WIAC Preview
Photo Credit: Jonah Herzog
Women’s Championship
In the women’s race, No. 8 UW-La Crosse will look to prevent No. 14 UW-Eau Claire from winning a fourth consecutive WIAC title. No. 26 ranked UW-Stevens Point has attracted national attention with a third-place finish at the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble and will hope that front-running freshman Rachel Krouse will surprise with a low-stick finish.
The Eagles and Blugolds met recently where UW-La Crosse placed five runners in front of Eau Claire’s No. 2, and seven runners in front of their No. 4. The squad finished second at Pre-Nationals, 27 points behind D3 Glory Days No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. After finishing third in the Steeplechase last Spring, senior Emma Malooly has been a consistent low-stick for the Eagles. Malooly led an astounding 12-second 1-5 spread at Louisville. Look for them to claim their tenth WIAC title and first since 2016.
While UW-Eau Claire may not be able to top UW-La Crosse, they still have plenty of firepower. Junior Katie Faris has been a consistent low-stick while the rest of the team has shown a terrific capacity to pack up — finishing with a 22-second spread for 2-5 at the Blugold Invitational. More importantly, Carolyn Shult and Naomi Long closed the gap to Faris at the Tori Neubauer Invitational, and four teammates finished within three seconds of each other for spots 4-7. If the Blugolds hope to upset UW-La Crosse, a tight 1-5 spread will be crucial.
Another ranked WIAC squad, No. 26 UW-Stevens Point, has continued to improve all season and is riding the high of a 3rd-place finish at Oberlin where they scored a mere nine points back from Great Lakes Region No. 2 Allegheny. Freshman Rachel Krouse has easily adapted to the 6K distance to lead the Pointers. Junior Katie Schaefer has dropped over a minute from the start of the season and has traded the 2-3 spots with sophomore Catie Gage. While the 4-5 gap needs to tighten, the Pointers seem a lock for fourth place.
Emma Malooly will have plenty of company from her teammates in the front of the race, but expect to see UW-Eau Claire’s Katie Faris, UW-Stevens Point’s Rachel Krouse, UW-Oskhoksh’s Hannah Lohrenz and UW-River Falls’ Maria Laudenbach challenging the UW-Lacrosse pack. We’ll pick the veteran Malooly as the favorite to win, and an Eagle teammate of your choice alongside Lohrenz to round out the top-three finishers.
Men’s Championship
With four teams ranked Top 30 in the nation (and a plethora of All-Americans in every pre-race porta-potty line), the WIAC Conference will be one of the most exciting meets in the country. Eighth ranked UW-Whitewater will hope to ride a front-running trio to prevent 16th ranked UW-La Crosse from claiming their fourth consecutive championship, but UW-Eau Claire and UW-Oshkosh also have the pieces to threaten an upset.
In their first outing on the Whitetail Golf course venue at the Blugold Invitational, the Warhawks placed three men in the top eight to easily outdistance MIAC favorite, 13th ranked Carleton College. They followed this victory with a strong finish in the mud at Oberlin, placing only seven points back of No. 6 John Carroll. Senior David Fassbender will be an important low-stick for the Warhawks, with freshmen Gunner Schlender and Christian Patzka also placing in the top ten at Oberlin. The nearly 30-second gap from Patzka to the No. 4 runner at Oberlin does raise some eyebrows, but that same gap was only eight seconds at Eau Claire.
If UW-La Crosse wants to win a 35th WIAC title, the team will have to exploit the margin between the Warhawk’s 3-4 and 4-5 runners. Sophomore Ethan Gregg will be the individual favorite after finishing third both at Pre-Nationals in Louisville and at his home meet last week. A strong race by sophomores Chad Franz and Parker Hunz at the Jim Drews meet creates optimism about the Eagles tightening their pack at the right time of the year. Fans of the sport will point out this recent success and the fact that Coach Derek Stanley teaches the USTFCCCA Endurance program. Smart money says he’ll have the Eagles ready to fly!
The No. 26 UW-Oshkosh Titans have relied on a tight spread all season with a normal 1-5 margin of under 40 seconds. That tight spread and strong race by steeplechase All-American Andrew George could be the key ingredients for the Titans. By the same token, no runners will want to hear the footsteps of 800m All-American Stephen Potter in the final stretch of the race. The largely upperclassmen group will be hungry to win their 11 WIAC Championship and first since 2011.
Does familiarity breed success? Will a home-course advantage be the difference? The UW-Eau Claire Blugolds hope that’s the case, as they have only left the state of Wisconsin once for the short journey to St. Olaf in early September. The No. 25 Blugolds finished a mere 29 points behind No. 16 La Crosse at the Jim Drews Invitational. The emergence of Jr. Brett Hafner (25:14 for 12th place) powered that movement and, if Hafner can repeat, the team race becomes even more muddled. Jake Petri, bringing the speed of a 3:50 1500m runner, will be one to watch as he has improved throughout the season as a 5th man with upside.
Few conferences can match the strength of the WIAC with UW-Stout and UW-Stevens also earning Top Ten Regional Rankings. In the end, we’ll side with the pundits and pick UW-Whitewater for their first title since 1965 over UW-La Crosse. The third-place battle will be tight, but home-course advantage pushes Eau Claire to our pick for third.
The individual title chase between Ethan Gregg and David Fassbender will be one to remember, but we’ll pick Fassbender putting it all on the line to lead his squad to victory.