[media-credit name=’UW Athletic Communications’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]For Wisconsin sophomore Demi Omole, this track season was supposed to be his coming-out year. The returning All-American had ambitions of taking the Big Ten by storm by improving upon his stellar freshman campaign that included championships in the outdoor 100-meter dash and 400-meter relay.

As the speedy sprinter headed into the 2005 Big Ten indoor championships as the top-ranked conference athlete in the 60-meter dash, Omole sought to embark on a dominant sophomore season.

However, Omole pulled up during the race with a strained hamstring, temporarily crushing his hopes as he was unable to top his second place finish of 6.76 seconds from a year ago.

The injury could not have come at a worse time. The University of Wisconsin men’s track team was seeking to upset the top-ranked Indiana Hoosiers for the Big Ten indoor title, and the 60-meter event was one that the team was banking on with Omole the pre-race favorite.

“[Omole’s injury] came at a time in the meet where the guys had to look around and make a decision whether they were going to fold up or ante up,” head coach Ed Nuttycombe said.

Fortunately for Omole, the Badgers compensated for his injury and ended up winning the indoor championship, but Omole remains to be upset with his performance.

“I was very angry; Coach (Nuttycombe) had to calm me down,” Omole said. “I was very disappointed; I knew that the team race would be pretty close, and they were really banking on my points, and my finish in the race was very disappointing, and I felt like I let my teammates down.”

Omole’s pulled hamstring had actually been nagging him for about a week before the Big Ten indoor championships, but he didn’t feel as though it was anything to worry about entering the meet.

“At first we didn’t think it was that serious,” Omole said of the injury. “I hurt it February 12, so I took a week off and started training again. It felt fine and Big Tens came around and everything just went to shackles. After that I took a couple weeks off, went to [NCAA Championships], ran in prelims, it hurt in prelims, but we were so close to getting the team trophy, in fact we almost won the meet, that I still ran in finals to get fourth.”

While Omole toughed it out and ran at the indoor national championships to help the Badgers to a third-place finish, he was rather disappointed with his showing in the 60-meter dash there as well. Had he been completely healthy, Omole would have been the frontrunner to win the race.

“Well, my hamstring was still bothering me at nationals, but I still managed to run and get fourth,” Omole said. “But it was disappointing for the fact that I knew if I was healthy I would’ve won the event, but now I’m feeling better. Coach (Nuttycombe) is getting me stronger. We’re doing a lot of different things right now so in a couple of weeks I should be back to 100 percent.”

Omole feels he is currently 75 to 80 percent healthy and is training vigorously to fully recover and make an impact in the outdoor season, where he excelled a year ago.

“(To recover, I’m doing) a whole bunch of leg, hamstring, ab circuit stuff,” Omole said. “A whole bunch of circuit stuff, a whole bunch of repetition just to get my legs stronger than they were before.”

Over spring break, Omole qualified for the NCAA outdoor regional along with Brian Calhoun, Dan Goesch and Jvontai Hanserd as the 4×100-meter relay team. The quartet finished third with a time of 40.65 at the Jim Click Shootout in Tucson, Ariz.

As the Badgers embark on their outdoor season, winning the Big Ten Triple Crown award for the second straight year by winning the conference outdoor title is tops on UW’s list of goals. Omole hopes to help carry on the UW tradition this outdoor season and contribute toward a second straight Big Ten outdoor title.

“Wisconsin dominates the Big Ten, and it’s a tradition here that we always win Triple Crowns, so if we lose outdoor, I think a lot of people, especially the seniors, will be very disappointed,” Omole said. “But winning Triple Crowns is something that is kind of a tradition here, and we’d just like to keep it up.”

With the outdoor season quickly underway, Omole is simply trying to enjoy the weather and forget about the disappointments of the indoor season that came with his hamstring injury.

“Outdoor season is my favorite,” Omole said. “I’m not really very much of an indoor guy, so being able to be outdoors; I’m just happy to be here and get things done.”