Feb. 25, 2012

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LINCOLN, Neb. -- It was a tall order, but Japheth Cato finished what he started as the Wisconsin men's track and field team closed out the 2012 Big Ten Indoor Championships on Saturday.

The sophomore put the finishing touches on a fantastic two-day performance by successfully defending his Big Ten title in the heptathlon. It helped the Badgers wrap up a fifth-place finish with their score of 75 points. Indiana tallied 104 points to claim the title over Minnesota and host team Nebraska.

Finishing the last three events of the seven-discipline competition, Cato fell just 37 points shy of his own Big Ten record and recorded a winning score 5,902 points. Buoyed by the home crowd, Nebraska's Bjorn Barrefors finished in second place, with the All-American tallying 5,581 points.

With podium finishes in the heptathlon and long jump, as well as a strong run in the 60 hurdles, Cato contributed 21 points to the Badgers' team total.

"Cato had a tremendous meet," Nuttycombe said. "He was out here competing for two full days and really competed to the end in every event he entered."

Fresh off setting a personal-best time of 7.88 seconds in the preliminary round of the open 60 hurdles Friday, Cato posted another solid run in the heptathlon hurdles with his field-leading time of 8.11. Cato also had the second-best mark in the pole vault with a clearance of 16 feet, 8 3/4 inches.

Senior David Grzesiak climbed his way up the leaderboard in the second day of competition, beginning the day in 11th place but rallying to take fifth. A big boost came in the 1000 meters, as he ran to a personal-best time of 2:38.50 to lead the field.

In his first Big Ten competition, Zach Ziemek finished eighth by recording a score of 5,354 points. The freshman shattered his personal-best mark in the pole vault of 15-9 by making a clearance at 16-4 3/4. Ziemek also bested his personal best in the 1000 meters by finishing in a time of 3:00.25.

Cato finished off his busy championships weekend by taking part in the 60 hurdles. Cato bolted to a fourth-place finish with his time of 7.99 seconds. The time marked Cato's second sub-8 second run in as many days in the event.

"Fifth place obviously wasn't what we had hoped for or worked for, but I was pleased with how a number of guys stepped up today," Nuttycombe said. "Track is all about performing on the day, and we had some guys do that."

Fueled by a personal-record mark in the 60 hurdles on Friday, redshirt freshman Matt Widule also raced in the finals and placed seventh in 8.10 seconds, his second-fastest mark of the season.

Freshman Austin Mudd impressed with a personal-best finish of 1 minute, 48.90 seconds, to take fifth place in the 800 meters. Junior Zach Mellon also competed, finishing ninth in 1:49.74.

Alex Hatz's streak of consecutive wins in the mile came to an end, but the sophomore picked up points for UW by finishing fifth in the event with a time of 4:07.33.

In the 600 meters final, sophomore Tyler Woloszyk placed seventh by finishing in 1:19.90. The time marked Woloszyk's second-fastest of the season.

Senior Brady Hammon took part in the final of the 400 meters, finishing ninth in a time of 48.22 seconds.

In one of the last events of the championships, a trio of Badgers all picked up valuable points toward Wisconsin's team total by finishing sixth, seventh and eighth in the 5000 meters.

Junior Reed Connor led the way, finishing with a time of 13:53.55 to take sixth. Senior Ryan Collins was just behind and finished seventh in 13:58.79, while junior Elliot Krause was the third Badger to cross the line with his time of 14:01.64 good for eighth.

As their attention turns to advancing athletes to the NCAA indoor championships, the Badgers will host the Wisconsin NCAA Qualifier next Friday inside The Shell while also sending athletes to compete at the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Ind.

As a team, however, the focus turns to the outdoor season.

"We expect to compete for championships, and that will certainly be what we work toward with the (Big Ten) outdoor meet coming to Madison this year," Nuttycombe said.