The  #3 Syracuse Orange successfully defended their 2014 Wisconsin Invite crown in a tactical battle in the men’s 8K on Friday as Justyn Knight (2nd), Martin Hehir (4th), and Collin Bennie (6th) led ‘Cuse to a 101-point winning score, but it was Tulsa senior Marc Scott who would kick away from everyone in the final meters to cross the line first individually in 23:35.0. 

 

While the women’s race was faster than we’ve ever seen in Madison, the men implemented a much more cautious approach as the field didn’t really start separating until the final 2,000m. 

 

Windy conditions kept the pace pedestrian until 6K, when South Dakota State’s Trent Lusignan made the first real move, which would break the race open.

 

Charging up the final hill, it appeared that Syracuse’s Knight was on his way to victory as he left Stanford junior Sean McGorty in his wake, but it was Tulsa’s Scott, who was 14th at NCAAs last fall, that would pass both Knight and McGorty in a brilliant kick. With Knight settling for second in 23:35.8, McGorty would cross third in 23:36.

 

The team battle unsurprisingly went to Syracuse as #2 Stanford rested three (or possibly four) of their top seven and would finish 21st, however the biggest shocker of the afternoon was fourth-ranked Wisconsin fading all the way to 17th with a near full-strength squad on their home course. The Badgers had good races out of top guns Malachy Schrobilgen (5th) and Morgan McDonald (10th), but it wasn’t pretty from there, as Mick Byrne’s group didn’t cross their fifth man until 205th. 

 

While the result certainly doesn’t bode well for the Badgers’ podium chances in a month’s time at NCAAs, it should be noted that the home team was still without sophomores Ryan Kromer and Carl Hirsch, who were both in Wisconsin’s top five at Nationals in 2014. Byrne only ran five athletes on Friday, so even though the 17th place finish was disappointing, it’s also not exactly an accurate read on the team’s true ability. Even so, the Badgers had planned to count on sophomore Joe Hardy to make big contributions today after finishing 38th as a freshman in 2014, but he had a brutal race on Friday, fading to 159th. 

 

Wisco’s performance today shows just how badly they need Kromer and Hirsch this season if they plan on making any noise at NCAAs. Schrobilgen and McDonald are in prime shape, but the rest of the team clearly needs serious work. 

 

Behind Syracuse, ninth-ranked BYU would finish second with 186 points, while eighth-ranked Michigan would settle for third with 218.

Even though it's at first a bit alarming to see second-ranked Stanford in 21st today, this should be of minimal concern for head coach Chris Miltenburg, as the Cardinal were without All-Americans Jim and Joe Rosa, as well as freshman Grant Fisher. 

Both Joe Rosa and Fisher have raced in 2015 and were most likely just resting today (although Fisher still has yet to announce if he'll redshirt or not), but Jim has yet to debut, which leaves his injury status up in the air as the season heads to conference in two weeks. His last cross country race was the 2013 NCAA Championships where he finished 5th. Rosa missed the 2014 XC season while recovering from knee surgery.

Despite high-powered Stanford finishing so far back today in Madison, the teams that placed ahead of them on Friday likely won't earn a point off them for NCAA purposes since Milt also rested senior Collin Leibold, who figures to be a top seven guy on this squad. However, if Jim Rosa ends up not competing this season, or Fisher redshirts, Stanford's group today could end up being an "A" team, which would make bubble teams like Portland (19th) and Illinois (20th) very happy.