The Wisconsin men’s and women’s cross country teams each posted solid results on their home course at the Nuttycombe Invitational on Friday.
In the last meet of the regular season, both teams, led by head coach Mick Byrne, competed against some of the nation’s top teams in the first major race of the season for either group.
Entering the day ranked 29th nationally, the women’s team was first to the course. Led by graduate student Leané Willemse, who was the first Badger to cross the finish line, Wisconsin placed 11th in the Women’s 6k Championship race.
Willemse was joined by graduate student Kylie Finger, sophomore Nora Gremban, redshirt-junior Bella Jacobsen and sophomore Sara Mlodik as the four other scorers for the women’s team.
The Badgers finished ahead of a handful of teams that entered the day ranked higher nationally, including 24th-ranked Michigan State, which finished 15th, 10th-ranked Colorado, which finished 12th, and sixth-ranked Northern Arizona, which finished 18th.
Results in the postseason matter far more than at the Nuttycombe Invitational but it is an important meet to find something to build on and the women’s team did so.
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On the men’s side, redshirt sophomore Liam Newhart led the way with a top-25 finish. He completed the 8,000-meter course in 23:37.2, en route to a 16th-place individual finish. Joined in the scoring column by redshirt-sophomore Matan Ivri, redshirt-sophomore Christian de Vaal, junior Johnny Livingstone and redshirt-junior Micah Wilson, Newhart and the seventh ranked Badgers finished in ninth place as a team.
Big Ten foe Michigan State finished just above Wisconsin in seventh place, as the team looks for its eighth straight Big Ten championship in a few weeks, getting the Spartans back will be critical.
The Big Ten championships are now the focus for both the men’s and the women’s teams. The men’s team is looking to extend its streak and continue its dominance over the conference, and the women will look to begin a new streak as a program with plenty of historical success of its own in the conference.
Both teams will compete for conference titles Oct. 31 in East Lansing, Michigan, before shifting focus to securing a berth at the national championships.