Badger Men Impressive at Northridge Invitational
March 21, 2004 | Men's Track & Field
Wisconsin men's track and field competed in its first outdoor meet of the season at the Northridge Invitational on Saturday in Northridge, Calif. The team's performance at the Matador Track and Field Complex was highlighted by four first-place finishes and two runner-up finishes.
The 1600-meter sprint medley earned first-place with a 3 minute 28.36 second mark. The Badger's defeated their closest competition by nearly 13 seconds. The 4x100-meter relay squad trailed CSU-Northridge by .36 seconds for second-place in 40.71.
2003 Second-team All-Big Ten team member Dustin Rabine opened the season with a second-place finish in the 800-meter dash in 1:55.19.
The UW dominated the 100-meter dash, placing three among the top ten. Demi Omole won the event in 10.49 while Scott Starks finished fourth (10.79) and Levonne Rowan placed ninth (10.98). Omole's time beat the NCAA Outdoor Regional standard by .01 seconds.
Joe Detmer earned first-place honors with a 52.28 effort in the 400-meter hurdles. Detmer's effort established a new personal best by nearly .8 seconds. Detmer's effort met the NCAA Qualifying Standard, beating the mark by .23 seconds.
Freshman Paul Hubbard established a new personal best in the long jump with a 24-4 ' effort. Hubbard was followed by teammate Rick Bellford 's 23-0 performance. In the triple jump event, Bellford once again finished second thanks to a new personal-best jump of 51-9 '. Alonzo Moore's 51-7 ' jump earned third-place for the Badgers.
Darren Neidermeyer's 16-04 ' mark tied for first-place in the pole vault, beating his previous personal best by four inches. Two Badgers followed in third and fourth places: Matt Novak's third-place 16-0 ' mark improved his personal record by over six inches while Wes Ulfig placed fourth with a 15-1 mark.
Wisconsin's solid performance in the field events carried over to the throws. Freshmen Joe Thomas placed third in the shot put with a 57-5 ' mark and seventh in the discus (158-00). Mike Sracic's 158-2 mark in the shot put earned sixth while Brandon Houle finished eighth in the shot put (52-10 ') and eleventh in the discus (151-1).
Men's track and field continue its outdoor season March 26-27 at the Florida Relays in Gainesville, Fla. and March 27 at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.
