Reinventing Wisconsin

When you qualify for 43 consecutive National Championships, you never expect the streak to end. Frankly, neither does anyone else.

The consistent recruiting and production of top-tier talent, while avoiding enough adversity to continue a streak for nearly half a century, can establish (potentially unfair) expectations from fans across the country.

So when the men of Wisconsin's 2015 cross country squad failed to qualify for Nationals, it sent shock waves throughout the running community. A long time historic powerhouse with legacy-defining stability finally looked vulnerable. Their depth was sparse, their star runner was hurt, and they lacked veterans when they needed them the most.

For Wisconsin, it was a humbling experience and it forced them to go back to the drawing board. Yet, what fans like ourselves didn't realize at the time was that the heartbreaking 2015 season would inevitably act as a reset button for Mick Bryne's group. In a distance running era that has been rapidly improving, the best programs have found ways to adapt and adjust to their competition.

Of course, reinventing a program after a miserable 2015 season wasn't going to happen overnight and Mick Byrne seemingly understood that. Over the next three years, two men and their coach would pilot Wisconsin's identity shift from being an endurance-heavy roster to an arsenal with dynamic range, explosive talent, and under appreciated speed.

The Badgers returned in 2016 with renewed poise and a clearer sense of direction. Schrobilgen was healthy, McDonald was becoming a legitimate ace, Hacker was a standout freshman, and the rest of their lineup provided multiple scoring options. Compared to 2015, it was night and day for the Badgers who would eventually finish 8th at the 2016 national meet for cross country.

Despite the grand turn around, the ensuing track seasons were relatively quiet. McDonald's 7:51 for 3000 meters was the highlight of the 2017 indoor campagin, but racing was kept at a minimum. Morgan McDonald, Oliver Hoare, and nearly the entire Badger roster were kept in the shadows, patiently waiting their turn for the spotlight.

For such a historically elite program, their absence from racing was beyond perplexing. Yet, in retrospect, it seems clear that Wisconsin had a plan.

After a summer of competing across the globe where he ran a personal best of 13:15, Morgan McDonald would redshirt the 2018 cross country season. In the meantime, Olin Hacker would recover from an injury, Oliver Hoare would refine his already impressive raw talent, and the youngsters would gain valuable big meet experience.

It may not have been clear in the moment, but it became more obvious as time went on that Mick Byrne had an objective that was long-term oriented: build and conquer.

With Morgan McDonald and Olin Hacker out for the 2017 cross country season, as well as the need to rely on a group of inexperienced freshmen, the Badgers were unable to earn a trip to Nationals for the second time in three years. The sting of another qualification failure may have hurt, but an understanding of what the future held made the shortcoming seemingly less poignant.

Sure enough, success started to follow. The training wheels were taken off and the boys went back to work.

Oliver Hoare burst onto the scene the following winter and validated his BIG 10 cross country title from the fall. The Aussie sophomore dropped a time of 7:51 for 3000 meters before running a monster 3:54 split on Wisconsin's DMR. The season would end with Hoare becoming a two-time All-American in both of the aforementioned events.

While many viewed it as just another strong season from another talented runner, the idea of the Badgers running the DMR was so incredibly foreign. Historically, Wisconsin seemed to almost oppose the distance medley relay, instead favoring individual events. The decision to pursue a relay was a (very subtle) indicator of the changes Wisconsin was willing to make to succeed.

Still, we saw no Morgan McDonald.

The spring of 2018 was arguably even better for the Badgers who had senior Joe Hardy run 13:46 while Snider returned to top form with personal bests of 13:54 and 29:15. Of course, what really caught everyone's attention was Oliver Hoare running 3:37 for 1500 meters and pulling off one of the most stunning upsets of 2018 over Josh Kerr to win the national title in the 1500.

A program that was responsible for the national emergence of runners like Chris Solinsky, Simon Bairu, Matt Tegenkamp, and Mohammed Ahmed had shown it's first true signs of willingly drifting away from the 5000 and 10,000 meter distances to thrive in a middle distance event.

With that in mind, Wisconsin is still very much a distance-oriented team, built to compete with the best of the best during cross country which is exactly what happened this past fall.

All of the attention entering the 2018 cross country season was (rightfully) centered on the Northern Arizona men who were attempting to win their third consecutive team title. However, it was the Wisconsin Badgers who seemed to be a very legitimate threat with the return of Morgan McDonald to their lineup. While many expected McDonald to be a top contender in the NCAA, there were still doubts (even by myself) about how he would handle his long-awaited return to racing. His last collegiate race, the 2018 BIG 10 Outdoor Championships, did not go as planned...

Naturally, McDonald shut down any uncertainty from the doubters by showing off fitness that had somehow reached another echelon, cruising to wins at the Nuttycombe Invite and the BIG 10 Championships. Finally, after two years of quietly grinding away, McDonald would walk away with NCAA gold around his neck by taking home the cross country national title on his home course in Madison, Wisconsin.

Even with all of the prestigious men that he had coached, Mick Byrne had never mentored an individual national champion in cross country...until Morgan McDonald.

In 2016, Wisconsin put forth a plan (whether they realize it or not) to reignite their program by leaning on two superstars with infinite potential. Three years later, we are witnessing those same two men simultaneously in their prime, running some of the fastest times in the history of the NCAA.

When the season began, I was a critic and even went as far as saying that the top men in the NCAA this year lacked a spark.

I was so very wrong.

Instead, we are in a time where the Badgers are more than just a good cross country team or . a great group of 10k runners. Nowadays, they're putting a heavier emphasis on indoor track. They're pursuing non-traditional events like the DMR. They're discovering that they can be successful in the middle distances. Heck, they're even finding more success in cross country (individually) than they've ever had before.

Of course, it's important to recognize that the collective accolades of these men are what propelled them back to the top. Wisconsin wasn't built solely on the achievements of just McDonald and Hoare. In fact, the future is looking just as bright for the men in red and white as guys like Olin Hacker and Shuaib Aljabaly are making rapid improvements of their own. Hacker just ran 7:53 for 3000 meters while Aljabaly recently secured the national title at the USA Junior Cross Country Championships.

In 2015, Wisconsin was at it's lowest point in program history. But instead of forcing the issue or rushing to earn results, Mick Byrne took a step back and patiently designed a strategy. He saw two young stars with massive potential and utilized their talents as a launch pad to rebrand Wisconsin as a modern-day powerhouse.

Now they are back to being one of the most feared distance running contingents that the nation has to offer.