Last season, the UW men's indoor track team barely missed out on a national championship.

Many of those players redeemed themselves last semester by clinching Wisconsin's first cross-country NCAA Championship since 1988 and breaking a three-year streak of second-place finishes.

Still, after winning both team and individual titles, senior captain Simon Bairu sees the 2006 season as a comparison not to the cross-country team that won it all in November, but to the track team that fell so close a year ago.

"We're trying to shoot even higher this year, and we have the athletes to do it," Bairu said. "We returned most of our scorers and gained some more as well. We'll be looking toward a top-three finish, and if we have the right day, we can win it all."

"The training season has made everyone a little bit hungry after the successful cross-country season," Bairu added. "We know that what we did [last fall] was great, but now we just have to come back and do it during the indoor season. I think everyone is up for the challenge."

The Badgers will be aided by such crossover athletes as Bairu, junior Chris Solinsky and freshman Matt Withrow, all from the cross-country squad.

"Any time you have a group of athletes that are at that level, it does nothing but help your team," UW head coach Ed Nuttycombe said. "It's great to have Bairu, Solinsky and those guys competing for you because they are going to make us a better team."

The Badgers already know of one setback to this point. Senior Bobby Lockhart, an All-American in 2004, has been suspended for "violating the university's discipline policy," according to Nuttycombe.

"If he is lost for the year, it will be a big impact," the coach said. "He's a senior, he's a leader and he has been an All-American. We're certainly hoping to have some type of resolution that would allow him to compete if it's the right thing [to do]."

Without Lockhart, Wisconsin will look for more leadership out of Bairu, Rick Bellford, Nathan Brown and Joe Detmer, the 2006 team captains.

UW will also benefit from other experienced athletes like senior Alonzo Moore and junior Demi Omole.

"We have captains that are going to lead us, but we also have seniors and other athletes that may not be captains but have been around the block and should also provide a lot of leadership," Nuttycombe explained.

Nuttycombe said the thought of two Wisconsin male championships in one year is something that may indirectly motivate his team to the highest level.

"It would be a goal that would be very hard to obtain, but it is one that has been set up quite nicely by the cross-country win," he said. "I think it has raised the bar, in a sense. It would be one of our far-reaching goals for a perfect season."

On the women's side

In what appears to be a bit of a rebuilding year, the UW women's team will look for leadership from junior captain Melissa Talbot this year.

"Obviously, during the bigger meets, we're going to look for her to score some points for us and be a leader in the sprints and field area," head coach Jim Stintzi said.

Talbot, the defending Big Ten champion in the indoor pentathlon, said she will work with co-captains 'A Havahla Haynes and Andrea Lang to get their team members motivated for an improved season over last year's eighth-place finish at the Big Ten meet.

"I'm hoping we can be good leaders in order to make other girls on the team want to get to the same level," Talbot said. "It has hurt to see the team struggle a little bit in the Big Ten in the past few years, and we just want everyone else to want it as badly as we do."

Other runners, such as Shuntia Lucas and Katrina Rundhaug, are expected to make big contributions along the way for the Badgers, as well.

Junior Erica Schoeller, who has fought injury throughout the preseason, could be wearing the redshirt for the 2006 season. Schoeller was one of UW's leading scorers last year.

"It's something that's up in the air," Stintzi said. "She's a little banged up, and we're just not sure if we're going to use her this year or hold her out."

With the upcoming Big Ten meet being held in Madison, Talbot knows this would be a perfect time to return to the upper ranks of the conference.

"We were talking about trying to get back to the top five in the Big Ten," she said. "Everyone's improving from where we left off from last year, which will work to qualify people for the bigger competitions."