The University of Wisconsin men’s track and field team’s select few members have been preparing for this upcoming weekend for the entire year. This Friday and Saturday, the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship will be held at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium in Nampa, Idaho.
The Badgers will send six men to the event in two different events. The team will send their distance medley relay team composed of junior Zachary Mellon, sophomore Alex Hatz and freshmen Aaron Thompson and Austin Mudd, while sophomore Japheth Cato and senior David Grzesiak will compete in the heptathlon.
“This week is just about staying on our feet, staying healthy, getting sleep and not doing too much,” Mellon said. “The work that needed to be done is already done.”
Wisconsin’s distance medley team automatically qualified for this week’s championships as the six seed by finishing the event with a time of 9 minutes and 30.86 seconds at the Alex Invitational last week.
Mellon will look to lead the Badgers’ distance medley team with his experience, as he finished 13th in the 800 meter run at last year’s NCAA championships. Mellon also finished 5th in the 800 at the 2010 NCAA championships, which earned him First Team All-American honors.
Mellon has used his experience to give advice to the rest of his team.
“I told them don’t give the other runners too much respect,” Mellon said. “We’re here for a reason. We can run with the best of them. Don’t quit until the finish line.”
Mellon’s experience will be vital if the Badgers want to be successful, as this will be the first trip past the Big Ten championships for Thompson, Mudd and Hatz.
Wisconsin assistant and distance coach Mick Byrne’s message to these inexperienced athletes was simple.
“It’s just another race,” Byrne said. “Put one leg in front of the other, take left-hand turns, get around as quick as you can and stay on your feet.”
Even though Hatz doesn’t have the experience of Mellon, he has enjoyed success in his short career thus far at Wisconsin. Hatz owns the school record in the mile with a time of 3:58.68, which he set this year at the Tyson Invitational. Hatz finished fifth in the mile at last year’s Big Ten Championships.
“I’m really excited about it,” Hatz said about the NCAA Championships. “It’s something I came here to do – to be able to compete at this level. I’m definitely nervous, but it’s a nervous excitement.”
The Badgers highest ranked player heading into the championships is Cato, who is currently ranked third in the heptathlon. Cato also has experience in the NCAA Championships, finishing 15th in 2011, which earned him Second Team All-American honors.
Cato has had a impressively successful year thus far. While Cato owns the school and Big Ten record in the heptathlon, he also won the seven-event affair at the Big Ten Championships this year and ranks third nationally. Even though Cato is the three seed, his personal best score in the heptathlon is better than the qualifying score for both the number one and two seeds in the NCAA Championships.
“I think, for me at least, the key is to take one event at a time,” Cato said. “You really can’t think about what’s next without thinking about what’s now.”
After a disappointing finish in 2011 while nursing a sprained ankle, Cato hopes to show that he can meet – and hopefully surpass – expectations.
“Going back, I feel that I need to show everyone that I can be the person that I was supposed to be last year, but couldn’t be,” Cato said.
Grzesiak – who will be competing alongside Cato in the heptathlon – is the only competitor on the Badgers who did not automatically qualify for the event. The senior received an at-large berth in the event due to his season best score in the heptathlon, which ranks him 16th nationally.
Grzesiak holds the second-best score in school history in the heptathlon behind Cato. He also finished fifth this year in the Big Ten Championships. Grzesiak also has experience at the NCAA Championship level. He finished 16th at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the decathlon.
The Badgers’ season success has the medley team confident heading into the weekend’s meet. Even though Wisconsin is the sixth seed, they feel like anything could happen.
“I think we can compete with the best,” Mellon said. “There’s no reason why we can’t finish in the top three. This race is crazy enough where we could win it.”
Byrne knows that the Badgers will ultimately be measured by how they finish. However, he says that the experience of the meet is important as well.
“I want them to walk away saying they gave it their all,” Byrne said. “What more can you ask for other than to go out and run fast, compete against the best in the country and hopefully have the chance to set a school record along the way”?
