The Wisconsin men’s and women’s cross-country teams completed their seasons Monday at the 2003 NCAA Cross Country Championships in Waterloo, Iowa. The Badger men finished second, while the women placed 26th. The UW men finished the race with a combined score of 174, and Stanford won the team title with 24 points. The UW women scored 528 points, and Stanford was the top overall finisher with 120.

This year’s national meet marks the seventh time the Badger men have finished second. The mark also matches their 2003 finish and the best finish under head coach Jerry Schumacher. All five Badger scorers finished in the top 55, including two All-Americans. In addition, a young group of runners contributed to the top-five UW finishers.

“We’re very young. Our top five was composed of two freshmen, two sophomores and a junior,” Schumacher said. “So it was a nice squad, and they did a great job.”

Both of the UW runners garnering All-American honors included Big Ten Athlete of the Year Simon Bairu, who finished first for Wisconsin, placing 7th in 29:33.8, and Big Ten Freshman of the Year Chris Solinksy, finishing 12th in 29:28.5. Another freshman contributing to the Badger scorecard was Tim Nelson, who crossed the finish line in 48th place in 30:33.0. 2001 All-American Josh Spiker placed 52nd in 30:34.3, and 2002 All-American Bobby Lockhart finished 55th in 30:36.1.

“I wanted to stay in the top 10,” commented Simon Bairu on his 7th place finish. “I knew as long as I stayed in the top 10, anything was possible from 1st to 10th.”

When asked about his goals for the 2003 season and his thoughts on being the top freshman finisher in the NCAA Championship meet, freshman Chris Solinksy said, “We set goals up the beginning of the season, and my main goal was to get All-American. Then the next goal was to get myself in the top 20, then the next goal was top 15. With that came top freshman, and that was just kind of icing on the cake.”

“I think we knew we had an opportunity to be the second-best team in the nation this year. I think going into it, we realized the fact that Stanford was the favorite and a terrific school,” Schumacher said. “We have some things to work on if we want to improve. That’s what we’re going to reflect on, and we’re going to be happy and take time to enjoy the fact that we did get second, but we want to get better and we want to be a better team than what we showed even today.”

The Badger women’s 26th place finish out of 31 teams marks the last NCAA Championship under head coach Peter Tegen. Four UW seniors also completed their cross-country career while capturing the top four positions on the team.

2000 and 2001 All-American Megan Guiney was the first finisher for Wisconsin, placing 46th in 20:59.0. Fellow senior Hilary Edmondson followed closely behind, finishing 47th in 21:02.5. 2000 and 2001 second-team All?Big Ten runner Michelle Lilenthal and two-time Academic All?Big Ten Sarah Kolpin finished 105th (21:28.2) and 140th (21:47.6), respectively. Rounding out the top five finishers for Wisconsin was sophomore Havahla Haynes, coming in 190th in 22:27.0.

UW head coach Peter Tegen said, “We had our challenges. I think up front, we really ran quite okay. Maggie (Megan Guiney) ran her best race of the season; so did Hilary (Edmondson), I think. They both really ran great.”

Commenting on her last career cross-country race, senior Megan Guiney said, “I really feel like we put in a good effort today. I know we always did our best and as long as we do our best, there’s nothing to be disappointed about. I was definitely satisfied I tried my hardest.”

The 2003 NCAA Championship was the 19th time the Wisconsin women have competed in the event. The Badger women won back-to-back titles under head coach Peter Tegen in 1984 and 1985.

The meet marks the end of the 2003 cross-country season for both teams.

–compiled from staff reports