WHAT'S NEXT?
MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
BY BRIAN MASON
Badgers' Big Ten streak
left to new generation
Fresh faces will seek UW's 15th-straight title
O
f all the accomplishments in his exceptional collegiate career, keeping
Wisconsin's streak of Big
Ten championships alive
ranks near the top for Maverick Darling.
"I told those guys, 'Hey,
I'm just glad we weren't the
ones to stop the streak,'" Darling said. "We went 4-for-4
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JUN E 20, 2013
winning Big Ten titles."
"Those guys" Darling refers to are teammates Mohammed Ahmed, Reed Connor and Elliot Krause. The
quartet contributed to a total
of five Big Ten crowns during their time in Madison
and ran the Badgers' streak
to a conference-record 14 in
a row. Then there was that
@Badger_Track
national championship in 2011 —
one of three straight top-three NCAA
finishes for the group.
That's the past. The future, and
UW's hope of carrying on its recordsetting streak, now falls the shoulders of a new crop of athletes.
At the head of that class is Malachy
Schrobilgen, who will compete as a
redshirt freshman for the Badgers in
the fall after sitting out his first year.
"Sitting out" isn't the best term to
describe Schrobilgen's experience,
however. Though he never competed
in the Cardinal and White, he did
represent the Red, White and Blue.
Schrobilgen represented the U.S.
at the 2013 IAAF World Junior Cross
Country Championships in Poland in
March, running to a 26th-place finish in the 8-kilometer race in a time
of 23 minutes, 12 seconds, making
him the Americans' No. 2 finisher.
What set the stage for his world
debut, however, was an outstanding
performance closer to home. Schrobilgen finished runner-up at the 2013
USA Junior Cross Country Championships in St. Louis in 24:51.
Those experiences should serve
Schrobilgen as he is looked upon to
contribute immediately for UW.
UW's slate will be tough, as always. In addition to defending its
Big Ten crown, the Badgers host
the NCAA Great Lakes Regional for
the second-straight year and look to
win a 12th-consecutive regional title.
They'll host play host to the fifth-annual Wisconsin adidas Invitational,
regarded as the nation's top regularseason meet.
