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To say that Emily MacLeod is aware of her role on the Michigan State University women’s cross country team would be grossly understating not only her ability, but also her leadership and desire.

MacLeod, the Spartans’ only senior runner, did what a true winner and leader would do at the 2010 Big Ten cross country championship meet: she won the 6K and led her teammates to the conference title. .

MacLeod’s time of 19:54 over the 3.72-mile course was a career-best 21 seconds, and the second-fastest time ever recorded in Big Ten Conference championship competition.

MacLeod had great support from his teammates. Junior Carlie Green finished seventh in 20:25, sophomore Katie Haines was 17th in 20:51, sophomore Kristen Smith was 22nd in 20:58, and freshman Julia Otwell was 27th in 21: 03 to complete Michigan State’s score.

Combined, the Spartans’ 74 points were 14 points better than arch-rival Michigan’s 88, forcing the Wolverines to settle for second (low total score of a 7-member team’s first 5 wins in cross country ).

Even the bottom two running backs from Michigan State beat the bottom two running backs from Michigan. Junior Spartan Rebekah Smeltzer finished 30th in 21:07 and freshman Sara Kroll 42nd in 21:24. Michigan’s last two running backs finished 43rd and 59th. Smeltzer was only 2 spots behind Michigan’s fifth scoring running back.

The conference team title was Michigan State’s third overall and first since 2001. Both Emily MacLeod and Carlie Green made the All-Big Ten First Team with their first and seventh place finishes.

Last year, Michigan State was fifth in the competition, as MacLeod was sixth in 20:41 and Green was fifteenth in 21:14. MacLeod’s winning time this year was 47 seconds faster, and Green’s time in seventh place was 49 seconds faster, showing vast improvement and much more success.

The Spartan cross country program, under the tutelage of director Walt Drenth and assistant coaches Kim McGreevy and Lisa Senakiewich, has been steadily improving, as evidenced by the results of the Big Ten conference meeting.

Among the men, the Spartan team finished fifth with sophomore Ben Miller 16th in 24:09 and senior Patrick Grosskopf 23rd in 24:19 over the 8-kilometre (4.96-mile) course.

The Wisconsin men won the Big Ten championship with an amazing 1-4-5-6-12 score for 28 points. Runner-up Indiana was second with 75 points, and the rest were much worse.

Landon Peacock senior won for the Badgers in 23:41, Mohammed Ahmed was fourth in 23:43, Elliot Krause fifth in 23:43, Maverick Darling sixth in 23:51 and Reed Conner 12th in 24:02. His average time was 23:48.

Peacock was second with 30 meters to go, but edged out Indiana’s Andrew Bayer to win by a fraction of a second (both were officially timed at 23:41). Both Landon Peacock and Maverick Darling were Michigan high school running backs recruited by Wisconsin.

Wisconsin men own the Big Ten meeting. This year’s title was his 12th in a row, tying the record for the fourth-longest championship streak in conference history among all sports. It was also Wisconsin’s 44th intercounty team title, including 29 of the last 34 championship races.

The Wisconsin men’s roster has just 17 riders.

Michigan State’s women’s roster has 40 runners, 19 of them are freshmen and 10 are sophomores. Here’s a note of caution for Michigan State Big Ten competitors: You better look in your rearview mirror because Spartan women are serious and on the go.

Copyright © 2010 Ed Bagley

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