Throughout his career as a Badger, senior Malachy Schrobilgen had amassed numerous individual accolades—three-time All-American, three-time Big Ten champion, two-time Big Ten Cross Country Men’s Athlete of the Year—but a win at the Great Lakes regional had escaped him in his first three tries.
Ironically, Schrobilgen was one of the last to know that he had finally captured that elusive victory at Friday’s regional championships, as he assumed that teammate Morgan McDonald had crossed the line first until informed by a member of the media shortly before an interview.
Ultimately, the two Badgers were credited with the same time, 30 minutes, 22.2 seconds, but it was Schrobilgen who was given the victory by one-hundredth of a second ahead of McDonald. The two teammates celebrated together as their 1-2 finish gave Wisconsin a comfortable victory over second-place Michigan State.
“I kind of looked over at Morgan coming down the finish line and just gave him a fist bump,” said Schrobilgen. “It was pretty fun to do that on the home course.”
Friday marked the final home race for another accomplished Badger, senior Sarah Disanza, the 2014 national runner-up in cross country. Disanza, who had missed the first few races of the season and made her debut two weeks ago at the Big Ten championships, turned in an impressive performance to finish 12th overall and second for the Badgers. Disanza was one of four Wisconsin runners in the top 17 as the Badgers finished third and qualified for the 2016 NCAA Cross Country championship in Terre Haute next Saturday.
“The women were fantastic,” said coach Mick Byrne to UWBadgers.com. “They went out and they believed. There was an opportunity. The door was open. They took that opportunity.”
In the individual competition, the much-anticipated battle between Michigan’s Erin Finn and Notre Dame’s Anna Rohrer lived up to expectations as the pair broke away less than a mile into the race and quickly built a huge lead. In the end it was Finn who took the win in 19 minutes and 27.8 seconds after a strong move at the four kilometer mark. Rohrer came in just under eight seconds later to finish as a runner-up for the second consecutive year.
The decisive move in the men's race came just before the halfway point of the 10 kilometer race, as a large pack of approximately 25 runners separated from the rest of the field. Wisconsin got four runners, McDonald, Schrobilgen, freshman Olin Hacker and junior Joe Hardy, into the group while no other team could manage more than two.
Hacker and Hardy held their spots as the group broke up, finishing 12th and 15th respectively as five Badgers collected all-region honors.
The Badgers now set their sights on Saturday’s national championship meet. For the men it will be an opportunity for redemption a year after breaking their streak of 43 consecutive appearances, while the women get a chance to exceed expectations for a third straight race. Individually, McDonald is one of the favorites for a podium finish, an honor that no Badger has achieved since Chris Solinsky in 2005.
“We feel amazing,” said McDonald. “Our team has a massive high and that’s what you want coming into a big meet like nationals … I don’t think we could come in with much of a better spot than this.”
