Four Wisconsin men’s track and field athletes, Jared Cordes, Len Herring, T.J. Nelson and Matt Tegenkamp, will be competing at the 2001 USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships, to be held June 21-24 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. The top three finishers in each event from the USATF Championships will qualify to represent the United States in the World Championships.

Cordes, a three-time track all-American, will compete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He ran the top collegiate time in the country this year and finished ninth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, earning his second all-America honor in the steeplechase. This is Cordes’ second appearance at the USATF meet. At last year’s U.S. Olympic Trials he finished 11th in his steeplechase heat. He is seeded 17th among the 34 entrants at this week’s competition. The steeplechase trials will take place at 4:28 p.m. CT on Friday with the final at 1:07 p.m. on Sunday.

Herring is also a veteran of the U.S. Olympic Trials, having placed 21st in the triple jump a year ago. This weekend he will again compete in the triple jump, where his qualifying mark of 16.66m (54-8) places him sixth out of the 15 competitors. Herring is a four-time all-American in the triple, having finished third at this year’s NCAA indoor meet. A hamstring injury kept him from competing at the outdoor NCAAs. The triple jump final is Sunday at 10:35 a.m.

Nelson joins Cordes as the Badgers’ only two outdoor all-Americans this season. He qualified for the finals in the 110-meter hurdles but was one of three runners to fall before the finish line. His qualifying time of 13.49 seconds is third among collegiate athletes and ties him for 12th in the 32-man field. The first round of the hurdles is at 3:39 p.m. on Saturday with the semifinals and final on Sunday at 11:39 a.m. and 12:42 p.m., respectively.

Tegenkamp, a freshman who redshirted this season, will compete in the 5,000 meters. He ran the Badgers’ fastest time in the event this season, 13:51.36, a time that would have put him 11th on the collegiate list. He is seeded 26th of the 28 competitors. The 5,000-meter final is on Friday at 7:08 p.m.

A number of former UW athletes will also compete this weekend. Pascal Dobert, who represented the United States at last summer’s Olympic Games, heads into the 3,000-meter steeplechase with the second-best time among qualifiers. Matt Downin, a former Badger all-American, will compete in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters. Downin was seventh last year at the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 10,000 and 15th in the 5,000. Former Badger athlete and current UW administrative assistant Jeremy Fischer is entered in the high jump, where his mark of 2.27m (7-5 1/4) is tied for fifth among qualifiers. Reggie Torian is also expected to compete in the 110-meter hurdles, an event in which he qualified for the 1997 World Championships.