The University of Wisconsin track and field team will be traveling to Champaign, Illinois this weekend to compete in their first away meet of the 2005 season at the Carle/Heath Invitational. The University of Illinois Armory will boast formidable opponents such as Illinois, Syracuse, Iowa and Georgia for the seventh-ranked Badgers.
Ed Nuttycombe, in his 22nd year as head coach, acknowledges the strong competition and views it as a great opportunity to improve his team from an individual standpoint.
“When you get that number of teams together that are pretty decent track teams there’s always good competition in every event and that’s what we’re really looking for, more so than the team thing at this point,” Nuttycombe said. “What we’re looking for is getting in the individual competitions and getting them ready at an individual basis.”
For the past two weeks, the Badgers have competed in both the Badger Track Classic and Wisconsin Elite Invitational here in Madison at the Shell. Coach Nuttycombe was pleased with the team’s performance, as five NCAA provisional qualifying marks were achieved, such as sophomore Chris Solinsky’s 4:05.19 finish in the mile.
Coach Nuttycombe will only take half of the squad to Champaign, citing the participation in these past two meets and important future invites as the result. The team’s sprinters, hurdlers, throwers, pole-vaulters, and high jumpers will still compete, but Nuttycombe will be resting the distance runners and jumpers for this meet.
“The distance runners will run next week at Notre Dame and that’s a big, big meet for them so they’re going to wait and run that,” Nuttycombe said. “The jumpers have jumped two weeks in a row so they’re going to rest this weekend, but, nonetheless, we’re taking a pretty good little crew of about 20-25 guys and we’ve definitely got to make some improvements.”
Making improvements will be especially vital for the team’s freshmen as they begin their first season at the collegiate level. While making the transition to the NCAA level is difficult for freshmen, according to Coach Nuttycombe they just need to understand that it isn’t impossible.
“(I’m looking for the freshmen) to adjust to the new level of competition and realize that you can compete at this level,” Nuttycombe said. “We have maybe two or three freshmen going so I think it’s a good opportunity for them to get a first away-trip and get some good competition.”
This season, the Badgers will be seeking to garner their second consecutive Triple Crown in the Big Ten — conference championships in cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track. While coach Nuttycombe has completed seven Triple Crowns, six in the last nine years, he always strives to have a better outdoors team.
“We’ve always geared and pushed ourselves to be better outdoors, although we’ve been pretty good indoors, too,” Nuttycombe said. “I don’t know whether it’s just because we’ve got some talented athletes or whether by accident or whatever, but we always try to be better outdoors and we try to say, ‘Run well indoors, but leave a couple stones unturned, some things to do that are going to make you better outdoors.’ I don’t know what the results speak to, but I know that our focus is to be better outdoors.”
This will be the first track competition for the speedy sprinter Demi Omole. The All-American who finished fifth in the 100-meter dash at the NCAA outdoor meet last season with a school record of 10.15 is looking to take the Big Ten by storm in only his sophomore season.
Aside from Omole, coach Nuttycombe is also looking forward to the other athletes who have yet to compete this season so he can begin to adjust his roster and gauge what events to place his athletes in.
“I don’t think we’re set by any means. We’re still moving people around and trying people in different events,” Nuttycombe said. “I think from a standpoint of stepping up, anybody who hasn’t competed like Demi (Omole), we’re looking for him to kind of open up and showcase himself a little bit. Although I don’t think there isn’t any particular one event or one area that I’m looking at other than the ones who haven’t competed yet.”
The Badgers and their 11 returning All-Americans are eager to begin preparation for the Big Ten Indoor Championships in one month, and this weekend’s Carle/Heath Invitational is the first step toward achieving their indoor season goals.
