Feb. 27, 2010

Results | Results | Blog

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- It was the performance the Wisconsin men’s track and field team had been waiting for all day.

After getting off to a rough start, the Badgers capped the opening day of the 2010 Big Ten Indoor Championships with an outstanding run and a conference title in the distance medley relay Saturday at the University of Minnesota Fieldhouse.

“It’s all about momentum and how you finish the day on Saturday,” said senior Ryan Gasper, who opened the relay with a strong 1,200-meter leg. “It’s going to be a big pickup for everyone going into tomorrow. I think it was huge.”

The quartet of Gasper, sophomore Grant Bughman, junior Luke Rucks and senior Jack Bolas clocked in at 9:47.96 to take the title. It’s the second DMR title in three years for Bolas, who also was part of the Badgers’ win in 2008, the third overall Big Ten crown for Gasper and the first-ever title for Bughman and Rucks.

“Because it’s the last event of the first day, and because it’s scored, everyone wants to win the DMR to get some momentum heading into the last day,” Bolas said. “We knew that we needed to get a ‘W’ and give the team a lift.”

As usual, the race came down to the final 1,600-meter leg, and Bolas shined as the Badgers’ anchor. Taking the baton from Rucks with the Badgers in third place, Bolas was content to ride along and, eventually, the rest of the pack closed the gap on what had been a three-team breakaway.

Michigan’s Brendon Blacklaws briefly assumed the lead before Bolas charged to the front with 400 meters to go and coasted to a comfortable win with a final split in the 4:07 range.

“The biggest thing is making sure the team’s in the race and making sure we give Jack a good position,” Gasper said. “You want to make it as easy as possible on your anchor so he can bring it home.”

Bolas, who had already run a preliminary race in the mile to qualify for Sunday’s final in that event, had the race play out exactly as he had hoped.

“The rule for Luke was to not hand off to me in the lead so the other teams can do the work (of leading),” he said. “That saved my legs for a kick at the end, and the race was exactly what I wanted in that it was contained, there was no pushing and shoving and I had no wasted energy.”

Gasper and Bolas were no strangers to running in the championship setting, but it was a relatively new environment for Bughman and Rucks. Still, everyone did their part to keep the Badgers near the front.

“I made the mistake of taking it out too early in the race because I felt great, but I didn’t really lose any ground, so I did my job,” Bughman said. “You’re not going to win the DMR on the 400 leg, but you can lose it by dropping the baton or doing something stupid.

“That was my goal, to not do anything stupid,” he added with a smile.

The event was indeed a boost for the Badgers, who came up short in a number of events on the meet’s opening day. The team’s only other points came from freshman Reed Connor’s gutty fourth-place finish in the 3,000 meters, which came in a time of 8:10.75.

Despite Connor’s run, the 3,000 was largely a disappointment for the Badgers, as senior Craig Miller finished just out of scoring position in ninth place and junior Landon Peacock fell to 16th place after being knocked down in the race’s late stages.

Wisconsin also went scoreless in the three field events decided on Saturday and stands fifth in the team standings with 15 points.

Minnesota leads with 49.5 points, followed by Ohio State in second with 40.5.

“Honestly, it was one of those days you’d like to forget,” head coach Ed Nuttycombe said. “There were a number of things that didn’t go the way we had hoped.

“The DMR was one of the few high notes, and I thought Jack was great on the anchor and the other guys set him up well in what was a pretty hotly-contested relay.”

Defending Big Ten long jump champion Rayme Mackinson finished 12th in that event, leaping 22 feet, 2 1/2 inches. In the pole vault, junior Mickey DeFilippo competed despite continuing to battle a foot injury but failed to clear the opening height.

Junior Jake Fritz finished 10th in the shot put with a heave of 54-2 3/4, with freshman Casey Dehn was 13th with a mark of 52-4.

Also, after four events in the heptathlon, the Badgers have sophomore David Grzesiak in ninth place with 2,895 points, as well as sophomore Derek Steinbach in 12th place (2,833 points), senior Seth Pelock in 13th place (2,774) and sophomore Ian Jansen in 18th (2,549).

Still, there were bright spots in the preliminaries on the track for the Badgers, who set themselves up well for Sunday’s finals in several events.

Freshman Zach Mellon clocked a track record on his way to the top seed for the final in the 800 meters, running a 1:50.18 to win his heat and post the top time in the prelims. Rucks will join him after finishing ninth-fastest at 1:52.11.

Prior to his run in the 3,000 meters, Miller grabbed the top seed for Sunday’s final in the mile, as he won his heat and clocked the fastest time at 4:05.47. Bolas also won his heat and finished fifth-fastest overall, at 4:06.83, to advance to the final, as well.

Senior Nate Larkin earned the No. 2 seed for the finals of the 60-meter hurdles with his run of 7.99 on Saturday. Larkin, who was third in the event at last year’s Big Ten meet, won his heat and ran second-fastest to Illinois’ Andrew Riley.

The Badgers also pushed through the duo of freshman Gavin Robertson and sophomore Kyle Jefferson in the 200 meters. Robertson was fifth-fastest in the prelims at 21.81, while Jefferson ran the sixth-fastest time at 21.85.

Junior Zach Beth broke away from his specialty event, the 800 meters, to run the 600 meters on Saturday and qualified for the finals with a personal-best time of 1:18.66.

“The individuals we have left, and we have plenty of qualifiers, need to dig down, compete and find a way,” Nuttycombe said. “We’re not going to win the meet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t compete with a little pride, and a little gusto, and see what happens.”