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!
