"A lot of them talked about the 600 meters
mark, where you make that first turn, they got
stuck on the inside and the whole field came on
top of them. That's a rookie mistake for a lot of
them.
"The Big Ten meet is completely different
from the adidas meet from pure numbers ― 110
(runners) compared to 300 or so. You can identify your competition real quickly; it's head-tohead competition."
In order to have success, Bryne said the Badgers need a healthy Gabrielle Anzalone, a junior
from Grand Blanc, Mich. "We're a completely different team (with her)," Byrne added.
UW's leading point-getter in the adidas meet
was Sarah Disanza, a freshman from New Jersey.
Also standing out thus far has been Emma-Lisa
Murphy, a sophomore from Whitefish Bay, Wis.
In early October, Murphy was selected as the
Big Ten Co-Runner of the Week after taking 10th
in the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown, a Boston meet that featured three top-10 programs.
Six different runners have led the team over
the first seven meets.
The list includes Disanza, who has twice been
the top finisher; Anzalone, who has missed
three meets; Murphy; sophomore Grace Meurer,
sophomore Ariel Michalek and senior Lavinia
Jurkiewicz.
As a tune-up to the Big Ten meet, the Badgers
entered some runners in last week's UW-Oshkosh Open and Jurkiewicz and Michalek paced
the field by finishing 1-2.
Assessing where the team is, Byrne said,
"They have to believe that they belong to compete for the Big Ten championship. It's new for
a lot of these women, but hopefully they'll buy
into it."
DAVID STLUKA
"They're going to be good," Byrne
said. "They're young, but they're
going to be good down the road.
They just have to believe. That's
our job as coaches – getting them
to believe in themselves."
"We're a completely different team
(with her)," Byrne said of Anzalone.
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