STILLWATER, Okla. — The Wisconsin men’s cross country collected its best team finish in a decade, placing sixth at the 2022 NCAA Cross Country Championship on Saturday in at the Greiner Family OSU Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
UW was led by a pair of All-Americans in Jackson Sharp and Bob Liking as the duo collected top-40 finishes at the championship meet. It marked both Sharp and Liking’s first All-America honors in cross country and its the first time since 2018 that the Badgers had two All-Americans at the NCAA meet.
Sharp was the first for the Badgers and 16th overall, running a personal best at 29 minutes, 16.8 seconds. Liking was close behind, finishing 34th overall in 29:30.2
Other finishers who all ran personal bests were Badgers Rowen Ellenberg in 45th at 29:40.9, Charlie Wheeler in 54th at 29:49.1, Jack Meijer in 79th at 30:02.3, Evan Bishop in 83rd at 30:05.6, and Adam Spencer finishing up for the Badgers in 188th at 30:54.8.
It wrapped up a successful season for the Badgers as it was UW’s best finish at the NCAA championships since finishing runner-up in 2012. It was also the program’s 48th top-10 finish at the NCAA meet.
The Badgers finished a successful season with a top- ten finish at the Nuttycombe Invitational, winning their 53rd Big Ten title and winning the NCAA Great Lakes Regional with six all-region honorees. Spencer was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year while Mick Byrne was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year. The Badgers also made their NCAA-best 60th NCAA appearance this year.
Straight from the Course
Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Mick Byrne
On the team’s finish:
“Going between sixth and ninth in ranking this season, at the end of the day the rankings don’t mean much. The last stretch was a challenge but overall great year. We defended our Big Ten Championship, had a good run at then regional meet last week.
“I’m very proud of these guys, they’re still young. The future looks good, just got to get a little stronger but on we go. Take some time to rest and then we’re back on it.”
Jackson Sharp
“Everyone ran well, we got sixth. It’s nothing bad, its pretty good especially coming after that last few nationals we had, it’s definitely good to turn things around. Good season everything went well.”
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