Badger Track Blog V
March 01, 2007 | Men's Track & Field
This week, I have to start out by apologizing to Jerry for initially getting his 200-meter time wrong in my blog. To clarify for all, Jerry ran a 27.9 at Indiana the Friday before the Big Ten championships ' not 28.9 as I first wrote. He said he was upset with his photo on the web site (I actually thought he looked pretty good for a 36-year old!) but I think he was upset because I got his time wrong. I polled all of his athletes and they voted to keep the photo up, so it stays!
The men's Big Ten championship was another fun meet for the Badgers. Of course, its always fun when you win! I think the coaches were sweating it out for a while there on Saturday and early on Sunday, but after the high jump and mile run, things seemed to be going our way. I'm not sure what you can say about some of our freshmen and sophomores who came through for the team.
A performance that stands out from Sunday was sophomore Brennan Boettcher in the high jump ' two personal bests in two days. Pretty impressive for someone who was running back and forth between the high jump and the heptathlon pole vault.
Also, what can you say about our 'Fab Four Freshmen' in the mile run ' In their first Big Ten championship, Craig Miller (2nd), Jack Bolas (3rd), Brandon Bethke (4th) and Ryan Gasper (7th) combined to score 21 points in the first running final of the day. Craig was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year for his finish ' a well-deserved honor.
Some of the other performances that I'll remember are senior Codie See in the 3,000 meters. With his blonde hair bouncing, he ran a personal best and finishes fourth on Saturday. The other performance was sophomore Seth Pelock in the heptathlon. After missing all of the 2006 season with a broken foot, Seth came through big time to finish fourth, recording personal bests in two events and winning the heptathlon hurdles.
My 'Ironman' performance goes to senior Joe Detmer, who competed in nine events on the weekend. In addition to winning the heptathlon, he also competed in the open long jump, finishing eighth, and in the 600 meters, where he placed third.
Of course, you can't overlook the performances of Demi Omole, Tim Nelson and Chris Solinsky. A lot of people were wondering why Nelson and Solinsky didn't run the 5,000 on Sunday. The team didn't need their points for the title so the coaches wisely rested both in preparation for nationals.
Solinsky will get a good workout this weekend as he will anchor the Badgers' DMR at Notre Dame. Someone asked me awhile ago when we were going to run a fast DMR to challenge Stanford, Texas and Arkansas. Well, this weekend will be the test! Chris can 't run the DMR at NCAAs since it's only an hour after the final of the 5,000 meters, but he'll at least get the Badgers into the meet.
