Men's Track Wins Big Ten Outdoors
May 16, 2004 | Men's Track & Field
It was a battle back and forth all day between Wisconsin and Minnesota but in the end, the Badgers won the 2004 Big Ten Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Wisconsin came from 28 points down with four events remaining to win the meet by eight points.
The Badgers complete the Big Ten Triple Crown ' conference titles in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track all in the same academic year ' with 165 points. The Golden Gophers finished second with 157 points.
'I don't know what to say about this team; they just competed great,' said UW coach Ed Nuttycombe. 'I'm not surprised that we scored as many points as we scored but I'm surprised that it was enough to win it. It was a great team effort from top to bottom.
'The Triple Crown is our goal every year. It feels like mission accomplished.'
Wisconsin scored 19 points in the 5000 meters, nine points in the pole vault and 17 points in the triple jump to take an insurmountable 12-point lead prior to the 4x400-meter relay.
'Only because of the time when it came in, the 4x1(100-meter relay) win followed by a good showing in the 1500 followed by a really good showing in the hurdles kind of set the tempo for the day,' said Nuttycombe.
The Badgers started off the day by winning the 4x100-meter relay. Freshman Demi Omole anchored Wisconsin's come-from-behind victory, sprinting by three other teams on the last leg. He teamed with Jvontai Hanserd, Paul Hubbard and Scott Starks to win in 40.24, which is also an NCAA Regional qualifying time.
Wisconsin scored three places in the 1500 meters. Junior Josh Spiker finished second in 4:01.87, sophomore Ben Gregory was sixth in 4:04.10 and sophomore
Bobby Lockhart was eighth in 4:04.57.
The Badgers also scored key points in the 110-meter high hurdles where senior Jon Mungen and sophomore Paul Check finished third and fourth, respectively. Mungen crossed in 14.27 while Check finished in 14.34.
A win by Omole in the 100 meters (10.61), Dan Murray's fourth-place finish in the 800 meters (1:49.64) as well as Hanserd and Omole finishing fourth (20.94) and sixth (21.05), respectively, in the 200 meters kept the Badgers in the team race.
Freshman Joe Thomas also scored in the shot put. Despite throwing a personal best by almost two feet, Thomas finished just eighth with a toss of 61-7 ', which ranks him among the top 20 throwers in the country.
'At the end, we had the triple (jump), the 5000 and the (4x400-meter) relay which always seem to kind of bring things together for us,' said Nuttycombe.
The Badgers finished second, third and fourth in the 5000 meters. Junior Matt Tegenkamp crossed in 14:33.55 for second place, Solinsky was third in 14:13.72 and sophomore Simon Bairu finished fourth in 14:14.08.
Next came the pole vault where junior Darren Niedermeyer finished second with a height of 16-8 ' and senior Ashraf Fadel finished eighth, clearing 15-11.
In the triple jump, sophomore Alonzo Moore finished second with a season's best of 52-5 '. Sophomore Rick Bellford was third with a personal best of 52-0 ' and freshman Paul Hubbard finished sixth at 50-11 '.
With a 12-point lead, Wisconsin didn't even have to run the 4x400-meter relay but the team of Dan Goesch, Chad Melotte, Scott Hogseth and Joe Detmer finished fourth with a season's best time of 3:10.10.
'I'm really happy for the seniors on the team because they really didn't lose many times on the conference level and that speaks a lot for their leadership and their productivity,' said Nuttycombe.
The Badger women finished ninth in the team race with 60 ' points. Michigan successfully defended its outdoor title by winning the championships with 148 points.
'We were rolling really well all day long for third place until some of the events where we expected to score really well did come through for us, ' said UW coach Peter Tegen. 'That certainly threw a wrench in the works.
'I think everyone competed really well with a big heart. Overall, it was a really great experience.'
Wisconsin's string of 17-straight Big Ten titles in the women's 1500 meters came to an end as Michigan's Lindsey Gallo outsprinted Hilary Edmondson over the last 100 meters. Gallo won the event in 4:24.37 while Edmondson finished second in 4:25.23. Sophomore Linsey Blaisdell finished seventh in 4:36.52. Edmondson was also third in the 800 meters in 2:08.92.
The Badgers also scored in the 4x100-meter relay where the team of Talbot, Lucas, Schoeller and Venus Washington finished sixth in 46.25. Lucas was also seventh in the 100 meters in 11.96 and sixth in the 200 meters in 23.85.
Talbot and Schoeller both scored in the 400-meter hurdles after scoring in the heptathlon on Saturday. Talbot finished fifth in 1:01.12 while Schoeller was seventh in 1:02.56.
Senior Leslie Patterson came back from her third-place finish in Friday's 10,000 meters to finish fourth in the 5000 meters. She ran a personal best of 16:59.00.
The Badgers also picked up half a point in the high jump where freshman Theresa Giorno tied for eighth at 5-6.
