Chris Solinsky is not having any trouble fitting in with the track-and-field team during his first year as a Badger.

He has gotten off to a fast start during this track season, as he has already provisionally qualified for NCAA nationals in the 3,000-meter and one-mile events, and will be looking to qualify in other events in upcoming meets.

However, Solinsky has yet to decide which event he would like to run at nationals.

“The coach (Ed Nuttycombe) and I are just kind of assessing which one is my strength so it’s pretty undetermined yet — we don’t know (what event I’ll run at nationals),” Solinsky said.

On the other hand, when asked which event he would like to specialize in during his career at Wisconsin, Solinsky blatantly stated, “probably the 5K.”

Nevertheless, there has been some speculation to possibly competing in various other distance events such as the steeplechase.

“There was some talk about [competing in the steeplechase], but not this year for sure,” Solinsky said. “Maybe next year I’ll give it a shot, but it’s kind of doubtful.”

Solinsky credits much of his early track accomplishments to his extremely successful cross-country season in the fall.

He finished among the top six in all three of his cross-country races. He also concluded the year with a third-place finish at the Big Ten meet en route to earning freshman-of-the-year honors — only the fifth Badger ever to claim that award. Solinsky went on to help the Badgers finish second at the NCAA championships.

“It definitely gave me a lot of confidence, it felt good to come out and be pretty consistent every race and help our team improve as much we could and go after a national title,” Solinsky said of the cross-country season. “It was pretty awesome to be a part of the NCAA runner-up team, and hopefully next year we’ll be able to improve one place on that, but it’s just great to come out right away and contribute to the team.”

Whereas cross country and track may appear similar to the public eye, to Solinsky the two are different.

“Track is a lot more speed. Cross country has a lot to do with like rhythm and just being strong,” he said. “I think that is probably my forte and definitely a lot of guys on the team’s forte, but track is more of a specialty sport like if you have more speed, you’ll be better at the mile at than say the 3K or the 5K.”

Needless to say, Solinsky is torn between the two sports. However, he does lean somewhat toward track now that he is competing in the college ranks.

“I like both of them a lot,” Solinsky said with a laugh. “In track now at the collegiate level there’s longer distances so you get a little more strength added to it plus I’ve got a little bit of speed I guess, but I think I like both a lot.”

Solinsky arrived at the University of Wisconsin with an impressive resume. During his high-school career, he was arguably one of the most dominant high-school runners of all time.

Success came to Solinsky early and did not leave him. Since his sophomore year, he was state champion every year in the 800-meter, 1600-meter and 3200-meter events, except for a lone second-place finish in the 800-meter his senior year.

Despite his remarkable high-school performances, Solinsky did not accomplish all of his personal goals.

“There was definitely a lot of things I didn’t accomplish that I wanted to,” he said, “but for the things that I did accomplish it was a good experience and I’ll never forget it and definitely use it to build confidence off of for the future and look back at it as a learning experience or a building block.”

Solinsky’s high-school track accomplishments, his drive, and his exceptional athletic ability made him one of the nation’s top running recruits this past year.

The argument could be made that he is quite possibly Wisconsin’s top recruit of 2003. However, it was All-American basketball player Brian Butch who grabbed the spotlight as this year’s top Badger freshman athlete.

As strong as the case for himself may be, Solinsky does not even dare put himself on the same level as Butch or other heralded athletes of much more popular sports.

“I wouldn’t necessarily put myself on the level as Brian Butch or anyone like that,” Solinsky said. “I think that those guys play a little bit more of higher-publicized sports and they’re the sports that generate the money so it ought to be like that.”

Solinsky is grateful to be apart of the Badgers’ cross-country and track teams. Arriving to Madison was not a difficult choice for him, although his final decision came down to either Wisconsin or Stanford.

“The team, the atmosphere, the coach, and just Madison itself [influenced me],” he said about his decision. “It was just a great place, I felt really comfortable here. I liked it a lot. When I made my visit, it just felt like the right place. I pretty much knew after my first visit that this is the place for me.”