Men's Track Wins Big Ten Outdoor Title
May 15, 2005 | Men's Track & Field
Led by titles in six events, including four on Sunday, the University of Wisconsin men 's track and field team successfully defended its Big Ten Conference Outdoor Championship title. The Badgers scored a meet record 174 points, winning the meet by 63 points over second-place Indiana.
Wisconsin also won its second consecutive Big Ten Triple Crown ' conference titles in all three running championships (cross country, indoor track and outdoor track) during the same academic year.
'I said we needed a good meet to win and that was beyond all expectations,' said UW coach Ed Nuttycombe. 'That was a great day, probably as good a day as I've ever seen a track team compete from top to bottom.
'I knew that we had a pretty good team but I had no idea that we were going to do that well or that we were that good.'
Sophomore Demi Omole successfully defended his title in the 100-meter dash and also anchored the Badgers' 4x100-meter relay to the win. The dash was a close race with only one-hundredth of a second separating the top two finishers. Omole won in 10.35 while Purdue's Kenneth Baxter was second in 10.36. Senior Jvontai Hanserd placed seventh in the 100 in 10.61.
In the relay, Omole and Hanserd teamed with Brian Calhoun and Dan Goesch to win in 40.32. Illinois was second in 40.57.
Omole and Hanserd wrapped up the day by placing fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 200-meter dash. Omole crossed in 21.36 despite running with cramps in his legs while Hanserd finished in 21.48.
Senior Matt Tegenkamp won his first Big Ten outdoor title, taking the 1500 meters in 3:44.52. The Lee's Summit, Mo., native, who normally runs the longer distance events, moved down to the 1,500 meters. Sophomore Chris Solinsky placed second in 3:44.87, just edging Indiana's Sean Jefferson, who placed third in 3:44.94. Junior Ben Gregory finished eighth in 3:50.31.
'The Big Ten meet is insane the depth at 1500 meters, ' said Tegenkamp. 'We didn't give ourselves too many points (before the meet) but that what's the Big Ten meet is all about; you don 't worry about the time, you just worry about the places.'
Paul Check's title in the 110-meter high hurdles came down to a lean at the finish line as the junior from Mequon, Wis., won by one-hundredth of a second. Check leaned to win his Big Ten title in 14.15 while Purdue's Ricky Pinkney placed second in 14.16. Only .07 seconds separated the top five finishers.
'I knew it was close,' said Check of the race. 'Me and Ricky Pinkney had a surge halfway through the race and that's when I picked him up out of the corner of my eye. It just came down to the lean and I outleaned him for the line and won.'
Senior Darren Niedermeyer was a surprise winner in the pole vault. Despite competing only twice this outdoor season due to a back injury, Niedermeyer came through with an outdoor personal best of 16-6 ' for the win. He was seeded fifth entering the meet. Sophomore Derek Thiel also came through with a personal best performance, placing sixth at 15-7.
'I think I got four hours of sleep last night thinking about pole vault,' explained Niedermeyer. 'I just brought the run and everything else worked.'
Just like this year's indoor championship, sophomore Joe Thomas came through on his last throw to place second in the shot put. The Brookfield, Wis., native threw a personal best of 62-5 ' to move up.
Junior Nathan Brown came through in the javelin, throwing a personal best of 209-2 to take second. His throw ranks him third on the UW all-time list.
Wisconsin scored two places in the triple jump with junior Alonzo Moore placing in second with a distance of 15.86m. With a distance of 15.44m, junior Rick Bellford claimed the fourth-place position.
Senior Tim Keller wrapped up his Big Ten career with a third-place finish in the 5000 meters, crossing in 14:29.42.
Wisconsin also finished sixth in the 4x400-meter relay. The team of Dan Goesch, Luke Hoenecke, Jvontai Hanserd and Scott Hogseth crossed in 3:15.67.
