Freshman Allie Ostrander of Boise State and Ryen Frazier of NC State will be individual contenders at this Friday's adidas Wisconsin Invitational

This Friday’s adidas Wisconsin Invitational LIVE on FloTrack features 15 of the top 25 men’s and 18 of the top 25 women’s Saucony Flo50 teams. Since it’s conception in 2009, Wisco has grown into the premiere contest of the season, the biggest Kolas point grabber and a coming out of sorts for NCAA individual contenders. Previous winners include Lawi Lalang, Sheila Reid and Abbey D’Agostino. For NCAA newcomers, this is no doubt the biggest meet they’ve faced since moving into their dorm rooms on campus. So freshman typically show up to Madison and fall off the hot pace, right? Absolutely wrong. Well, sort of.

Take Lalang, for example. In his first NCAA cross country season in 2011, the Arizona Wildcat won the 8K Wisconsin race in 23:10, then the fastest winning time in meet history. (He would go on to lower the mark to 23:03 the following year.) A month or so later Lalang was the NCAA Champion. Maybe Lalang is a superhuman example, and he was technically a redshirt freshman.

But take a look at this. The women’s 2012 race featured three freshman in the top 15 with Cal Poly’s Laura Hollander winning in a then-course record of 19:33. She went on to finish ninth at the NCAA Championships, with the other two garnering All America honors, as well:
Sarah Collins of Providence: 6th at Wisco, 10th at NCAAs
Cayla Hatton of Stanford: 14th at Wisco, 28th at NCAAs

Why the heck are we paying attention to freshman when we have individuals like Dominique Scott and Mason Ferlic in this race? Well because 2015 may be another “Year of the Freshman,” at least we think it could be on the women’s side. (CAN A FRESHMAN WIN THE WISCONSIN INVITE? VOTE BELOW!) But does your performance in Madison indicate how you’ll finish at the NCAA Championships? Of course not! But it’s fun to look back and see which freshman out performed their Wisconsin Invite expectations. We’ll start in 2010, since the women’s race in 2009 was only a 5K.

2010 adidas Wisconsin Invite

Men:
Jake Hurysz, North Carolina 46th
-DNQ for NCAA Championships
Matt Mizereck, Florida 59th
-DNQ for NCAA Championships
Women:
Emily Sisson, Wisconsin 14th
-14th at NCAA Championships
Jana Stolting, San Fran 17th
-DNQ for NCAA Championships
Jacque Taylor, North Carolina 22nd
-209th at NCAA Championships

2011 adidas Wisconsin Invite

Men's 2011 8K Race

Men:
Lawi Lalang, Arizona 1st (RS FR)
-1st at NCAA Championships
Craig Lutz, Texas 15th
-33rd at NCAA Championships
Shane Quinn, Providence 31st
-DNQ for NCAA Championships
Women:
Shaylyn Tuite, Syracuse 27th
-162nd at NCAA Championships
Shelby Houlihan, Arizona State 40th
-93rd at NCAA Championships

*Top frosh at NCAA Championships: Waverly Neer (Columbia) 40th, 72nd at Wisco

2012 adidas Wisconsin Invite

Women's 2012 6K Race

Men:
Futsum Zienassellassie, Northern Arizona 33rd
-31st at NCAA Championships
Martin Hehir, Syracuse 75th
-122nd at NCAA Championships
Matt McClintock, Purdue 80th
-103rd at NCAA Championships
Women:
Laura Hollander, Cal Poly 1st
-9th at NCAA Championships
Sarah Collins, Providence 6th
-10th at NCAA Championships
Cayla Hatton, Stanford 14th
-28th at NCAA Championships
Crystal Nelson, Iowa State 26th
-192nd at NCAA Championships

*Third frosh at NCAA Championships: Kelsey Lakowske (Duke) 20th, 50th at Wisco

2013 adidas Wisconsin Invite

Men's 2013 8K Race

Men:
Malachy Schrobilgen, Wisconsin 20th
-33rd at NCAA Championships
Carl Smith, Indiana 36th
-52nd at NCAA Championships
MJ Erb, Syracuse 37th
-59th at NCAA Championships
Andy Trouard, Northern Arizona 43rd
-200th at NCAA Championships
Women:
Maria Larsson, Arizona 15th
-42nd at NCAA Championships
Rachele Schulist, Michigan State 25th
-50th at NCAA Championships
Perez Rotich, Iowa St 28th
-158th at NCAA Championships
Bethanie Brown, Iowa St 32nd
-37th at NCAA Championships
Catarina Rocha, Providence 37th
-62nd at NCAA Championships

2014 adidas Wisconsin Invite

Women's 2014 6K Race

Men:
Justyn Knight, Syracuse 14th
-143rd at NCAA Championships
Chartt Miller, Iona 22nd
-76th at NCAA Championships
Gilbert Kirui, Iona 28th
-61st at NCAA Championships

*Top frosh at NCAA Championships: Sam Wharton (Stanford) 39th, 123rd at Wisco

Women:
Elise Cranny, Stanford 7th
-12th at NCAA Championships
Alice Wright, New Mexico 42nd
-20th at NCAA Championships
Katie Lembo, Providence 49th
-70th at NCAA Championships

2015 Wisconsin Race: Can A Freshman REALLY Win?

We think so. Ryen Frazier of NC State already has a major win under her belt this season at the Notre Dame Invitational, and Allie Ostrander's runner-up finish at Roy Griak led Boise State to a dominating team victory. Although the men's side is a bit unclear (Will Grant Fisher redshirt cross country?), vote who you think has the best chance to win this Friday's adidas Wisconsin Invitational!