Wisconsin adidas XC Invitational 2014

Nelson Takes Down Wisco Field

Nelson Takes Down Wisco Field

Oct 17, 2014 by Meg Bellino
Nelson Takes Down Wisco Field
Full Wisconsin Invite Results HERE.

#8 Crystal Nelson of Iowa State made a statement Friday morning in Madison when she dropped the hammer and never looked back.

In a race that featured eight of the Top 10 Saucony Flo50 ladies, Nelson proved that she should be ranked much higher than her #8 ranking. Her 6k time of 19:35 was just four seconds off of Abbey D'Agostino's 2013 course record. 

The #1 Michigan State women made a bold statement, destroying the field with 87 points. #10 Rachele Schulist finished runner-up, finishing in 19:39. #14 Leah O'Connor was the second Spartan in the top 10, finishing ninth. Team runner-up #4 Arkansas had 191 points, followed by #8 Iowa State with 213 points. Arkansas' #3 Dominique Scott finished 8th and #16 Grace Heymsfield 10th. After Nelson, the Cyclones #21 Katie Moen took fifth. 

The top three teams each placed two in the top 10, but the Spartans depth won them their first Wisconsin team title. Lindsay Clark was 14th, Julia Otwell 32nd, and Sara Kroll 35th.

On the men's side #2 Maksim Korolev of Stanford won a head-to-head sprint over the final 1k to take down #9 Futsum Zienasellassie of NAU, running 23:42 and 23:46, respectively. Where the individual results didn't contain many surprises, the team results shocked everybody who tuned in.

The #10 Syracuse men placed five in the top 24 to score 85 points and shake up Kolas calculations. #7 Iona was runner-up with 154, #15 Wisconsin had 176, #9 Portland 211, #2 Stanford 220, and #3 NAU 225.

Syracuse was led by Martin Hehir, who finished 7th. Justyn Knight was 14th, Max Straneva 18th, Mj Erb 23rd, and Dan Lennon 24th.

Be sure to check out the updated  Saucony Flo50 page on Monday, October 20th.