The No. 18 UW men’s track team earned eight NCAA qualifying marks at the Iowa State Classic, while the women’s track team recorded 127 and one-third points fewer than host Penn State to finish 11th at the Penn State Challenge Cup.
On the first day of competition, three members of the men’s track team posted NCAA provisional qualifying marks. Junior Matt Tegenkamp won the 5000 meters with a qualifying time of 13:56.65, sophomore Simon Bairu posted a personal-best qualifying time of 14:00.70, and freshman Tim Nelson finished with a qualifying mark of 14:12.54.
Tegenkamp moves into a tie for third on UW’s all-time indoor list, while Bairu ranks seventh.
On the second day of action, five additional Badgers took home NCAA provisional times. Freshman Chris Solinsky improved to third on the UW all-time list with a win in the 3000 meters. Solinsky finished in an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 7:57.58.
Sophomore Bobby Lockhart grabbed second in the 3000 with a provisional mark of 8:01.06, a new Lockhart personal best. Senior Joe Eckerly also set a personal best in the 3000, finishing 12th in 8:15.90.
Junior Josh Spiker took the top spot in the mile with an NCAA qualifying mark of 4:03.01. The mark set a new personal best for Spiker.
The Badgers took home another win in the triple jump, as sophomore Alonzo Moore earned a qualifying mark of 51-6. Also in the triple jump, sophomore Rick Bellford improved his personal best by more than a foot, taking second with a provisional mark of 51-5.
In the pole vault, redshirt freshman Matt Novak soared 16-0 to improve his personal best by more than five inches and grab 10th place.
Sophomore Joe Detmer sprinted to the eighth-fastest time in school history with a 47.42 in the 400 meters. Detmer was also a member of the Badgers’ 4×400-meter relay that ran a season-best of 3:13.32 to finish 14th.
On the women’s side, the Badgers managed just 21 points to finish 11th at the Penn State Challenge Cup. Host Penn State took the win with 158 and one-third points and Ohio State grabbed second with 105 points.
Leading the way for Wisconsin was senior Hilary Edmonson, who posted an automatic NCAA qualifying mark of 4:36.12 in the mile. Edmonson’s finish was the second-fastest in school history and trails Suzy Favor’s Big Ten Conference all-time mark (4:30.63) by just six seconds.
Freshman Shuntia Lucas recorded the second-fastest time in school history in the 200-meter dash, finishing in sixth in 24.49. Lucas’s time is just a fraction of a second behind Lisa Payne’s school record of 24.42.
UW sophomore Melissa Talbot posted an indoor personal best and moved into eighth on Wisconsin’s all-time list with 56.61 in the 400 meters. In a remarkable day, Talbot also teamed up with Kym Hubing, Erica Schoeller and Tara Halls to run a season’s best of 3:52.44 in the 4×400-meter relay.
The Badgers failed to grab a top-10 finish in the field events, as junior Courtney Bauer’s 11th-place finish in the shot put was the strongest field performance of the day. Sophomore Jamae Gjermo took 14th in the shot put with 42-9.
