April 29, 2012
MADISON, Wis. -- With a number of top finishes in a variety of events, it was a collective effort for the No. 21 Wisconsin men’s track and field team on Saturday at the Triton Invitational in La Jolla, Calif.
Whether it was sprinters teaming up to win in relays or individuals stepping up to earn top finishes in their respective events, there were Badgers aplenty at the top of the leaderboard.
In all, the Badgers claimed five event wins in the meet hosted by UC San Diego.
Two groups of Badgers ran as one to sweep relay competition, with UW taking wins in both the 4x100- and 4x400-meter relays.
In the 4x100, Garret Payne, Matt Kerswill, Brady Hammon and Kyle Jefferson teamed up to sprint to a finishing time of 40.75 seconds to take the win.
A completely different group of Badgers joined forces in the 4x400 relay, as Grant Bughman, Patrick Plank, Tyler Woloszyk and Aaron Thompson won the event by crossing the finish line in 3 minutes, 16.96 seconds.
Though they weren’t running together as a group like their teammates in relay competition, UW athletes competing in individual events found themselves next to one another in the final standings.
It was a 1-2-3 finish from Badgers in the 400 meters. Payne took the win with a personal-best time of 47.22 seconds. Drew Simmons came just behind in second place with a time of 48.13 seconds, while Tyler Woloszyk finished third in 48.41 seconds.
Adum Gross and Matt Widule finished back-to-back and took the top two spots in the 110-meter hurdles. Gross won the event with a time of 14.80, and Widule finished second in 15.16.
The pack mentality continued in the standings of the 200 meters as four Badgers finished in the top six of the event.
Jefferson had the best finish in the event for UW, clocking in at 22.19 and finishing third. Hammon placed fourth in 22.22, Payne was fifth in 22.27 and Kerswill came in sixth at 22.50.
Simmons and Woloszyk also ran, as Simmons came in 11th place in a time of 22.66 and Woloszyk finished 22nd in 23.30.
Patrick Plank finished in the top two of the 400-meter hurdles for the third weekend in a row, taking the win in the event with his time of 51.61 seconds. Right behind Plank was Bughman, who clocked in at 52.79 to finish runner-up.
Aaron Thompson also ran, finishing in 13th place with a time of 58.35.
UW secured another top-five finish in the 100 meters, with Matt Kerswill finishing fifth in the event with a time of 10.85.
In an invitational section of the pole vault, senior Mickey DeFilippo placed fourth with his vault of 16 feet, 9 1/2 inches. Wes Kavelaris finished second in an open section of the vault with a clearance of 16-0 3/4.
In his second competition of the season, Justin Bowers took third in the long jump after leaping 22-11 3/4. JaRod Tobler won the event by launching 25-6.
A personal-best heave in the shot put helped Dan Block finish ninth in the event. Block came up with a personal-best effort of 60-3 3/4, raising his No. 5 all-time UW rank.
Block also threw in discus competition, earning a fifth-place finish with a toss of 188-9. Alex Thompson recorded a personal-best throw of 178-3 to finish 11th.
Attention now shifts to Sunday’s competition at the Payton Jordan Invitational, where Badgers middle distance and distance runners will compete against elite competition in Palo Alto, Calif.
