The Wisconsin men's cross country team will be looking for a return on the 100+ miles per week many of them have been putting in since summer on Monday, when they battle the top 31 squads in the NCAA at the National Championship in Terra Haute, Ind.
Cross country is the only sport where every team competes against each other at the exact same time, exact same moment."" head coach Jerry Schumacher said. ""That is, it just happens in one 30-minute period.""
UW has finished in the top two in the past five NCAA Championships, winning in 2005. Last year, the Badgers were runners-up to Colorado by 48 points.
The No. 5 Badgers are not favored to win, but Schumacher said UW has a decent shot among other contenders such as No. 1 Oregon, along with Arkansas, Iona and Colorado.
Monday will mark the third nationals competition for the squad's three juniors.
Matt Withrow, this year's Big Ten champ, earned All-American honors at the past two NCAA championships for his 24th finish last year and ninth place finish as a freshman.
Stu Eagon was also named an All-American twice for placing 17th in 2005 and 11th in 2006. Eagon missed early season meets due to an ankle injury, but debuted with a fifth place finish at the Big Tens.
""He's a savvy veteran now,"" Schumacher said. ""The one thing I can count on with Stu is that he will do his job as a team member and we'll get what he's capable of doing on that day.""
Christian Wagner placed 58th and 95th at the last two NCAA championships. Sophomore Brandon Bethke, who was UW's seventh runner last year, is the team's other nationals veteran.
Sophomore Andrew Lacy and redshirt freshmen Landon Peacock and Jack Bolas will fill out UW's seven-man team.
""This will be a fun one that we haven't seen in recent years,"" Schumacher said. ""A lot of times it's come down to a two or three-way team battle out of 31 teams, and this year I think there's eight of those 31 that are really going to be banging away for the win.""
Women's preview
The No. 21 women's cross country team will compete at the NCAA Championship for the third year in a row and although the team has suffered many setbacks, a top-20 showing appears within reach.
Wisconsin started out the season ranked fifth, but injuries and illnesses have kept the Badgers out of tip-top shape. Last year, the Badgers took fourth at the NCAAs.
Junior Ashley Benson, a member of last year's nationals squad, got injured before the season began. Also, freshman Cassie Hintz was the team's top performer at the early meets until she found out she had mononucleosis after a lackluster performance at the Big Tens. Head coach Jim Stintzi said Hintz may still compete at nationals, depending on how she feels and whether a doctor OKs her to.
""We regressed a little bit this year,"" Stintzi said. ""[But] I think that we can rectify the situation by racing really well on Monday.""
Sophomore Hanna Grinaker will be looking to top her 13th place finish from 2006. The other veteran in the UW lineup is senior Amanda Ganser, who ran nationals in 2005.
The team counted on many newcomers and non-letter winners to step it up to get through to nationals.
First-year cross country runners Leah Coyle and Gwen Jorgensen became UW's second and third this year, both improving enough to attain all-region honors Saturday. Jorgensen was a swimmer for UW who joined track last spring.
Senior Ann Detmer, Wisconsin's fifth at Big Tens, will race Monday after sitting out regionals due to an issue with her IT band. Sophomore Alicia Pabich will also make the trip to Terre Haute.
If Hintz cannot race, next in line for the seventh UW spot is junior Sarah Hurley.
Stanford is the favorite to win the women's race, and Sally Kipyego of Texas Tech will be looking to repeat as individual champion.
""The great thing about cross country is the championships are run in one day and if you're on that day, you can do really well,"" Stintzi said. ""So my speech to my athletes is we simply need to put together what we've done in pieces throughout the year and we can be really competitive.
