SPORTS
Men’s, women’s track teams prep for final tune-up
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Also by Aaron Brenner:
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- Badger track teams gear up for Big Ten Indoor meets (February 24, 2006)
by Aaron Brenner
Friday, February 17, 2006
A few members of the UW track and field team are headed to Milwaukee for one final tune-up before the Big Ten Indoor Championships — or for one last chance to qualify for the conference meet.
The women's squad will compete Friday at the UWM Panther Tune Up against UIC, Loyola, Chicago State and host UW-Milwaukee.
Wisconsin women's head coach Jim Stintzi said that winning the meet won't be nearly as important as getting in any last-minute adjustments before the weekend of Feb. 25-26, when the Badgers will take on the best of the Big Ten at the all-conference meet.
"This weekend really is a low-key affair, so a good number of our kids will rest and some others will try to improve from where they were earlier in the season," Stintzi explained. "Our focus right now is on the Big Ten Championships, as opposed to individual achievements right now for the NCAAs.
"So, honestly, the weekend will be focused on getting ready for the Big Ten meet as opposed to worrying about qualifying marks."
UW senior captain Melissa Talbot will take a lighter load at the Tune Up, competing in only the pentathlon and the open 1,600-meter run.
"Everybody's just trying to get fresh, to hopefully take care of any lingering injuries because we just want to be ready to go [for the Big Tens]," Talbot said. "This weekend is meant to get out the bugs and do what you got to do to feel ready to go."
Stintzi said his team is still working as consistently during practice as it has all season, but the majority of key athletes, like Talbot, Katrina Rundhaug, 'A Havahla Haynes and others, will get the weekend off to make sure they are completely ready to compete at the Big Ten meet, which is being hosted by Wisconsin at the Shell next weekend.
"There's a whole process of getting people ready and timing it right so that they peak at the right time," Stintzi said. "That's a good percentage of the game is getting their peak performance at the right time, but we don't let them get too rusty."
Talbot talked about how this season's setbacks, when it comes to health, have shaped her regimen as the team heads toward the later part of the season.
"I missed a lot of meets due to injury, so I'm just trying to work on some events that aren't as intense," she said. "I'm doing some shot put and high jump to work out the kinks, make sure I can figure it out and get it done at [the] Big Tens."
The senior also elaborated on Stintzi's statement that the Panther Tune Up has little competition attached to it.
"It's a tune-up for people who feel they need the tune-up if they're going to [the] Big Tens," Talbot said. "And for girls who are trying to make sure they get their spots to go to [the] Big Tens, they're getting ready for that."
The men's team was scheduled to compete in the UNI-Dome Open in Cedar Falls, Iowa, but with so many athletes taking the weekend off, they will accompany the women's team to Milwaukee for selective events.
Men's coach Ed Nuttycombe said he plans to bring only "less than a half-dozen guys" either for evaluation of their skills or for the chance at Big Ten qualifying marks.
"It will be primarily those who we think need an extra racing situation prior to [the] Big Tens or those that are going to try to utilize the opportunity to make the travel squad," Nuttycombe said. "It's really more about using the opportunity for them to prepare themselves for what they hope will be competition in the next weekend.
"Each one of them knows what they need to do."
NCAA qualifiers Simon Bairu, Chris Solinsky and Demi Omole are among the consistent starters for the Badgers who did not make the trip to UW-Milwaukee.
"Those guys normally won't do a lot of racing or competition before the Big Ten. You kind of want [them] to sit back and use the extra days to either put some continuity of training together or get some extra rest, depending on what they need individually," Nuttycombe said. "For them to have a week off to rest up and focus for next weekend is important."
