The Wisconsin men’s and women’s track and field teams used the home field advantage to win 15 events at Saturday’s Wisconsin Elite Invitational.
The Badger teams showed their dominance over teams from Illinois, Illinois State and Oregon.
The Badger men recorded several victories, including those from junior B.J. Tucker, who made his first appearance on the track for the season to tie for first place in the 60 meter-dash with Anthony Moorman of Illinois at a time of 6.84 seconds.
Other wins for the UW men’s team came when senior Pat Bremer won the pole vault at 16-0 3/4 feet, red shirt freshman Jvontai Hanserd beat out fellow teammate Jabari Pride by .06 seconds in the 400 meter-dash to win at 48.94 and sophomore Dan Murray received a mark of 1:52:88 in the 800 meter-dash, earning first-place. All three recorded their season’s best score.
Alanzo Moore, a freshman, finished second in the triple jump with a personal best of 51-9 feet. His score in the jump was recorded as an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Winning the event was Jerome Romain, a 1996 Olympian and a volunteer assistant coach for the Badgers. He claimed the event at 53-7 feet.
Senior captain Nick Winkel, who raced in the mile, has the sights of his young team set on defending their back-to-back championships at Big Ten Indoor Track Meet in February.
“We’re the team to beat,” Winkel said. “Some teams haven’t been able to experience what we have over the past two years, and we’re going to make sure that continues.”
The enthusiasm and determination of the seniors, and especially the captains, will hopefully motivate the rest of the players.
“It’s a really young team this year. For the majority of the guys, it’s their first time running indoors, and many of them had been red shirted last year. But it’s my responsibility to make sure these guys learn the ropes, because there is so much tradition to build on.”
Accompanying the men’s success were nine victories from the UW women’s track and field team. In field events, Wisconsin swept the jumps. Cathy Ross won the triple jump at 38-8 3/4 feet, Angie Kolanko claimed the high jump at 5-4 1/4 feet and Antonia Schulze-Borges won the long jump at 18-5 1/4 feet.
Sophomore Kym Hubing was a double winner along with freshman teammate Katie Koplin. Hubing won the 200 meters in an indoor best of 25.69 and was also part of the 4 x 400-meter relay team, along with Koplin. They finished with a season’s best of 3:55:69. Teammates Greta Bauer and Christie Muenzenberger preceded Koplin, who anchored the race.
The women had a sweep as well in the pole vault. Tara Clack, who cleared at 12-4 feet to seal the event, was followed up by two of her teammates, Christie Baudry, finishing second at 11-11 3/4 feet, and Shana Martin, who ended third at 11-5 3/4 feet. Senior Clack tied her own school record of 12-4 feet that she set last year at the same meet.
Brianna Stott-Messick, a 5-foot-8 senior from Fort Collins, Colo., claimed the mile run in a time of 4:59:14. In and out of injuries and rehabilitation for the last two years, she has been able to overcome minimal confidence levels and push herself to an optimal point of fitness because of her coaches and teammates.
“We have a great coaching staff and great athletes,” Stott-Messick said. ” I train with awesome girls everyday, and that’s what makes us as good as we are.”
Similar to the men’s team, Stott-Messick and the rest of the upperclassmen are also working with a lot of youth this year.
“We are very young, which brings in a different mentality,” Stott-Messick said. “We have girls who are reaching their potential but still have so many things left to accomplish, which is what’s so exciting.”