Wisconsin won its second consecutive NCAA title in 1985 despite the graduation of 1984 NCAA Champion Cathy Branta.  A strong team effort carried the Badgers to their second consecutive NCAA title.  Cheered on by a large home-state crowd in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in its 10th-straight national championship appearance, ran by Iowa State to win by 40 points.  Sophomore Stephanie Herbst, who extended UW's string of Big Ten individual champions to eight in a row and led the Badgers to their third-straight conference title, finished a team-best seventh at the NCAA Championship.

Senior Katie Ishmael, who didn't run in the District IV qualifying meet and was hampered by injuries for most of the season, came back strong at the NCAA meet to finish 15th.  Ishamel, Herbst and freshman Lori Wolter, who finished 22nd, earned All-America status for their efforts.  Other Wisconsin finishers included Kelly McKillen in 31st, Holly Herin in 36th, Birgit Christiansen in 44th and sophomore Stephanie Bassett in 78th.  As a team, UW scored 58 points to storm past runner-up Iowa State, which finished with 98 points.  North Carolina State, which was tied with Wisconsin for the top ranking in the polls heading into the NCAA meet, finished third with 103.

Contested at Dretzka Park, the NCAA Championship was an all-Wisconsin affair.  The Badger men, running their race an hour before the women, re-claimed the national title they last won in 1982, which marked the first time in NCAA Cross Country history that a school swept the men's and women's team titles.  Looking for a record third-consecutive national title in 1986, the Badger women finished second to Texas by two points.

THEY SAID IT
Wisconsin Head Coach Peter Tegen
"Our success came because we ran close together. We talked about that before the race. Everyone had an assignment to stick with a certain runner and we pretty much followed that plan.  Although the fourth through sixth runners didn't get out too fast in the beginning, they managed to thread their way through and place well enough for us to win it."

Badger senior Katie Ishmael
"The season didn't live up to my expectations, but the team won and that's what matters.  I don't care how I finish for myself.  People are always asking me that; `are you disappointed in your finish?'  They forget that when it comes down to it, it's a team sport and that's what matters."

Big Ten 25 Years of Women's Championships

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