurley fell behind the top three team's counterpoints, placing 46th, 48th and 50th, respectively.
In addition to the five top finishers from last meet, the Badgers' seven-woman squad will include freshman Leah Coyle and senior Amanda Ganser.
Pre-Nationals will largely determine the makeup of the NCAA polls, which UW may depend on to be one of 13 teams to qualify for the national championship at-large, barring a top two finish at regionals.
The Badgers tied Michigan for second place behind North Carolina State in the white Race last year, and will need some runners to step up for a similar showing.
