Sweet repeat: Gasper wins steeplechase crown
May 16, 2009 | Men's Track & Field
Ryan Gasper's race plan was a simple one: Get out front and stay there.
That's exactly what the junior did, pacing the field throughout the 3,000-meter steeplechase Saturday on the way to his second-consecutive Big Ten Conference championship in the event. He clocked a time of 8 minutes, 52.94 seconds to win by nearly four seconds.
Gasper's title was the Badgers' first of the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, which concluded its second day at Ohio State's Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
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The Badgers stand eighth in the team standings with just seven events in the books, owners of a score of 17 points. Minnesota leads the team race with 67 points.
'Mick (assistant coach Mick Byrne) told me to get out and just run at the front and stay out of trouble because it can get nasty,' Gasper said. 'That was exactly what I wanted to do.
'I just wanted to win and do what I have to do as a stepping stone to nationals.'
The experience gained from last year's title, as well as a race at Stanford two weeks ago in which he ran a personal-best 8:43.42, made things more comfortable for Gasper this time around.
'A year later, it's just a different position as far as maturity goes because each year you learn how to do things better and better,' Gasper said. 'I think I eliminated any pressure because I felt like I had more experience.
'The experience of knowing how to win, that helped me more than anything. '
Gasper now turns his attention to the NCAA Mideast Regional in two weeks.
'I completely trained through this race with regionals in mind, so now I get to rest up and just run fast,' he said. 'Everything is going right to plan ' and I feel awesome about it.'
The Badgers' first scoring performance of the day came as the result of a gutty performance from a senior, with Seth Pelock battling his way to an eighth-place finish in the decathlon.
Despite a broken foot and the wound he sustained Friday in the high jump that required stitches to close, Pelock racked up a score of 6,713 to finish just a point out of seventh place.
He opened the day by running a time of 15.21 in breezy conditions in the 110-meter hurdles and then threw a season-best 128 feet, 11 inches in the discus.
Ian Jansen posted a personal-best throw of 126-4 in the discus and then went on to post the top mark in the pole vault at 14-11. Derek Steinbach, who was disqualified from the 110-meter hurdles to begin the second day of the decathlon, rallied to post the No. 2 mark in the vault at 14-7 1/4.
Brennan Boettcher led the way for the decathletes in the javelin with a throw of 156-0 and then clocked in at 4:45.03 for the fourth-best time in the 1,500 meters.
Pelock wrapped up his performance with a time of 4:46.96.
'You really can't overstate how impressive Seth's performance was,' UW head coach Ed Nuttycombe said. 'I'm extremely proud of how he was able to grit his teeth and work through those injuries to put a point on the board for his team.'
Rory Linder also posted points for the Badgers, as he threw 166-4 in the discus throw to score a seventh-place finish.
A number of athletes also put themselves in scoring position by advancing to Sunday finals with performances in the preliminaries.
Juniors Jack Bolas and Craig Miller, the Big Ten's top two seeds in the 1,500 meters, both advanced to the finals of the event. Bolas clocked in second-fastest in the prelims at 3:50.18, while Miller was fourth-fastest at 3:50.96.
Sophomore Zach Beth was second-fastest in the 800 meters in 1:50.00, while senior Steve Ludwig also ran his way into the finals with the seventh-fastest time of 1:50.17.
The Badgers also will have two athletes in the finals of the 110-meter hurdles, as junior Nate Larkin ran the No.4 overall time with a run of 14.61 seconds and sophomore Temi Ogunbodede earned the ninth spot in a time of 14.79.
The 4x100-meter relay team of Larkin, Chas Demers, Brady Hammon and Kyle Jefferson also advanced to the finals with a time of 41.14 that ranked seventh in the prelims.
'We had a number of outstanding individual performances but, as a team, found too many ways to beat ourselves today,' Nuttycombe said. 'We have plenty of opportunities for our guys to step up tomorrow, and that has to be our focus. '
Sunday's schedule begins with the men's pole vault at 9:30 a.m., while running events start with the 4x100 relay finals at 11:55 a.m. UWBadgers.com will have regular updates throughout the day.
