Badgers Dominate Men's Race While Stanford Upsets In Women's

by Charlie Mahler

At the NCAA Cross Country Championships Monday, Duke University’s top-ranked women’s cross country team found out that it’s difficult to run a whole season with a target on your back. Wisconsin’s #1 ranked men, who learned that lesson a year ago themselves, found a way to succeed as the meet favorite the second time around.

On a chilly, damp day, but on a dry course unlike last year, Wisconsin dominated the competition to win its first team title since 1988. Stanford’s women, under new coach Peter Tegen upset Duke, the prohibitive favorite in the meet, to bring the winner’s trophy back to Palo Alto after only a one-year absence.

Individually, Wisconsin senior Simon Bairu defended his men’s title, leading the Badger’s 37 point turf tour de force. Bairu pulled away from Iona’s Richard Kiplagat in the homestretch to win in 29:16 to 29:22 for 10K. Bairu’s teammate Chris Solinsky charged into third placed in the final 800, tripping the chip-mat at 29:28.

Northern Arizona junior Johanna Nilsson won the women’s title in 19:34 for 6K. Caroline Bierbaum, the top returnee from the 2004 meet, finished a distance second in 19:46. Notre Dame’s Stephanie Madia as third in 19:49.

The Men: Competition Badgered.

Wisconsin, which entered last year’s meet with the #1 ranking but was nipped by late-charging Colorado, took a page from the Buffalos book this year.

“If you’re not learning, there’s probably something wrong,” Badger coach Jerry Shumacher explained. “Last year was a big learning opportunity. I don’t know that our tactics changed so much as it was our patience, the way we approached it.”

Even individual champ Bairu put the lessons to work.

“All year, the only thing I trained for was to help this team,” Bairu admitted. “To be honest with you, I wasn’t going to go for the win, if I thought the pace was going to be too fast. I wasn’t going to take that chance of blowing up and costing the team points.”

“I was very confident,” the Canadian citizen continued. “It seemed like everyone here was a Badger fan. It helped me with my energy; it helped me turn my legs over more; and at the end it was just me and the finish line and no one was going to get between us.”

Behind Bairu-Solinsky vanguard, the Badgers packed their top-six in the race’s top-20. Freshman Matt Withrow was 9th in 29:51, senior Anthony Ford was 14th in 29:56, freshman Stuart Eagon was 17th in 30:06, and junior Tim Nelson was 18th in 30:08.

The title is Wisconsin’s fourth team championship. Bairu is the first Badger to repeat as NCAA champ – and only the 10th runner ever – separating himself from previous Wisconsin winners Walt Mehl (‘39) and Tim Hacker (’85.)

Runners-up the last three years, the Badger’s winning tally is the sixth lowest ever at NCAAs. Behind the Badgers, expected challenger Arkansas finished a distant second at 105; Notre Dame was third with 178; Iona was fourth with 205.

The Women: Duke Bedeviled.

Duke, on the other hand, appeared to feel the strain of its year-long tenancy atop the national rankings. The senior-dominated squad, members of which were featured as freshmen in the Track and Field News 2002 season preview, more than put themselves in position to win in the early-going – the Blue Devils led the race by more than 40 points at the halfway point – but faded considerably on the second circuit of the rolling course.

Shannon Rowbury, who like her team entered the race undefeated this season, struggled startlingly in the final kilometer – from in the top-10 to 39th at the finish. The team’s usual 3-7 runners made a more gradual but no less lethal fade. Clara Horowitz, alone among the Blue Devils, moved up in the latter half, finishing a hard-charging fifth.

Duke’s woes opened the door for perennial power Stanford. Ranked second entering the meet, Tegen’s young squad – two juniors, three sophomores, and two freshmen – ran just well enough to capture the golden trophy. Stanford tallied 146 for its third title, the highest score to win at NCAAs in the 25 years of women’s competition. Defending champion Colorado was second with 181; Duke was third with 185; Arizona State earned the last trophy with 191.

Arianna Lambie, who ran with the leaders in the early-going, held-together well enough for seventh place. Kathleen Trotter and Lindsay Flacks finished 15th in 20:19 and 19th in 20:25, respectively, Lauren Centrowitz was 35th in 20:40, and Teresa McWalters sealed the win with a labored 70th place finish in 21:04.

Stanford’s Tegen, who won three NCAA team titles during his long tenure at Wisconsin, faced the unique challenge of leading a talented young team from a storied program where he was the newcomer.

“I think the easiest adjustment is that I always felt that I could coach a little bit,” Tegen said. “The hardest coming into a situation that you are really not used to is usually to gain the trust of your student-athletes, and to create an atmosphere that is very positive. And, I think we lucked out this time.”

Duke coach Kevin Jermyn took the long view of his team’s tearful defeat.

“This is a new point or our program; we’ve never been favorites for anything,” he said. “It’s a learning experience. I’m certainly not devastated. Some of our seniors, I feel for them, because they don’t have a chance to come back, but they put Duke on the map. I’ll never forget that – I needed them to develop the confidence in the younger kids so that they can come to meet like this and get third and be disappointed.”

For individual champ Nilsson the waiting was the hardest part.

“It’s always like that in cross country, for the first half you just kind of sit there and relax as much as you can,” the Swedish import said. “And then Ari [Lambie] took it at 4K and I just went with her. I didn’t want to make a move that early, because I’m not that strong, but it was good she did it.”

“I moved with 1500 meters to go,” she added, “I didn’t really plan it too much, but I felt pretty good so I was thinking I might as well pick it up a little bit. I didn’t know how strong she would be, but I got a little gap and I was really never worried that someone would come.”

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