Sports

Cross country teams headed for NCAA Championships

The Wisconsin men’s and women’s cross country teams will run in their final meets of the season when they compete in the NCAA Championships in Terra Haute, Ind., Monday.

For the men’s team, the No. 5 Badgers will be one of 31 teams in the meet, which is held at the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course. After finishing second last season behind Colorado, UW will look to repeat its championship performance in 2005.

The men’s team has been led all year by Stu Eagon and Matt Withrow, and it will rely on the junior duo again in the NCAAs. Withrow, who has struggled with injuries during the season, recently took first place in the Big Ten Conference meet and was named the conference’s men’s cross country athlete of the year.

Eagon, an All-American the past two seasons with the Badgers, also battled injuries early in the year. Head coach Jerry Schumacher expects Eagon to be one of his team’s leaders Monday.

"I think Stuart, 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. It won't be anything less."

Oregon will carry the top ranking into the men’s division, while defending champion Colorado holds the No. 2 spot. Despite not being one of those top teams heading into the championships, Schumacher firmly believes several teams have a shot at winning.

"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," Schumacher said.

The women’s team, which finished fourth in last year’s NCAA’s, brings the No. 23 ranking into Monday’s event.

The Badgers found out after a successful showing at last weekend’s NCAA regionals that they would compete in the championship, which did not come as much of a surprise to head coach Jim Stintzi.

"You can kind of figure out whether you're going to make the national championships or not, so we had a pretty good idea that we were in after the race," Stintzi said in a press conference last Monday.

Two of UW’s top runners were held out of the regionals meet. Ann Detmer was suffering from a thigh injury, and freshman Cassie Hintz was diagnosed with mononucleosis.

Stintzi said Detmer will run for sure Monday, but the status of Hintz, who has been the team’s No. 1 runner throughout the season, was day-to-day at the time of the press conference.
"We just need to work with Cassie and the doctor," Stintzi said. "It's going to be their call."

For Stintzi’s squad, how the team fared throughout the course of the season will not factor into Monday’s race. And to him, that’s a great mindset for his players to have.

"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."

Both meets will be broadcast live on CSTV.

 

— UWBadgers.com contributed to this report