Madison West's Olin Hacker ran to an even paced 14:59 on the challenging Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids yesterday afternoon which not only scared Chris Solinsky's seemingly immortal 5000 meter course record of 14:54 but nearly returned the all-time state meet record for cross country back to the family name.
Olin's win marked the 7th individual victory for the Hacker family in Class A/Division 1 state championships competition. Like Olin, Tim (father) and Jeff (uncle) were consecutive state champions. Here's a brief overview of the Gen X champion Hacker's of Menomonee Falls North high school:
2014 - Olin '14
2013 - Olin '14
1984 - Bill '85
1980 - Tim '81
1979 - Tim '81
1977 - Jeff '78
1976 - Jeff '78
Non-winning Hackers: Mike Hacker '76 (9:39 2-miler), Dave Hacker '80 (4:14 miler, 15:40c guy), Sam '11 (4:17/9:27), Wilson '13 (4:19)
First cousins: Cathy Hacker married 1984 Olympian Steve Lacy of McFarland, WI who between he and his son Andrew bring four more Class C/Division 2 cross country state titles to the table (1972, 1973, 2004, 2005)
Thirty-four years ago on November 1st, 1980, Olin's father, Tim, ran to his second consecutive Class A individual title recording a 15:15 on the American Legion Golf Course. This was the first year Wisconsin contested the 5000 meters. Tim, of course, went on to place 4th at the Kinney National meet that same year and eventually ran to an individual NCAA title in 1985 before running a 3:34 1500 in Koblenz.
Tim Hacker's 15:15 became recognized as the all-time state meet record from that point forward. It wasn't until October 27th, 2001 that a high school junior boy by the name of Chris Solinsky bettered that all-time record with a 15:08 (4:42 opening mile). Solinsky placed third at Footlocker Nationals that year surprising many pundits in the national circles. Solinsky then lowered the all-time mark a year later with a 14:54 (4:35 opening mile) before wining Footlocker Nationals in 14:41.
Spectators from yesterday's meet have noted that Olin looked contained after a 4:49 opening mile and could have taken Solinsky's record with a faster start. Others have suggested Olin simply has another gear. For the record, the next fastest times on the Ridges are Derek Storkel (15:26), Chris Rombough (15:27) and Ryan Kromer (15:27). Both Rombough and Kromer were 5th and 8th at Footlocker during their respective years.
WIAA Course talk:
Even though the venue changed several times before eventually ending up at the Ridges Golf Course where it is held today and has been held since 1988, the WIAA has ensured a challenging terrain for their championship cross country courses since 1964. In 1964, future UW legend Bob Gordon of Madison West chopped an astonishing 25 seconds off the existing Hartford Country Club 2.2 mile course record with a time of 10:09.6 which called for a lot of skepticism as a 9:14 two miles were not yet overly common especially on grass. Although courses vary from one to the next it has been a consensus assumption that the 5000 meter American Legion Golf Course in Wausau and the Ridges in Wisconsin Rapids are relatively equal in difficulty. The American Legion Golf Course is still home of the Bill Smiley Invitational today where Chris Solinsky recorded an easy win when seeting the meet record of 15:32 in 2002.
Below is a link to an interesting 1984 article on the Falls North Hacker bunch and strikingly similar images of both Olin and Tim winning their state meets as juniors in high school.
http://www.tracktalk.net/hacker-name-running-game-t14257.html
Thank you for reading!
Meanwhile in Wisconsin, the Hacker legacy lives on
Report Thread
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Thanks a bunch.
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I competed for another school in their conference when Tim and Jeff were running. Interesting. Thanks.
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They're back. wrote:
I competed for another school in their conference when Tim and Jeff were running. Interesting. Thanks.
Which school? -
Olin Hacker just committed to Wisconsin this week toom
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I wonder if dyestat will ever figure out what Olin has been up to?
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no respect for WI? wrote:
I wonder if dyestat will ever figure out what Olin has been up to?
1) Dyestat is dead
2) The remnants of dyestat will never recognize WI because Dyestat never recognized Wisconsin
3) Watchout XC rankings are all that there is but by no means the end all be all. He puts in a lot of work and I give him a ton of credit for what he does and has done. But it is very difficult to assess all those teams and know what means what. -
Very very impressive, should be one of the top 10 kids in the country.
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ifififi wrote:
Very very impressive, should be one of the top 10 kids in the country.
at least... -
Olin Hacker is the real deal. He, Grant Fisher, Thomas Pollard and probably also Jessie Reiser should make the Midwest as deep and strong at the top as any region in FL Nats. Hacker and Fisher are the best in WI and MI since Sol. and Ritz. Pollard is the best Iowa has ever seen. Reiser should also be FL all american. Every year, the MW flies under the radar and most years is at or near the top of FL teams. Last year Fisher came from 'no-where' to win FL. This year Midwest is stronger at the top. Don't be shocked if the MW has 3 of the top 5 in FL and Hacker should be in that group.
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If it's a muddy day WATCHOUT!!!!!
http://www.runmichigan.com/results/full.php/1997/12/07/usatf-national-cross-country-championships.html -
You know what they say brother, you can't beat genetics. Thousands competing each year, but no one finishing within 30 seconds of this dude. Got to have the narrow bone structure, small footprint, the vo2 max and the natural form. Can't coach this, it can only be bred.
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I'd say I ran against Tim at the Illini Open back in the 80's, but he finished 3 minutes ahead of me. I might have seen his face late in the race as the course had a parallel run, lol.
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For Olin to go sub 15 on that course is amazing...as mentioned, just a few seconds behind Solinksy's record and he went on to run 10+ seconds at Foot Locker for the win that year. @40 seconds than he ran last year when he was pushed until the last 400m...what improvement. If Olin is on form like he was at state, he should be top 3 at Foot Locker.
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Olin ran 15:05 to win the NXN HL regional, a time faster than all those who raced there since 2007.
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Impressive performance. Will he stick with NXN or is he also planning on run FL? Both?
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Based upon Olin's mile and 2 mile positioning and his time relative to other WI runners, I think he did not race all out, but simply raced to win. Nameth and Lueck were both around 20 seconds faster than WI state last week. Olin was 6 seconds slower and didn't lead until the third mile. Don't know if he is running Footlocker but he certainly has bigger goals for the remainder of the season.
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Tim Hacker was a part of two NCAA Cross Country championship teams (1982 and 1985) at Wisconsin. Plus, Wisconsin finished 2nd to some team named Vacated in 1983.
I'm pretty sure those teams were all Wisconsin natives and they won what should be three NCAA Cross Country titles. 1983 was the first season after Dan McClimon's tragic death (see below). It is an abomination that Wisconsin hasn't received the NCAA title they earned.
Oh yeah, Olin Hacker. He's really good.
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/UW/UW-idx?type=turn&entity=UW.v84i4.p0005&id=UW.v84i4&isize=text -
Very Bitter about 1983 wrote:
Tim Hacker was a part of two NCAA Cross Country championship teams (1982 and 1985) at Wisconsin. Plus, Wisconsin finished 2nd to some team named Vacated in 1983.
I'm pretty sure those teams were all Wisconsin natives and they won what should be three NCAA Cross Country titles. 1983 was the first season after Dan McClimon's tragic death (see below). It is an abomination that Wisconsin hasn't received the NCAA title they earned.
Oh yeah, Olin Hacker. He's really good.
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/UW/UW-idx?type=turn&entity=UW.v84i4.p0005&id=UW.v84i4&isize=text
Never understood why the NCAA didn't award the team title to Wisconsin in 1983 after disqualifying UTEP for violations. It was a real competition and not an award voted on, The team that originally placed first was cheating. Wisconsin should have 6 titles.
An interesting statistic is that Wisconsin has won 5 Cross National championships under 4 different coaches. I can't recall another program that has done this off the top of my head without checking. Its rare for any college sports program to continually year after year stay near the top. Dan McClimon started that tradition and the people that replaced him have kept it going. -
2nd place today!
