Badger Distance Runner Honored at Big Ten Championships

Wisconsin’s Malachy Schrobilgen was voted “Big Ten Track Athlete of the Championships”

Badger distance runner Malachy Schrobilgen won the 10,000 meter race at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships over the weekend.  He also finished 2nd in the 5000 meters, amassing 18 of Wisconsin’s 73 points.

Wisconsin men’s track finished 4th overall at the Big Ten Championships.  Host Penn State (117 points) claimed the team title finishing 14 points ahead of runner up THE Ohio State (103 points).  Nebraska finished a close 3rd (97 points), comfortably ahead of Wisconsin.  Just nine points separated 4th place Wisconsin from 8th place Michigan.

In the 10K race, Schrobilgen ran a careful first two miles (3200 meters) before working his way forward.  He led the final 4,000 meters (10 laps) finishing in 29:27.48, 11 seconds ahead of 2nd place finisher Timothy McGowan from Penn State.  Two Badger freshman also notched top ten finishes in the race.   Zach Snider finished 5th in a time of 29:48.36 earning the Badgers four team points while Ben Eidenschink finished 9th in 29:56.78, missing out on a team point by one second.

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Wisconsin went #1-#2 in the 5000 meters with sophomore Morgan McDonald claiming the victory (14:14.43) ahead of Schrobilgen (14:16.24).  The Badger duo broke from the pack about halfway through the race with McDonald out kicking Schrobilgen to the tape in the final lap.

"Schrobilgen becomes the first Badger to earn the athlete of the outdoor championships honor since Demi Omole was named the 2007 Big Ten Track Athlete of the Outdoor Championships. Schrobilgen’s honor also completes a sweep during the 2017 track and field season as teammate Morgan McDonald was named the 2017 Big Ten Track Athlete of the Indoor Championships."

The other big tranche of points was in the decathlon where Wisconsin finished 3rd, 4th, and 5th to claim 15 points from the grueling and opaquely scored event.  The Badger men also got seven points from the pole vault from the 5th and 6th place finishes from junior Tim Guthrie and freshman Rashid Coulibaly.

https://twitter.com/BadgerTrackXC/status/864204727785062400

The Wisconsin women’s track team finished 9th overall at the Championships.  Purdue won the event (133 points) ahead of 2nd place Minnesota (105.5 points) and 3rd place Penn State (101 points).  It was a fairly balanced performance overall, with Wisconsin scoring in 10 different events.  The Badger women claimed 13 total points from the 5000 meters with Wisconsin runners finishing 3rd (junior Sarah Disanza, 16:24.50), 4th (freshman Alicia Monson, 16:24.95), and 7th (sophomore Amy Davis, 16:26.35).  Disanza closed strong moving up three places in the final quarter.

Next up for Wisconsin track is the NCAA Preliminary Round in Austin, Tex., running from May 27-29, 2017.  Qualifiers from that will move on to the NCAA Outdoor Championships June 7-10, 2017 in Eugene, Oregon (AKA “TrackTown USA“).