Just like a year ago, Wisconsin dominated the individual race's top 11, with junior Chris Solinsky and freshman Matt Withrow joining Bairu among the top seven scoring runners at the November 21 championships in Terre Haute, Indiana.

However, in a crucial change from last year's competition that saw Colorado slip past Wisconsin for a four-point victory, the Badgers shut the back door to challengers when Antony Ford placed 12th among scorers. Then, Stuart Eagon and Tim Nelson locked that door and threw away the key by finishing 14th and 15th, respectively.

And this time, no other contenders were lurking around looking for an opening, as Wisconsin's 37 points beat runner-up Arkansas by 68 points.

"I think the thing they did better today than I've ever seen them do was they ran a race like they would typically run, but they didn't put a lot of emotional energy into the first half of the race," said Badgers coach Jerry Schumacher.

"They really were patient. They had the patience they needed to have to carry them through to the second half of the race. They just did it to perfection today."

Bairu, a senior, took advantage of a much drier La Vern Gibson Championship Course this year to shave more than 11/3 minutes off last year's winning time. He pulled away from Iona's Richard Kiplagat and Liberty's Josh McDougal over the last two kilometers of the course, finishing six seconds ahead of Kiplagat and 12 ahead of his teammate Solinsky with a time of 29.15.9 -- the third fastest posted on the Gibson course.

"At about eight (kilometers), Schumacher yelled at me that we had the team (title) in the bag and to go for the win," Bairu said. "That's all I needed. That was the green light.

"I decided to test the other guys right after the eight mark and they responded to it. I decided to hang back until about nine and that's when I decided to put in a big surge."

McDougal recorded the best finish by a runner who wasn't attached to a competing team, placing fourth.

Arkansas, which holds the record for team cross country championships at 11, placed Josphat Boit and Peter Kosgei among the top 10 scoring runners to post its best finish since winning in 2000. However, the Razorbacks' third through fifth runners fell too far back to mount a serious challenge to the Badgers.

Notre Dame finished third, while Iona, powered by Kiplagat, matched its best national finish by placing fourth. Colorado, with three of its scorers from last year's championship team on the course, finished fifth.

Wisconsin's win is its fourth overall, with the previous three all coming during the 1980s. With Bairu's win, the Badgers also joined Colorado, Oregon and Villanova in a third-place tie with four individual championships each. Washington State owns seven individual titles, followed by Kansas with five.

Team results

1. Wisconsin, 37; 2. Arkansas, 105; 3. Notre Dame, 178; 4. Iona, 205; 5. Colorado, 222; 6. Stanford, 231; 7. Texas, 272; 8. Oklahoma St., 355; 9. Portland, 372; 10. Arizona, 384; 11. Ohio St., 406; 12. Kansas, 412; 13. Brigham Young, 416; 14. UTEP, 418; 15. Dartmouth, 426; 16. Georgetown, 440; 17. Arizona St., 465; 18. Florida St., 471; 19. Iowa, 495; 20. Minnesota, 514; 21. Alabama, 516; 22. William & Mary, 518; 23. Florida, 520; 24. Eastern Mich., 525; 25. Butler, 531; 26. Virginia, 550; 27. Washington, 556; 28. Tennessee, 604; 29. Indiana, 617; 30. American, 699; 31. Loyola (Ill.), 856.

Individual results

1. Simon Bairu, Wisconsin, 29:15.9; 2. Richard Kiplagat, Iona, 29:21.9; 3. Chris Solinsky, Wisconsin, 29:27.8; 4. Josh McDougal, Liberty, 29:32.6; 5. Westly Keating, Tex.-Pan American, 29:38.1; 6. Josh Rohatinsky, Brigham Young, 29:40.2; 7. Josphat Boit, Arkansas, 29:49.1; 8. Kurt Benninger, Notre Dame, 29:50.2; 9. Matt Withrow, Wisconsin, 29:50.7; 10. Robert Cheseret, Arizona, 29:50.8. 11. Neftalem Araia, Stanford, 29:51.6; 12. Peter Kosgei, Arkansas, 29:53.7; 13. Brian Olinger, Ohio St., 29:54.3; 14. Antony Ford, Wisconsin, 29:55.2; 15. Joe Thorne, Texas, 29:59.0; 16. Martin Fagan, Providence, 30:00.0; 17. Stuart Eagon, Wisconsin, 30:05.3; 18. Tim Nelson, Wisconsin, 30:06.4; 19. Jacob Korir, Eastern Ky., 30:07.1; 20. Stephen Samoei, UTEP, 30:07.5.

(For complete individual results, see The NCAA News Online at www.ncaa.org.)

Team results

1. Wisconsin, 37; 2. Arkansas, 105; 3. Notre Dame, 178; 4. Iona, 205; 5. Colorado, 222; 6. Stanford, 231; 7. Texas, 272; 8. Oklahoma St., 355; 9. Portland, 372; 10. Arizona, 384; 11. Ohio St., 406; 12. Kansas, 412; 13. Brigham Young, 416; 14. UTEP, 418; 15. Dartmouth, 426; 16. Georgetown, 440; 17. Arizona St., 465; 18. Florida St., 471; 19. Iowa, 495; 20. Minnesota, 514; 21. Alabama, 516; 22. William & Mary, 518; 23. Florida, 520; 24. Eastern Mich., 525; 25. Butler, 531; 26. Virginia, 550; 27. Washington, 556; 28. Tennessee, 604; 29. Indiana, 617; 30. American, 699; 31. Loyola (Ill.), 856.

Individual results

1. Simon Bairu, Wisconsin, 29:15.9; 2. Richard Kiplagat, Iona, 29:21.9; 3. Chris Solinsky, Wisconsin, 29:27.8; 4. Josh McDougal, Liberty, 29:32.6; 5. Westly Keating, Tex.-Pan American, 29:38.1; 6. Josh Rohatinsky, Brigham Young, 29:40.2; 7. Josphat Boit, Arkansas, 29:49.1; 8. Kurt Benninger, Notre Dame, 29:50.2; 9. Matt Withrow, Wisconsin, 29:50.7; 10. Robert Cheseret, Arizona, 29:50.8.

11. Neftalem Araia, Stanford, 29:51.6; 12. Peter Kosgei, Arkansas, 29:53.7; 13. Brian Olinger, Ohio St., 29:54.3; 14. Antony Ford, Wisconsin, 29:55.2; 15. Joe Thorne, Texas, 29:59.0; 16. Martin Fagan, Providence, 30:00.0; 17. Stuart Eagon, Wisconsin, 30:05.3; 18. Tim Nelson, Wisconsin, 30:06.4; 19. Jacob Korir, Eastern Ky., 30:07.1; 20. Stephen Samoei, UTEP, 30:07.5.

21. Andrew Lemoncello, Florida St., 30:07.5; 22. Japheth Ng'ojoy, UTEP, 30:08.0; 23. Zach Sabatino, Tennessee, 30:08.0; 24. Sean Jefferson, Indiana, 30:08.4; 25. Tonny Okello, South Ala., 30:08.6; 26. Daniel Huling, Miami (Ohio), 30:09.8; 27. Harbert Okuti, Iona, 30:10.3; 28. Kenny Cormier, Arkansas, 30:10.4; 29. Sean Quigley, La Salle, 30:10.9; 30. John Moore, Portland, 30:13.0.

31. Tim Moore, Notre Dame, 30:15.0; 32. Ben True, Dartmouth, 30:15.6; 33. Kip Kangogo, TCU, 30:15.8; 34. Fleet Hower, Georgetown, 30:16.7; 35. James Strang, Colorado, 30:16.7; 36. Chandler Goodwin, Brigham Young, 30:16.9; 37. Stephen Pifer, Colorado, 30:18.2; 38. Kevin Chelimo, Texas Tech, 30:21.4; 39. Benson Chesang, Kansas, 30:21.6; 40. Marc Rodrigues, Arkansas, 30:21.9.

41. Kaleb Van Ort, Notre Dame, 30:22.0; 42. Bret Schoolmeester, Colorado, 30:23.3; 43. Dan Mazzocco, Penn St., 30:23.8; 44. Antonio Vega, Minnesota, 30:24.1; 45. Chris Swisher, Miami (Ohio), 30:24.8; 46. Frank Macreery, Princeton, 30:25.9; 47. Trever Ball, Utah St., 30:26.1; 48. Austin Ramos, UCLA, 30:27.4; 49. Andy Rayner, Butler, 30:29.5; 50. Ryan Warrenburg, Arizona St., 30:29.9.

51. Shawn Forrest, Arkansas, 30:30.4; 52. Corey Nowitzke, Eastern Mich., 30:33.5; 53. David Jankowski, Oklahoma St., 30:33.9; 54. Jonathan Pierce, Stanford, 30:34.1; 55. Michael Woods, Michigan, 30:34.4; 56. Joe Gray, Oklahoma St., 30:34.5; 57. Sean O'Donnell, Notre Dame, 30:34.8; 58. Christian Wagner, Wisconsin, 30:35.7; 59. Augustus Maiyo, Alabama, 30:36.3; 60. Erik Stanley, Texas, 30:37.9.

61. Mohamed Khadraoui, Iona, 30:39.0; 62. Casey Burchill, Arizona St., 30:39.3; 63. Giliat Ghebray, California, 30:39.5; 64. John Crews, North Carolina St., 30:39.7; 65. Andrew Ledwith, Iona, 30:40.2; 66. Scott Overall, Butler, 30:40.3; 67. Kiel Uhl, Iowa St., 30:40.6; 68. Leonel Manzano, Texas, 30:43.1; 69. Jonah Maiyo, Arizona, 30:43.2; 70. Ian Burrell, Georgia, 30:43.5.

71. Max Smith, Providence, 30:44.5; 72. Ian Fitzgerald, William & Mary, 30:44.5; 73. David Kinsella, Portland, 30:45.1; 74. Alex Korir, Alabama, 30:45.4; 75. Stephen Haas, Indiana, 30:45.6; 76. Bill Nelson, Colorado, 30:46.4; 77. Tom Lancashire, Florida St., 30:47.4; 78. Alec Wall, Dartmouth, 30:48.2; 79. Courtney Jaworski, Pennsylvania, 30:48.9; 80. Jacob Gomez, Stanford, 30:49.0.

81. Dave Burnham, Dartmouth, 30:50.7; 82. Josh Glabb, Colorado St., 30:51.3; 83. Brett Gotcher, Stanford, 30:53.2; 84. David Vidal, Stanford, 30:53.5; 85. Garrett Heath, Stanford, 30:53.6; 86. Ryan Malmin, Minnesota, 30:53.7; 87. Colby Wissel, Kansas, 30:53.7; 88. Paul Hefferon, Kansas, 30:54.1; 89. Dave Nightingale, Princeton, 30:54.1; 90. Matt Noonan, Missouri, 30:54.2.

91. Ryan Vail, Oklahoma St., 30:55.5; 92. Matt Loiselle, Central Mich., 30:56.0; 93. Jeremy Mineau, Washington, 30:56.3; 94. Jon Von Letscher, Texas, 30:56.5; 95. Obed Mutanya, Arizona, 30:56.7; 96. John Ealy, Ohio St., 30:56.8; 97. Dan Nunn, Georgetown, 30:57.0; 98. Charlie Millioen, Georgetown, 30:57.3; 99. Patrick Smyth, Notre Dame, 30:57.9; 100. Adam Roche, Iowa, 30:58.0.

101. John McGuire, Stanford, 30:58.2; 102. Payton Batliner, Colorado, 30:58.3; 103. Jan Foerster, Virginia, 30:58.3; 104. Matt Johnsrud, Cal Poly, 30:58.7; 105. Chris Rombough, Minnesota, 30:59.5; 106. Matt Clark, Clemson, 30:59.6; 107. Allen Carr, James Madison, 31:00.1; 108. Micah Rolfe, Portland, 31:00.1; 109. Mark Mandi, Washington, 31:00.2; 110. Chuck McKenzie, Portland, 31:00.4.

111. Andrew Dumm, Virginia, 31:00.5; 112. Jeremy Criscione, Florida, 31:01.5; 113. Matt Esche, Iowa, 31:03.0; 114. Sam Romanoski, Loyola (Ill.), 31:03.2; 115. Neal Naughton, Eastern Mich., 31:05.2; 116. Stephen Chemlany, Iona, 31:06.0; 117. Mike Devenport, Oklahoma St., 31:07.1; 118. Mircea Bogdan, UTEP, 31:08.2; 119. Pat Werhane, Oregon, 31:08.8; 120. Abraham Kutingala, Alabama, 31:09.3.

121. Mike Hanlon, Colgate, 31:09.4; 122. Mohamed Trafeh, Arizona, 31:10.2; 123. Jeff See, Ohio St., 31:11.3; 124. Josh Perrin, Eastern Mich., 31:11.3; 125. Matt Munoz, Texas, 31:11.6; 126. Patrick Mutai, UTEP, 31:12.8; 127. Henok Lechebo, Florida, 31:13.0; 128. Brendan Fennell, American, 31:15.1; 129. Ryan Foster, Virginia, 31:15.4; 130. Alex Hains, Butler, 31:16.6.

131. Josh McAdams, Brigham Young, 31:17.5; 132. Steven Hassen, Florida, 31:17.9; 133. Joey Heller, Arizona St., 31:18.3; 134. Jeff Cutrer, Texas, 31:19.6; 135. Sean Anastasia-Murphy, William & Mary, 31:19.6; 136. Dan Stock, Illinois, 31:20.0; 137. Seth Summerside, Arkansas, 31:20.6; 138. Vincent Rono, South Ala., 31:20.6; 139. Andy Baksa, Tennessee, 31:21.1; 140. Eric MacTaggart, Iowa, 31:21.4.

141. Jeff Hedley, William & Mary, 31:22.5; 142. Daniel Parker, Florida, 31:22.5; 143. Austin Baillie, Colorado, 31:22.7; 144. Adam Perkins, Arkansas, 31:23.5; 145. Micah Vandenend, Iowa, 31:23.7; 146. Andy Napier, Iowa, 31:24.1; 147. Glenn Collins, Ohio St., 31:24.3; 148. Braden Martinez, Ohio St., 31:24.4; 149. Adam Tenerowicz, William & Mary, 31:25.3; 150. Travis Boyd, Washington, 31:25.9.

151. Sean McCabe, Oklahoma St., 31:26.7; 152. Dan Haut, Iowa, 31:27.0; 153. J.J. Duke, Arizona St., 31:27.8; 154. Steve Hallinan, American, 31:28.3; 155. Erik Sloan, Kansas, 31:28.7; 156. Klaus Freeland, Ohio St., 31:29.0; 157. Paul Hoffman, Idaho St., 31:29.4; 158. Kevin Cook, Florida St., 31:29.8; 159. Josh Karanja, Eastern Mich., 31:30.4; 160. Jeremy Miller, Florida, 31:30.7.

161. Tyler Kelly, Kansas, 31:30.7; 162. Frank Corrigan, Iona, 31:30.7; 163. Phil Nichols, Florida St., 31:31.4; 164. Matt Debole, Georgetown, 31:32.0; 165. Stephen Mucchetti, Dartmouth, 31:32.5; 166. Josh Madathil, Kansas, 31:32.7; 167. Michael Kilburg, Portland, 31:32.8; 168. Matt Keally, William & Mary, 31:33.6; 169. Titus Koeh, Alabama, 31:35.9; 170. Chris Platt, Tennessee, 31:37.3.

171. Michael Krisch, Georgetown, 31:37.8; 172. Nick McCombs, Brigham Young, 31:39.0; 173. Andy Biladeau, Virginia, 31:39.6; 174. Mike Sayenko, Washington, 31:40.2; 175. Sean Burris, Florida St., 31:41.3; 176. Alex Bailey, Ohio St., 31:41.6; 177. Jacob Gustafsson, Brigham Young, 31:42.3; 178. Andre Laboy, Georgetown, 31:42.6; 179. Chris Esselborn, Georgetown, 31:42.9; 180. Todd Ptacek, Notre Dame, 31:43.2.

181. Andy Fader, Washington, 31:43.4; 182. Dustin Bybee, Brigham Young, 31:43.4; 183. Jeff Eggleston, Virginia, 31:44.0; 184. Harry Norton, Dartmouth, 31:44.2; 185. Pat Burford, American, 31:46.3; 186. Joe Byrne, Southern Ill., 31:46.6; 187. Adam Hortian, Iona, 31:47.3; 188. Sesar Figueroa, Houston, 31:47.4; 189. Kevin Peters, Washington, 31:47.5; 190. Dusty Miller, Tennessee, 31:49.6.

191. Chris Olinger, Portland, 31:50.1; 192. Jeff Kent, Iowa, 31:50.4; 193. Eric Dall, Arizona St., 31:51.0; 194. Kevin Tschirhart, American, 31:51.6; 195. Luke Beevor, Florida St., 31:52.3; 196. Kyle Miller, Texas, 31:52.6; 197. Tyrel Jensen, Brigham Young, 31:52.7; 198. Moses Mpanga, Arizona, 31:52.9; 199. Matt Sheeks, Portland, 31:53.2; 200. Robert Wade, Loyola (Ill.), 31:54.8.

201. Ryder Leary, Florida, 31:55.4; 202. Erik Grumstrup, Minnesota, 31:55.8; 203. Awit Yohannes, American, 31:56.0; 204. Pete Janson, Colorado, 31:56.3; 205. David Vanorsdel, Minnesota, 31:57.3; 206. Hector Gandara, Tex.-Pan American, 31:57.9; 207. Matt Davis, Dartmouth, 31:58.0; 208. Soeren Lindner, Virginia, 31:58.8; 209. Andrew Toward, Butler, 31:59.0; 210. Nick Goodliffe, Butler, 32:01.4.

211. Justin Grunewald, Minnesota, 32:02.8; 212. Marcus Aguilar, Indiana, 32:04.1; 213. Cameron Schwehr, Kansas, 32:05.2; 214. Enoch Nadler, Florida, 32:05.3; 215. Vinnie Ambrico, Notre Dame, 32:05.6; 216. Kyle Mena, Eastern Mich., 32:05.8; 217. Luke Walker, Minnesota, 32:07.2; 218. Charlie Koeppen, Indiana, 32:08.0; 219. Keith Bechtol, William & Mary, 32:10.8; 220. Ian Mayne, Chattanooga, 32:12.8.

221. Eric Redman, Indiana, 32:15.2; 222. Alan Walker, Eastern Mich., 32:16.4; 223. Ben Lukowski, Tennessee, 32:16.6; 224. Jordan McNamara, Washington, 32:17.0; 225. Conor Lanz, American, 32:17.3; 226. Jeff Hubbard, Eastern Mich., 32:17.4; 227. Alex Tatu, Virginia, 32:18.2; 228. Peter Etoot, Alabama, 32:19.2; 229. Ian Marcus, Dartmouth, 32:20.4; 230. Kenny Frank, Arizona, 32:21.3.

231. Roger Cahill, Arizona St., 32:23.0; 232. Matt Piccarello, Tennessee, 32:25.0; 233. Phil Turner, American, 32:26.0; 234. Matt Barnes-Smith, Oklahoma St., 32:28.4; 235. Ahmed Haji, Providence, 32:33.0; 236. Dominic Tanui, UTEP, 32:33.6; 237. Brent Cunningham, Loyola (Ill.), 32:46.7; 238. Kal Clark, Arizona St., 32:49.6; 239. Eduardo Borjon, Loyola (Ill.), 32:49.9; 240. Brennon Plotner, Indiana, 32:50.4.

241. Joe Munoz, UTEP, 32:51.9; 242. Eric Chavez, Arizona, 32:52.6; 243. Ryan Kuphall, Loyola (Ill.), 32:57.4; 244. Chris Nickinson, Florida St., 33:02.2; 245. Chris Smith, Butler, 33:03.4; 246. David Pomies, Oklahoma St., 33:06.1; 247. Chris Honig, Indiana, 33:11.0; 248. Bryan Phillips, Butler, 33:30.9; 249. Tyler DeVault, Tennessee, 33:42.2; 250. Frederick Cameron, Alabama, 33:50.5.

251. Sean Conroy, Loyola (Ill.), 34:18.4; 252. Christo Landry, William & Mary, 34:24.5; 253. Andrew McQuillan, Loyola (Ill.) 35:02.6.