May 29, 2011

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EUGENE, Ore. -- Their routes were completely different but, on Saturday, Mohammed Ahmed and Reed Connor managed to arrive at the same destination.

Racing in separate heats that played out markedly different from one another, the University of Wisconsin teammates both did exactly what they needed to in order to advance out of the 2011 NCAA West Preliminary Round.

The pair punched tickets for the NCAA outdoor championships in the 5,000 meters with lifetime-best runs at Hayward Field on the final day of preliminary competition.

Connor was the first to get through, employing a strong finishing kick to pick up the spots necessary for a third-place finish in his heat -- and the automatic NCAA berth that came with it -- in 13 minutes, 48.59 seconds.

Ahmed took a different approach in the much faster second heat, placing himself with the leaders from the start and churning out a personal-best time of 13:34.23 that was good for second place -- and another automatic berth to Des Moines, Iowa.

The performances made two-time NCAA championships qualifiers out of the pair this season, as both Ahmed, a sophomore, and Connor, a redshirt freshman, also ran at the national indoor meet in March.

The duo join sophomore Maverick Darling (10,000 meters) and freshman Alex Brill (3,000-meter steeplechase) in the Badgers' contingent for the NCAA outdoor championships, which are set for June 8-11.

The Badgers' other competitor on the final day of the preliminary round was freshman Dan Block, who finished 25th overall in the discus. After a pair of fouls on his first two attempts, Block landed a legal throw of 170 feet, 9 inches that was not enough to put him among the top 16 that went to finals competing for 12 spots to Des Moines.

Ahmed's performance was the payoff for a gamble the sophomore took in choosing to compete in the 5,000 meters. He also was qualified for the preliminary round in the 10,000 meters -- an event in which he scored a fourth-place finish to earn All-America honors as a freshman last season.

"It was just my gut," Ahmed said of the decision. "I felt like I have something to prove in the NCAA 5K. The 10K is where my comfort is at, and I wanted to get out of that and see what happens."

What happened was a performance that stacks up among the best in UW's storied distance running history. Ahmed now ranks No. 3 all-time for the Badgers in the event and trails only legends Chris Solinsky (13:12.24) and Matt Tegenkamp (13:26.36).

Needless to say, his race was fast. After consistently turning laps of 1:05 to 1:07 for the first 4,000 meters, Ahmed ran the race's final two laps in 2:05.23 -- the second-fastest closing 800 meters of anyone in the 48-man field.

Only winner Lawi Lalang of Arizona got home faster, finishing in 13:30.64.

"The two guys that were leading the whole race ... I knew they were going to try to break it open," Ahmed said. "All I needed to do was position myself and not get tripped up and let them carry me.

"Everybody kept falling off one by one and, the last two laps, there were five of us. I just needed to maintain that and, in the last 200, just kick it down."

Connor's heat, a slower, more tactical affair, played out in familiar fashion. It closely resembled the type of race that Connor used to score a surprising Big Ten championship in the event two weeks ago.
"It was a flashback to Big Tens almost," Connor said. "It was another slow race and it was coming down to the last two laps again."

Just as he did at the Big Ten meet, Connor closed a gap in the late stages. Seventh with 800 meters to go, he picked off one spot by passing Minnesota's Hassan Mead for sixth heading to the bell lap.

On the final circuit, Connor really went to work and laid down a split of 54.65 for the last 400 meters that allowed him to churn past New Mexico's Rory Fraser and Stanford teammates Jake Riley and Chris Derrick for third.

"That second-to-last lap I was trying to get in position but everyone else wanted to go and I was stuck on the inside," Connor said. "I had to close hard and I ended up running a (54.65) last lap."

The odd man out was senior Landon Peacock, who laid down a huge personal-best of 13:42.90 to narrowly miss moving on to Des Moines.

Peacock's time, which had him eighth in the extremely-fast second section, fell exactly 1 second short of qualifying. The top five finishers in each heat moved on automatically, while the next two fastest times overall also advanced on an at-large basis. Peacock's time was the third-fastest of the non-automatic qualifiers.

In fact, Peacock's time would have won each of the other three national semifinal-round heats Saturday -- including heat No. 1 in Eugene and both sections at the NCAA East Preliminary Round in Bloomington, Ind.

"This field out here in the West Region is just as talented as nationals is going to be," Connor said.

That meant confidence -- like the kind Connor earned in winning the Big Ten meet -- was required on Saturday.

"You have to expect to make it if you're going to make it," he added.