June 11, 2014
• Results | Results 
| Photo Gallery 
| Ahmed Interview 
| Ziemek Interview
EUGENE, Ore.-- Senior Mohammed Ahmed entered the NCAA outdoor championships looking to add a final exclamation mark on his Badgers career.
The Wisconsin men’s track and field star earned his sixth All-America honor on Wednesday with a third-place finish in the 10,000 meters at Hayward Field, marking the highest-ever NCAA finish for the St. Catharines, Ontario, native.
Ahmed crossed the line in 28 minutes, 43.82 seconds and finished behind Oregon freshman Edward Cheserek, who won in 28:30.18, and Oklahoma State’s Shadrack Kipchirchir, who placed second in 28:32.31. Pre-race favorite Kennedy Kithuka of Texas Tech finished fourth in 28:46.21.
“It went to plan that Coach (Mick) Byrne and I talked about,” Ahmed said. “We wanted to be top three, right around there. It had some ups and downs towards the end, and Cheserek and Kipchirchir blew me away in the last 200 meters.
“Overall, I’m a little disappointed but I gave it everything I had.”
The top four runners broke away from the rest of the field early as Kithuka, Ahmed, Cheserek and Kipchirchir ran in that order for most of the 25-lap race. With less than 10 laps to go, Ahmed claimed the lead from Kithuka as the two ran neck and neck at the front.
With four laps to go, Ahmed fell behind Kithuka, Cheserek and Kipchirchir as the trio built a 20-meter lead on the UW senior. But the senior showed that he was “Badger Tough," a phrase that Byrne has used all season, and climbed his way back with the leaders with just under 800 meters left.
Heading into the bell lap, Ahmed took the lead on Cheserek and Kipchirchir, but the two powered past Ahmed in the final 200 meters.
“I saw that they didn’t put a big gap on me,” Ahmed said. “They let me back in it, and simply with a lap to go I was like ‘Alright, it’s the last lap.’ I took the lead, and I wanted to pick up the pace. Cheserek is a stud, and the last 200 meters he ripped it and I didn’t have anything left.”
“We are proud of him,” Wisconsin director of track and field and cross country Mick Byrne said. “He made a big effort right around the 7K mark when he took the lead. It shows how tough he is. He suffered a little bit and was dropped with about 1,000 meters to go. But all the credit to him as he was able to get back in the group and just didn’t have the legs the last 200 meters to match Cheserek or Kipchirchir.
“But he was third at the national championship, and he was able to score some points for us.”
The Badgers sit in a tie for seventh place with six points after the first day of competition. Oregon leads the team race with 15 points.
The race marked the second time Ahmed has earned All-America honors in the 10,000 meters, as he finished fourth as a freshman at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field.
Ahmed’s third-place showing in the 10,000 meters is the best by a Badger in the event since Simon Bairu’s third-place finish in 2006
Ahmed will be back in action on Friday in the 5000 meters, which is slated to begin at 8:10 p.m. (CT).
“I just have to recover,” Ahmed said. “I have to go out there and do the best I can. Recovery is the main thing between now and then and we will see how I feel on race day.”
Ziemek in contention in the decathlon
After setting a personal-best first-day decathlon score at last year’s NCAA championships, Zach Ziemek repeated the feat on Wednesday. He posted a new opening-day best with 4,223 points and sits in second place through five events of the 10-event competition.
Ziemek used a stellar long jump performance and a personal-best mark in the 400 meters to break his previous first-day best of 4,191, set earlier this year at the Bulldog Decathlon.
Last year’s NCAA champion, Johannes Hock leads the competition with 4,243 points after the Texas sophomore won the 100 meters and the shot put. USC senior Viktor Fajoyomi sits in third with 4,166 points, while Maicel Uibo and Garrett Scantling of Georgia are in fourth (4,163) and fifth (4,112), respectively.
“I think I did really well today,” Ziemek said. “I was able to set some big marks in the long jump and 400 and feel good after the first day. Tomorrow I need to have some good races, some good throws and solid performance in the pole vault.”
Ziemek started off the competition by winning the final heat of the 100 meters in 10.81, matching his best time of the season. That time ranked third in the competition.
“Double Z” followed with a personal-best mark in the long jump. On his second jump of the competition, he soared 25 feet, 4 1/2 inches to vault into the overall lead with a two-event score of 1,895 points. The effort is the best decathlon long jump performance in school history and ranks fourth on the Wisconsin's all-time long jump list overall.
Ziemek threw 41-5 1/2 on his final heave of the shot put, while Hock won the event with a throw of 49-5.
Ziemek soared back into the overall lead after the high jump, as the junior earned a clearance at 6-9 3/4 -- just an inch shy of his personal-best mark of 6-10 3/4 set earlier this season at the Bulldog Decathlon.
The Itasca, Illinois, native concluded the day with a lifetime best of 50.20 in the 400 meters, but Hock also ran a personal-best 49.48 to finish third and grab the lead as the decathlon hit its halfway point.
“Ziemek had an outstanding first day,” Byrne said “The stats speak for themselves, as he had the best first day at the NCAA meet by a Wisconsin decathlete. He is sitting in great position and we are excited about tomorrow as he has some of his big events coming up tomorrow.
Ziemek will return to action Thursday at 1 p.m. when the decathlon resumes with the 110 hurdles.
Michael Lihrman will make his NCAA outdoor debut for the Badgers in the hammer throw, as the junior throws in the first flight at 3:30 p.m., and senior Alex Brill will run in the first heat of the 3000 steeplechase at 7:35 p.m.
