SPORTS
Triple Crown in reach after strong season
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Also by Michael Poppy:
- Stocco awaits Packers' call (May 8, 2007)
- UW has room for progress (May 10, 2007)
- UW not ready for baseball (May 3, 2007)
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- Track prepares to win second leg of triple crown (February 21, 2002)
- Moore tracking career year (April 14, 2005)
- Nuttycombe named Big Ten coach of the year (March 4, 2004)
- Omole prepares for fresh start outdoors (March 29, 2005)
by Michael Poppy
Wednesday, May 4, 2005
To say that the 2005 men’s track and field season has been rather successful would be a great understatement.
Fresh off the 2004 season, in which Wisconsin burst out on the scene and surprised many in the Big Ten Conference by winning the Indoor Championships with a meet record of 174.5 and went on to capture the Outdoor Championship as well, the team certainly had high expectations heading into this year.
With 11 All-Americans returning after finishing 10th in the NCAA rankings, head coach Ed Nuttycombe was simply looking for steady improvement.
“One of our goals is to improve nationally and make more of an impact at the national scene,” Nuttycombe said early in the year. “Another goal is to defend our Big Ten titles in both indoor and outdoor.”
The men’s cross country team set the tone for the track season in the fall by winning the Big Ten championships, putting the team in position to garner its second consecutive Triple Crown (conference championships in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track).
While junior Simon Bairu won the individual NCAA title, the first to do so in UW history, the Badgers placed second overall as a team. This was Wisconsin’s third consecutive runner-up finish and came as somewhat of a disappointment as they were the overwhelming favorite for the majority of the season.
Bairu and the other cross country runners, such as Matt Tegenkamp and Chris Solinsky, came into the track season hoping to continue their success from the cross country season and dust off any remaining regrets from the national championships.
Certainly, these long-distance runners were well-prepared with their running in the fall as their training in cross country carries over to the spring in track and field.
“You’re running a lot of miles in cross country and doing a lot of strength-oriented workouts, so then when you get to track you can kind of hone in more on speed and you can really see your times drop, especially if you had a good cross country season,” Solinsky said. “Also, frame of mind, it helps. If you had a good cross country season, it helps you definitely to have a good track season or if you have a bad cross country season, it almost makes you more motivated for track season, so I think cross country is definitely beneficial it terms of physical and mental success in track.”
Both Solinsky and Tegenkamp’s motivation was evident at the Big Ten Indoor Championships. With both Indiana and Michigan ranked in the top three nationally before the meet, Nuttycombe’s goal of securing a conference title appeared a difficult proposition.
The Badgers actually jumped out to a surprising first-day lead, but when speedster Demi Omole pulled up with a hamstring injury in the 60-meter dash, the Big Ten title seemed almost out of reach.
However, Tegenkamp and Solinsky willed the team to victory in the 5,000 meter run. Tegenkamp won his second consecutive Big Ten title in a meet record and personal best time of 13:56.02 and Solinsky finished second right behind him at 13:59.91.
“Two of us, Chris and myself, weren’t sure if we were going to run or not; it was going to be based on team points,” Tegenkamp said. “We had a decent meet but not a great meet, so Chris and I had to run to put the meet away.”
The Badgers continued their success at the NCAA Indoor Championships by finishing third, even being in position to take first at one point behind Solinsky’s first-place finish in the 3,000 meter run.
In the current outdoor season, the Badgers look primed to take the Big Ten title and complete the Triple Crown for this season, which would be their seventh in the last decade. Despite their third-place finish at NCAA Indoors, the Badgers are currently ranked 13th in the nation.
This weekend, UW will host the Wisconsin Twilight at the Dan McClimon Track Saturday starting at 3:30 p.m. The Wisconsin Twilight will be the last opportunity for seniors Jvontai Hanserd, Tim Keller, Dan Murray, Darren Niedermeyer, Josh Spiker, Colin Steele and Tegenkamp to lace up the spikes and compete in front of a home crowd.
“It’s great competing in front of your home crowd,” Nuttycombe said. “We do have a group of seniors that’ll be competing at home for the last time, and I know they’re looking forward to that opportunity. It’s the last opportunity to kind of put a little finish on the season as we prepare for what you would consider to be the championship part of the season, the Big Ten Championship, the region and then moving into the NCAA. So, you know, we’re excited and looking forward to the opportunity this weekend.”
