On the heels of the announcement that their coach Ed Nuttycombe will be inducted into the Madison Sports Hall of Fame, a group of Badgers will be heading to Iowa City, Iowa to compete in the Iowa Open on Saturday, April 19. The news of their coach’s induction into the Hall of Fame as a member of the 2008 class is just the latest in a plethora of good news from the runners, jumpers and throwers of the team.
“We had a lot of good marks this past weekend, (and we) qualified a lot of guys for regionals,” junior Brennan Boettcher — a runner, long jumper and javelin thrower — said of the team’s recent successes. “We’ve had a lot of good marks in only a couple meets so far, so we’re kind of looking forward to the next meets.”
At the recent meet in Auburn for the Tiger Track Classic on April 4, Wisconsin tracksters also met success. In the 800-meter race particularly, the Badgers succeeded, with freshman Zach Beth taking third place, senior Eric Hatchell taking sixth, freshman Luke Rucks taking seventh, junior Steve Ludwig taking eighth and senior Joe Pierre finishing 10th. Badger sophomore Pat Nichols tied in second for the high jump, and sophomore Nate Larkin took eighth place in the 110-meter hurdles.
The Badgers’ next round of success came at the Sea Ray Relays the next week, when senior pole vaulter Derek Thiel tied for first place in his event, clearing the bar at 16 feet, 6.75 inches. That mark qualified Thiel for regional championship competition. Also, Wisconsin won the 4×110-meter shuttle hurdle relay under the power of Peter Dykstra, Adam Pischke, Boettcher and Larkin. James Groce and Chas Demers, 400-meter racer and 200-meter racer respectively, also achieved regional times in their events.
After all this success, the Badgers are looking to move into the meet in Iowa and continue the momentum they’ve had lately while continuing to prepare for the middle part of the season.
“(The Iowa Open) is a good meet particularly for the type of meet we need for this weekend,” Nuttycombe said. “We’ve been to two big meets at Auburn and Tennessee, and then the following week we go to the Drake Relays, which is a huge meet in Iowa. So, it’s a lower-key setting where a lot of guys can get a lot of good work in.”
The Iowa Open focuses mostly on sprint races and field work. According to Nuttycombe, roughly three-quarters of the team will make the trip to compete.
Though the team is coming off a wildly successful indoor season in which they won the Big Ten Championships, everyone is bearing down for this outdoor season. The Iowa meet will be used as a competition to hone skills and train for larger meets down the road, ultimately working toward the Big Ten Championship, something that all Wisconsin tracksters know is not won lightly.
“You’ve got to approach the indoors and outdoors as two separate seasons,” Larkin said. “You’ve got to start fresh. Everyone is pretty excited to get after it.”
Though the team has mentally moved on, it has been difficult to physically accept there is a separation in the seasons with such little time between the two. That is also coupled with the fact that a large number of practices have still been held in the Shell.
“It’s kind of depressing to know that indoors has been done for five weeks now, and you’re still training indoors and running all of your intervals on an indoors track,” Boettcher said with a smile.
The Badgers will be facing about eight teams, most from the Midwest region, at the Open. Though most of the runners will consider it a training meet, the competition will not be easy. Both Larkin and Boettcher expressed their desire to achieve regional marks in their events. Ultimately, the meet will be another stepping stone for a young team climbing the Big Ten and national rankings.
“The glow of the (indoor championship) has kind of worn off, and we’re trying to work and prepare to try to do it again outdoors,” Nuttycombe said.
