2010 Wisconsin Badger X/C Thread

Not much in the Oshkosh results to get excited about and the fact that they ran the week before the Big Ten meet speaks volumes.

They could put two in the top ten and then not mark again until, Christ, I don't even want to contemplate that, my head might explode.

That isn't an anti-Stintzi rant, just a comment on where the team is right now. Not likely to place well in the Big Ten meet at home.

The bright side of this is that I'll be too nervous about the Men's race to notice or care all that much.

UW-Oshkosh Women's Cross Country Open • Friday, October 22, 2010

Lake Breeze Golf Course • Winneconne, Wis. • No Team Scores Kept • 5,000 Meters

Place First Last School Time

1 Liga Blyholder Wisconsin 17:54

2 Karen Greuel Wisconsin 18:06

3 Lavinia Jurkiewicz Wisconsin 18:10

4 Karlye Wolff Wisconsin 18:11

5 Ashley Beutler Wisconsin 18:21

6 Rachel McNally Wisconsin 18:34

7 Heidi Ertl UW-Parkside 18:34

8 Leah Coyle Unattached 18:38

9 Kristen Yarrows Unattached 18:44

10 Lindsey Kong Unattached 18:51

11 Sarah Miller Wisconsin 18:54

12 Sarah Glunn UW-Stevens Point 18:57

13 Alexa Renstrom Wisconsin 19:04

14 Taylor Miller UW-Parkside 19:05

15 Megan Beers Wisconsin 19:10

Jim isn't ready to be a head coach. While I respect the fact he isn't trying to just have a cross country program with all his scholarship dollars there like most head track who are distance coaches, you're not allowed to be that bad at Wisconsin and with that much talent (especially when hosting!)

In the conference who competes well in both cc and track:

1. IU (M/W)

2. WISC (M)

3. MINN (M/W)

4. OSU (M)

5. PENN ST (M)

6. MICHIGAN (W) though last year track SUCKED

Tellingly(?) the story today on women's XC mentions the race but does not mention Grinakar at all.

http://www.uwbadgers.com/sports/w-xc/This-Week-in-W-Cross-Country.html

There is a parallel story with the men, but there is really nothing new for the men, who did not race this week, of course. The weather will be cool but not cold (48-50 at race time), and breezy (10-15, gusts to 25?).

The course got a bit of rain early Saturday and then an inch of rain overnight into Sunday morning. It is supposed to be very windy the next couple of days (WSW wind to 34, gusting to 50+, with rain the first night), but since there is little to damage, it probably will have little effect on the course. Also a bit of rain is expected Saturday and even possibly Sunday, but it should be light (0.10 inches or less?). Typical Upper Midwest XC weather.

No interview with Stintzi this week.

Hope Grinaker can run.

Wisco Fan wrote: No interview with Stintzi this week.

Hope Grinaker can run.

She can run but can she race?

Man, coming into this year I really thought that the Badger women would have a chance to win it. And it wasn't THAT crazy. There didn't seem to be any really good teams on paper and the league as a whole lost a lot of top quality with Bizzarri, Franek and Duwell.

1) Sisson comes in as a very low stick, definitely top three, maybe winning it. It doesn't look like that will happen, but she should be top ten, maybe top five. I blame it on her dying her hair or undying her hair, I have no idea which. All I know is that she ran better as a blonde than she has as a redhead. She needs to go blonde again, it's really very clear. I can't be the only one to have noticed something as obvious as this.

2) Comfort continuing to develop, finished 10th last year and a lot of the top runners last year were seniors, so top seven, maybe top five was in the cards. We're maybe looking at a top ten.

3) Grinaker would come back, be healthy, fit and get right back into it. Definitely top 15, maybe top ten. Oops.

4) Beutler same thing as Grinaker, should be good for a top 20, maybe top 15 finish. Not going to happen.

5) Ehrke finished 30th or so last year, another year to mature, develop, get stronger (insert your own cliche here) and we're looking at about 20th or so at worst, right? Somebody contact the FBI, is she even alive?

6) Coyle coming back from injury, but she will get right into the swing of things and provide some depth. Nope.

7) Jurkiewicz, Illinois state champ on grass and on an ugly blue track should come right in and provide quality depth at worst and could be a scorer. She blew up fairly early at the adidas meet and was pretty despondent about it afterwards. She then blew up again at Pre-Nats and Stintzi went out of his way to call her out, not by name, but zero doubt about who he was talking about. He's never done that before and that stunned the hell out of me that he would do it with a true freshman. I think his frustration is that he thinks she's very fit and capable of running well, she just has to do it when it matters.

8) Blyholder looks like she may be their third runner. She beat Wolff and Gruel at Oshkosh by solid margins, but let's be serious. Unless Wolff and Gruel had some sort of big breakthrough at this stage of their careers, Liga is looking at maybe something in the 50's, perhaps 40's on a great day. There's nothing wrong with that and it's certainly not her fault that she will probably be their number three or at worst number four.

It all seemed so simple six months ago.

jhebc wrote:

Man, coming into this year I really thought that the Badger women would have a chance to win it. And it wasn't THAT crazy. There didn't seem to be any really good teams on paper and the league as a whole lost a lot of top quality with Bizzarri, Franek and Duwell.

1) Sisson

2) Comfort

3) Grinaker

4) Beutler

5) Ehrke

6) Coyle

All of these girls were injured at some point this season. Ehrke is still hurt, beutler is just back from injury, sisson was injured earlier in the season, grinnaker has been hurt most of the year.

I hope that is meant asb an explaination other than very, very poor coaching. Stinzi isn't in any jeopardy in losing his job at all. he is however doing a horrible job with cross country the last couple years.

A few words from Coach Stintzi

http://www.uwbadgers.com/sports/w-xc/spec-rel/102710aab.html

Noticeably absent from those comments is the name Grinakar. I think that this is because he does not want to put pressure on her (I think that she thinks that she should be the linchpin of the team and has not been able to provide that so she can be hard on herself).

My guess is that she runs on Sunday, ready or not, but there are nine names already mentioned in the article, so it leaves one wondering.

that whole article just makes them sound so pathetic. They NEED support... bleh. They should be as good as the men, there are no excuses!!! Stinzi has to go, the sad part is Alvarez doesn't give two craps about cross country/track & field and so I highly doubt he'll get fired.

You really think after not running a single meet all season, Grinaker will run effectively at Big Tens??? Not happening.

Thanks for the insight. I couldn't remember if they run 9 or 10.

Instead of being so critical of everyone connected with Badger XC, why not support them? Wanna support - See you at the Badger Pre- Big Ten XC Party on Saturday 10/30 at the Coliseum Bar on John Nolen. Celebrate ALL the Badger achievements with some true Badger fans. 7:30 PM to ???

"Instead of being so critical of everyone connected with Badger XC, why not support them?"

Yes!

I'll be at the meet on Sunday. I'm pumped to cheer on the Badgers and their quest to increase the streak of Big Ten Championships!

GO BADGERS!

It is more than not racing all season, I am trying to remember the last time that she really raced. One XC redshirt race and Indoors.2009: Redshirt season ... Ran unattached in one event, finishing 83rd overall with a time of 18:47 at the Wisconsin Adidas InvitationalAs opposed to her freshman year: [After being the third best Minnesota HS girl her senior year]2006: Earned All-America honors with her 13th-place finish at the NCAA¿championship in 21:07 ... earned all-region honors, finishing fourth at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional in 21:01 ... named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year after finishing third at the conference meet in 20:39 ... placed fifth at the Pre-NCAA Invitational in 20:18 ... finished fifth at the Paul Short Invitational in 20:47 ... won the Eastern Illinois Invitational in 17:29 ... was the UW's top finisher in all six events.Track: 2007: Placed eighth in the 5,000 meters at the Husky Classic with an NCAA provisional time of 16:36.06 ... also notched an NCAA provisional time in the 5,000 meters at the Big Ten indoor championships with a fourth-place finish in 16:31.78 ... also placed seventh in the 3,000 meters at the Big Ten indoor meet in a personal best time of 9:42.89 ... ran an NCAA provisional time in the 10,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational, finishing 26th in 35:03.58 ... finished ninth in the 5,000 meters at the Drake Relays in an NCAA regional qualifying time of 16:38.69 ... placed sixth in the 10,000 meters at the Big Ten outdoor championships in 35:10.71 ... placed fourth in the 5,000 meters at the NCAA Mideast regionals in a personal best time of 16:24.45

notsofastttt wrote:

that whole article just makes them sound so pathetic. They NEED support... bleh. They should be as good as the men, there are no excuses!!! Stinzi has to go, the sad part is Alvarez doesn't give two craps about cross country/track & field and so I highly doubt he'll get fired.

You really think after not running a single meet all season, Grinaker will run effectively at Big Tens??? Not happening.

notsofastttt wrote:

that whole article just makes them sound so pathetic. They NEED support... bleh. They should be as good as the men, there are no excuses!!! Stinzi has to go, the sad part is Alvarez doesn't give two craps about cross country/track & field and so I highly doubt he'll get fired.

You really think after not running a single meet all season, Grinaker will run effectively at Big Tens??? Not happening.

grinaker is still hurt. she is not running.

pics?