Wisconsin Men Win Big Ten Track Title
May 19, 2002 | Women's Track & Field
Led by three event champions on the last day of competition, the Wisconsin men 's track and field team pulled out its third straight Big Ten Conference Outdoor championship. The title came down to the last event where the Badgers finished second in the 4 x 400-meter relay. Wisconsin edged Minnesota 157 ' to 153.
Earlier in the day, the Badgers crowned event champions in the 110-meter high hurdles, where Jon Mungen won in a personal best of 14.02 seconds. Redshirt freshman Dan Murray won the 800 meters in a track record and NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 1:48.20.
In the 5000 meters, the second to the last event on the track, Wisconsin picked up 27 points behind champion Isaiah Festa. Festa, who won the 3000-meter steeplechase on Saturday night, kicked by teammate Matt Tegenkamp to win the 5000 in 14:20.09. Tegenkamp finished second in 14:22.73 while Josh Spiker was fifth in 14:28.00 and Nick Winkel was sixth in 14:28.27.
'Everyone in the 5,000 did everything they could,' said Festa. 'Then the 4 x 4(00-meter relay), they just did it. Coach (Jerry) Schumacher asked us if we really wanted to run because he said we had an outside chance (to win the team title). We said we'd do whatever it takes. When the meet is on the line, it makes it that much more exciting.'
The meet came down to the relay with the Badgers leading the Gophers by six-and-a-half points. The Wisconsin quartert of Jvontai Hanserd, Ricardo Rodriguez, Gustin Smith and Jabari Pride hung with top-seeded Minnesota for most of the race. The Gophers won in 3:08.59 but the Badgers finished second in 3:09.17 to clinch the team race.
Pride and Hanserd also finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 400 meters in 47.18 and 47.99. The Badger men also got points from junior B.J. Tucker, who finished second in the 100 meters in 10.45. Tucker was also a member of the third-place 4 x 100-meter relay team.
Senior Len Herring finished second in the triple jump in his last Big Ten meet in an NCAA automatic mark of 53-9. Freshman Alonzo Moore was fifth in 51-9 '.
The Badger women finished fifth in the team race, only one point out of fourth place. Michigan won its first Big Ten title since 1998 with 109 points. Indiana was second with 94 ' points, Illinois was third with 93 points and Purdue fourth with 90 1/3 points. Wisconsin scored 89 1/3 points.
Junior Bethany Brewster won the 16th straight 1500-meter title for the Badgers winning the event in a personal best of 4:16.86. Brewster used a strong kick to win the race ahead of Michigan's Katie Jazwinski, who was second in 4:20.53, and Badger teammate Hilary Edmondson, who was third in 4:22.32. Junior Elaine Canchola was sixth in 4:32.02.
'This was great,' said Brewster. 'It is a big event. Everybody talks about keeping the streak going and how long Wisconsin has won. But all of the hype does not really come up until the Big Ten meet. For us, it is just business. We go out there and run, perform, and do our best. Today I wanted to qualify for (USATF) nationals which I was able to do.'
Senior Cathy Ross came one centimeter short of winning a Big Ten title in the triple jump. Ross set another UW record but finished second at 42-10 '. Sherita Williams of Michigan State won the event at 42-10 '.
The Badgers also got a school record from Becky Tuma, who finished fourth in the discus at 166-6. Sophomore Bree Fuqua finished fifth at 161-10.
The Badgers also got points from Hilary Edmondson, who finished fourth in the 800 meters in 2:09.09, and Kym Hubing, who was sixth in the 400 meters in 56.85. Greta Bauer was eighth in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:02.68 and Wisconsin's 4 x 100-meter relay team was sixth in 47.77.
