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The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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Indoor men’s track team prepares for nationals

Indoor men’s track team prepares for nationals

by Adam Nelson, Sports Writer

Coming off a record-setting victory in the Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships at the end of February, the Wisconsin men’s track team will now head to the NCAA National Indoor Championships this weekend in Fayetteville at the University of Arkansas.

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The NCAA announced the final list of qualifiers Monday night, and Wisconsin found itself sending eight of its athletes to Arkansas. The Badgers placed qualifiers in the 3000-meter run, the 5000-meter run, the distance medley relay, the triple jump, and the heptathlon.

The Badgers will look to improve on their performance at last year’s indoor championships, where they tied for 44th place. Wisconsin received all four of its points from the fifth-place finish of the distance medley relay team.

In the 3000-meter event, Wisconsin will have Matt Tegenkamp, Simon Bairu and Chris Solinsky all in a field of 17 runners. The strong Badger presence in this event offers an opportunity for Wisconsin to score valuable points that will count toward the Badgers’ overall score in the meet.

Highly-touted freshman Solinksy has been predicted to finish fourth in the 3000-meter event by Trackwire, while Tegenkamp set the indoor record for UW at 7.55.14 earlier this season. Tegenkamp, a junior, posted a 16th-place finish in the event at last year’s national meet.

Tegenkamp and Bairu will also compete in the 5000-meter event, and Tegenkamp has been predicted to take fifth place in the event by Trackwire.

The distance medley relay team remains another scoring threat for the Badgers, despite some lineup changes from last year’s fifth place national finishers.

This year’s team features Josh Spiker, Jvontai Hanserd, Joe Detmer, and Solinksy. The group has fared well in competition so far this year, and automatically qualified for the national indoor meet with their performance last weekend at the Alex Wilson Invitational at Norte Dame. The team took a third-place finish in the race, as well as the third-fastest time ever run by a UW relay squad.

Trackwire has also predicted another fifth-place finish for the distance medley relay team in this weekend’s meet.

Also at the Notre Dame meet last weekend, Alonzo Moore won the triple jump event, marking in at 52 feet. The jump allowed Moore to automatically qualify for the national meet as the No. 15 seed, and marked a personal best for the sophomore, who also won the Big Ten championship in the event two weeks ago.

Ashraf Fadel is the final Badger entry in the meet, and he will compete in the heptathlon. The event is part of the NCAA indoor championship for the first time ever this year, and Fadel comes in as the No. 9 seed in the event.

Fadel, who also won the Big Ten championship in the event, must have a strong showing if the Badgers hope to be a major player in the meet.

Closing out a successful indoor season that saw Bairu, Detmer, Fadel, Moore and Tegenkamp pick up all-Big Ten honors and Coach Ed Nuttycombe win Coach of the Year, the Wisconsin squad is predicted to finish in a tie with Kansas State and Iowa for 18th place in the meet. The Badgers will need a strong performance to gain the predicted 13 points, but will be especially reliant on their performance in the distance events.

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