For almost a generation, from 1999 to 2012, the Wisconsin men’s cross country teams completely dominated the Big Ten championships, winning 14 straight team titles. Indiana managed to break the streak in 2013, but the Badgers were back on top with a dominating 30-point victory the next season.
In 2015 it all fell apart as Wisconsin struggled to an eighth-place finish that head coach Mick Byrne described as “unprecedented in Badger history.”
Entering this year’s meet, the pressure was on the Badgers to prove that last year’s performance was simply a fluke, and not a new normal for a previously dominant program. The men’s race featured three top-20 teams, No. 14 Michigan, No. 18 Wisconsin and No. 19 Indiana. Coaches from several teams described the race as wide open.
The race was slow from the gun, as many of the competitors ran conservatively on the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights, Minn., with a mind to the challenging terrain of the final few kilometers. A pack of Badgers, including senior Malachy Schrobilgen and freshman Olin Hacker settled in behind the leaders and stayed there for much of the race. The one team that bucked the trend was Michigan State, and almost halfway through the race the Spartans occupied the top six spots.
With just over two kilometers to go, Wisconsin’s Morgan McDonald made a strong move to break away from the pack and pass MSU’s Sherod Hardt, who had been leading the race. The Spartans still looked poised for a surprise victory, with a 58-point lead at the six kilometer mark.
McDonald crossed the line to take the victory in 24:35.7, and Hardt finished second, a massive improvement from his 139th-place finish at the Nuttycombe Invitational two weeks ago. After finishing, McDonald embraced his mother, who had flown from Sydney, Australia to see her son race in America for the first time.
“He’s on another level right now,” said Schrobilgen, himself a two-time Big Ten champion, to UWBadgers.com. “I think he’s really starting to hit his stride. You’re going to continue to see big things from him.”
Confusion reigned at the finish line as exhausted harriers and their coaches attempted to figure out who had captured the team title. A few minutes later, the unofficial results declared Wisconsin the winner over Michigan State by a score of 66-63, the meet’s smallest margin of victory since 1999.
The Badgers’ victory was provided by the strong performances of their second- and third-place runners, Schrobilgen and Hacker, who finished 5th and 12th respectively.
“What a lot of people didn’t see out there today was what Malachy did to the team. He sacrificed a little bit of his own personal goals for the team,” said Byrne to UWBadgers.com. “He was the guy who kept the group together for the first 6K…It’s that type of unselfishness that wins championships.”
With the win, the Badgers gain valuable momentum and confidence that should help them as they head into their final home meet of the season, the Great Lakes Regional on Nov. 11, from which the top two teams automatically qualify for the National Championship Nov.19.
