Bethke Named Big Ten Athlete of the Week
April 29, 2008 | Men's Track & Field
Brandon Bethke, a sophomore on the University of Wisconsin men's track and field team, has been named Big Ten Conference Athlete of the Week, the league office announced today. Bethke picks up his first career outdoor athlete of the week award though he was named the Big Ten indoor athlete of the week on Feb. 19, 2008.
Bethke finished fourth overall and was the top collegian in the fast section of the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Oregon Relays last weekend. He improved his personal best by nearly six seconds with his NCAA Regional qualifying time of 8 minutes, 48.66 seconds. Bethke, who has also qualified for regionals in the 1500 meters, moved into second on this season's Big Ten performance list in the steeplechase. He ranks just behind teammate Ryan Gasper, who has a conference-leading time of 8:47.39. Gasper and Bethke rank third and sixth, respectively, on this season's list of NCAA national qualifiers.
The Badgers have only two weeks of competition remaining before the Big Ten Conference Outdoor Championships on May 16-18 in Champaign, Ill. Wisconsin is the four-time defending outdoor champion and won the 2008 Big Ten Indoor title in Madison.
The UW sprinters and field event athletes compete at the Iowa Twilight in Iowa City, Iowa, this Saturday. Wisconsin will take on Drake, Iowa, Minnesota and Northern Iowa in the non-scored meet on the Cretzmeyer Track & Field Complex on the University of Iowa campus. Field events begin at 3 p.m. and running events start at 5 p.m.
Eight UW distance runners will travel to Palo Alto, Calif., on Sunday for the Cardinal Invitational. Events begin at 3 p.m. PDT on Cobb Track & Angell Field on the campus of Stanford University.
