All eyes will be on head coach Ed Nuttycombe and the UW men's track and field team this weekend as they aim for their fourth-straight Triple Crown at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships.
But despite all the hype and questions surrounding the subject, Nuttycombe protests the potential four-peat is not the focus of his team right now.
"I've mentioned it one time the entire year," Nuttycombe said at a press conference Monday. "I might have mentioned it in the opening meeting in September, but I mentioned it one time since then. It's not something that you dwell on. I think it's something they already know about."
It certainly has to be something members of the UW men's track team know about, considering this would be the first senior class in Big Ten history to win 12 conference titles.
Still, Nuttycombe knows his players aren't dwelling on the records.
"I think Chris Solinsky said it best: 'I can't worry about those things, I've got to worry about my own race,'" Nuttycombe said. "And that's really what we try to preach. That is, take care of your own business."
Yet, the Badgers will still have a lot of weight on their shoulders. This will not only be the first time Wisconsin enters the Big Ten Championships as the defending conference champs, but also as the reigning NCAA champs, having won the indoor national title earlier this year.
Nevertheless, Nuttycombe knows his players won't let that go to their heads.
"They know that these things don't come easy," he said. "They know that they have to battle for them. Anything worth having, you're going to have to fight for."
Still, Nuttycombe likes the feeling of going into this weekend as one of the favorites to win.
"I don't normally say [this], but looking at it on paper, we do look pretty strong," Nuttycombe said. "We're excited about the opportunity to go in and defend the championship, and I think we've got a great group of senior leadership that is not going to let us down."
Injuries plague women
While the men's track and field team is vying for its fourth consecutive title at this weekend's Big Ten Outdoor Championships, the women's team will look to overcome injuries and finish in the upper half.
"We're excited to be heading into the Big Ten Championships," women's head coach Jim Stintzi said. "We are, as we were indoors, a little shorthanded."
Without the services of Big Ten champs Blair Luethmers and Katrina Rundhaug, as well as a couple other strong runners, it will be tough for the Badgers to finish at the top.
Still, Stintzi believes that the team can't go into the meet thinking negatively.
"If I say, 'Hey, we're going to be third,' and you end up sixth or seventh, then you sound like an idiot," he said. "If I say, 'Hey, we're only going to do this,' then the kids read it and they say, 'Well, we can't do any better than that.'"
With runners in virtually every event, UW has to put its injuries behind it and go out and compete.
"Is everybody going to score? No. But I think we're going to be competitive for the team that we can put out there," Stintzi said. "I think we'll do reasonably well."
