Allie Ostrander Breaks Abbey D's Wisco Course Record, New Mexico Dominates

Oct 16, 2015 by Lincoln Shryack

It was a record-breaking day for Boise State freshman Allie Ostrander and the New Mexico Lady Lobos on Friday morning at the 2015 adidas Wisconsin Invite, as Ostrander lowered the 6K course record previously held by NCAA champion Abbey D’Agostino by a stunning 12 seconds with her 19:19 victory, while #1 New Mexico put all five of their scorers in the top 10 en route to a 32-point total, the lowest winning score in event history.

Ostrander broke away from Notre Dame senior Molly Seidel in the last 400 meters, charging up the final hill on the Thomas Zimmer course all alone as she became just the second freshman to ever win the Wisconsin Invite. Cal Poly's Laura Hollander was the last frosh to win here back in 2012.

Seidel would settle for second in 19:22 just one year after placing 30th at this meet, continuing her rise up the NCAA ranks since her stunning victory in the NCAA outdoor 10K back in June.

The duo of Ostrander and Seidel, plus Arkansas’ Dom Scott, broke away from the front pack around 13 minutes into the race on a cool day in Wisconsin that would yield the fastest race in women’s meet history. Scott couldn’t quite hang in the last kilometer, but she would wind up third in 19:32, the highest finish of her career at Wisco.

For the freshman Ostrander, she immediately joins the NCAA individual title conversation after today's victory, in which she not only smashed D'Agostino's 2013 record, but she also beat five of the top-ten ranked women in the Saucony Flo50. An already incredible year for the NCAA freshmen ladies just got a lot more interesting.

The top-ranked Lobos weren’t to be outdone by Ostrander, however, as the NCAA favorites reaffirmed their stance atop women’s collegiate cross country with their dominant victory today in Madison. Led by All-American Courtney Frerichs’ fourth place finish, New Mexico would score just 32 points on Friday, as Rhona Auckland (5th), Calli Thackery (6th), Alice Wright (7th), and Molly Renfer (10th) would complete a meager 16-second spread. Their score today is the lowest by a women’s team at Wisco by 55 points. The 2014 Michigan State women, who went on to win the NCAA title, held the previous low score total at Wisconsin with 87. Yeah, that's how good this Lobo team is.

Led by Scott’s top three showing, the Arkansas women impressed with their runner-up finish today in Madison with 188 points. The Razorbacks got a promising race from freshman Devin Clark, who was 18th in 20:07.

13th-ranked Virginia only had one runner in the top-20, senior Cleo Boyd in 20th, however the Cavaliers still managed to grab third with 217 points Friday on the backs of a 33-second spread. Boyd’s fellow senior Iona Lake was just two places behind her teammate in 22nd.

It was a disappointing day for N.C. State frosh Ryen Frazier, who figured to contend for the individual victory today in Madison after opening her career with two straight victories, including a win at the Notre Dame Invite over New Mexico’s best. Unexpectedly, Frazier faded to 38th in 20:23 on Friday after running near the front for a majority of the race, however not all was lost for the frosh, as her eighth-ranked Wolfpack still managed a fourth place finish in the team race with 240 points.

Fifth-ranked Providence would end up fifth today despite resting All-American Catarina Rocha, which bodes very well for the Friars heading into championship season. Senior Sarah Collins, who was fifth at this meet two years ago, but missed all of last season, led Ray Treacy’s squad with an eighth place finish today, another positive sign for this under-the-radar team. If Rocha had run today, it’s very likely that the Friars would have beaten out Arkansas for 2nd.

Another team that had a good showing despite running without a low-stick was Boise State, who was sixth today without the services of talented freshman Annie Bothma. Led by Allie Ostrander’s historic victory, the Broncos scored 275 points to beat out Iowa State’s 283, but that number likely would have been considerably lower if the South African Bothma, who was third at Roy Griak, had run.

Defending Wisconsin Invite and NCAA champion Michigan State was 14th, but it was actually a decent day for the Spartans considering they ran without All-Americans Rachele Schulist and Lindsay Clark. Clark is known to be dealing with an injury, but that was not the case with Schulist entering today’s race as she finished fifth at Griak two weeks ago. Whether she is hurt or just resting is still to be determined.