Sports

Solinsky, Bairu, Tegenkamp run toward long-distance goals

The Wisconsin cross-country team has been thriving over the past few years, finishing second in the last three NCAA championships. This same success has carried over to the track and field season, as the distance runners have made quite the impact on the track.

Heading into this year, the distance squad appeared to be the strongest facet of head coach Ed Nuttycombe’s track and field team.

“I don’t think I need to say a whole lot about the distance area because it’s going to be a very strong area for us and we’re looking forward to returning as many athletes as we have,” Nuttycombe said. “I think it’s safe to say that the distance area will be the strongest area on the track, and the sprinters will probably be the second-strongest area.”

Led by 2004 NCAA cross-country champion Simon Bairu, as well as fellow All-Americans Matt Tegenkamp and Chris Solinsky, the distance squad recently helped UW garner its fifth consecutive Big Ten indoor title.

Tegenkamp, Solinsky and Bairu finished first, second and fifth, respectively, in the 5,000-meter event. In addition to the Big Three, sophomore Tim Nelson also helped score points by finishing eighth in the event.

While Tegenkamp won his second consecutive Big Ten title in the event with a meet record of 13:56:02, his main goal is to turn in a strong showing at the NCAA Indoor Championships this weekend.

“It was really good preparation for NCAAs,” Tegenkamp said of his Big Ten run. “Some of the best distance runners in the nation come from this conference.”

While Bairu finished with a solid mark in the 5,000 meters, he has been rather disappointed with his indoor performances thus far, since he has been battling injuries. The cross-country champion hopes to bounce back at NCAAs.

“It wasn’t very satisfying for me, personally,” Bairu said of his run at the Big Ten meet. “I was happy that Matt (Tegenkamp) and (Chris) Solinsky were able to clinch the title for us by going one-two, but my indoor season has been kind of rough so far. I’ve been battling some minor injuries, but overall I think everyone’s coming together, and now I’m hoping to be successful at nationals.”

The Badgers will send five of their distance runners to the Randal Tyson Indoor Track on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, Ark., this weekend. Tegenkamp and Solinsky will compete in the 3,000 meters as well as the 5,000, where they will run alongside Bairu and Nelson. Senior Josh Spiker will also be competing at NCAAs in the distance medley relay, with middle-distance runners Ben Gregory, Joe Detmer and Dan Murray.

The distance runners are not intimidated by the heightened competition at NCAA indoors, opting to treat it as any other meet.

“I think we’re preparing the same way, like any other race,” Bairu said. “We are trying to go in and just relax as much as possible, and, personally, I’m just trying to not put too much emphasis on the fact that it’s a national meet and just run the best that I can.”

With the tremendous amount of talent that UW’s distance squad possesses, the expectations have been set at a very high level. For example, this past fall, the cross-country team finished second in the nation, yet some felt disappointed, as the Badgers were the strong favorite to win it all.

Solinsky attributes the squad’s second-place finish to general overconfidence and a tactical error on the part of the Big Three, who each went after the individual title that Bairu won instead of concentrating on winning as a team.

“I think maybe in cross country, for example, Simon (Bairu), Matt (Tegenkamp) and myself might have gotten a little ahead of ourselves in thinking of all three of us going after the individual title,” Solinsky said. “I mean, we all had a legitimate shot of going out there, but the fact that we kind of put ourselves a little bit before the team I think hurt us. But as a whole team, we definitely did get ahead of ourselves — we started thinking about the win before it actually happened. But for the most part, everyone on the team — myself included — sets our goals within reach. They might be high, but they’re always in reach.”

Tegenkamp believes that the expectations are never too high and that with the great tradition that Wisconsin has built in distance running, those expectations should be expected.

“The team that we have here now and the tradition that we have, I don’t think they’re too high,” Tegenkamp said. “We put those expectations on ourselves.”

Sometimes the distance runners may feel as though they are a separate part of the track program, as they typically travel to different meets than the sprinters or field-event athletes, but when it comes down to working together to win a Big Ten or national title, there is no animosity among anyone on the track and field squad.

“I think we are [somewhat separate from the track team],” Tegenkamp said. “Big Tens is a time when we actually come together as a team, but a lot of the times the sprinters’ field events’ meets [aren’t] the best for the distance guys, so a lot of times we split what meets we go to. I think that’s something that’s really unique about our team, is that no matter what event you get to go to, the best meet and then at Big Tens, we come together and work hard and work as a team.”

As the distance runners prepare to lace up the spikes and test themselves on the national level, their team goal is simply to go out and prove to the nation that they are, in fact, the best distance squad in the NCAA.

“We just want to go in there and show that we are the best distance squad in the country because in cross country, we showed it, but we didn’t finish the job at the right meet. Indoors, so far, we’ve kind of showed the entire country that, yeah, we are the premier distance program, and I think indoor nationals we’re looking to kind of cement that for indoors and then continue in outdoors, showing that we are indeed the best distance program and then carry over to cross country,” Solinsky said.