Senior Bob Liking comfortably won his fourth individual conference championship in as many meets as the Badgers extended their dominance over the Big Ten.

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Make it 55 championships and 24 of the last 26 for the Badgers, who had their five scoring runners all finish in the top 15 at the Orange and Blue Golf Course in Savoy, Illinois.

That was enough to beat Big Ten newcomers Washington and Oregon in the team competition.

The new element for Wisconsin: Liking became the first Badgers men’s runner to win four Big Ten cross country titles. He joined Craig Virgin of Illinois (1973-76), Bob Kennedy of Indiana (1988-90, 1992) and Kevin Sullivan of Michigan (1993-95, 1997) as four-time Big Ten champions. Only Virgin has previously done it four years in a row.

Liking said he was nervous before the race as he didn’t want to fall short of winning four titles after taking the first three.

“I feel like after winning my first one, it’s something (coach) Mick (Byrne) is pushing me to do,” Liking said. “I knew today was going to be really hard, especially with all the new teams. It was just great to have the team win, celebrate with the guys and get the job done for myself as well.”

Liking won in 22 minutes, 47.3 seconds – a Big Ten record by nearly 25 seconds – and finished 7.7 seconds ahead of second-place Michael Mireles of UCLA.

He started pulling away about 3 miles into the 5 mile race.

“The last K was very difficult for me,” Liking said. “I was kind of grateful that no one was with me.”

Badgers freshmen Christian de Vaal (seventh) and Matan Ivri (10th) joined Liking to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors with top-10 finishes. Sophomore Johnny Livingstone (13th) and senior Rowen Ellenberg (15th) made the second team.

Byrne extended his Big Ten record with a 14th men’s cross country championship.

“It is very special,” says Liking. “I’ve never been on a team that didn’t win the game. With all the new teams, we knew it would be a very contested game.”

Wisconsin finished third in the women’s team competition behind Oregon and Washington. Junior Leané Willemse led the Badgers to a second-team All-Big Ten finish in 15th place.