Wisconsin Badgers
Big Ten Outdoor Championships
Badgers shock Big Ten with strong performance in 1500 meters
May 17, 2015 | Men's Track & Field
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May 17, 2015
EAST LANSING, Michigan -- There's a reason why races aren't run on paper.
Heading into this weekend's 1500 meters at the 2015 Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships, freshman Joe Hardy held the conference's eighth-best time of 3 minutes, 44.81 seconds, while sophomore McKena Ramos, a transfer from UW-Oshkosh, had a seed time of 3:47.24 that ranked 17th in the Big Ten
It would be an understatement to say the duo outperformed their seeds, as Hardy won his first career Big Ten title on Sunday in the 1500 meters in 3:57.06, while Ramos was right behind in third place, crossing the line in 3:57.81.
"It's unfathomable," Hardy said. "It still hasn't hit me. I'm as happy as I could possibly get right now. It's amazing."
"Coming into the event, I was just trying to make finals," Ramos admitted. "After making finals, I made a second goal to just score. Coming down to the last 400 (meters), I was boxed in and I kind of just tried to relax. When we hit the 200 (meters) to go, I just stepped out in lane three and gave it my all.
"It ended up working really well."
"You've got a freshman, Joe Hardy, and McKena Ramos, last year's Division III 1500 meters national champion at UW-Oshkosh," UW Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. "McKena had some issues this year moving up from Division III to Division I, and I think he was lacking some confidence. Yesterday in the prelims, he looked fantastic and I think that just turned the light bulb on.
"Joe looked very comfortable in the prelim yesterday, and he's kind of got a great set of wheels. If he was in, he'd have a shot, maybe second or third, but to come out at his first Big Ten Championship and win the title in a very tactical, slow, typical Big Ten 1500 style race. He ran 54 seconds in the last 400 and that's awesome.
"It's exciting, obviously, for Joe and for McKena."
The race started out relatively slow, as the field of 12 ran their first 400 meters in approximately 68 seconds and Ramos and Hardy ran among the leaders.
The pace picked up considerably heading into the bell lap, as Hardy sat in second with 400 meters to go with Ramos on his heels.
Hardy took the lead from Indiana's Rorey Hunter, who finished runner-up, with less than 200 meters to go and Hardy sprinted to the finish line to win UW's ninth title in the event and first since Jack Bolas won in 2010.
"It played into what we wanted it to do," Hardy said. "The race didn't go out very fast and it allowed us to not go out as hard and use what we've been working on the entire season. It actually went perfect for McKena and I."
"Coach Byrne just told us to really prepare for anything," Ramos said. "The fact that it got out slow, that's how championship races go a lot of the times. I just tried to relax throughout the race and knew that it was going to turn and the pace would switch with about 400 to go, so I just kind of tried to stay relaxed."
Sophomore Jesse Johnson scored five points in the pole vault with a fourth-place showing with a clearance of 17 feet, 1 inch. Freshman Jake Wallenfang cleared 15-11 1/4 to tie for 14th.
"After setting the school record in the pole vault last weekend, it was great to see Jesse score at Big Tens," Byrne said. "With his performances the past two weeks we hope he now has momentum heading into regionals."
Less than 48 hours after winning the 10,000 meters, Malachy Schrobilgen finished sixth in the 5000 in 14:28.84, while sophomore Russ Sandvold placed 19th in 15:03.42. Hardy and Carl Hirsch both started the race, but did not finish.
"We came back with some guys in the 5000 meters and we tried to see if we could sneak some more points," Byrne said. "We had Hardy in the race just a few hours after his 1500 meters win. But gosh, it was hot out here today and humid, and I pulled Joe out. Malachy didn't have it in his legs, but he gutted it out and finished sixth. We thought that if it was really, really slow, we might have a chance of grabbing some points."
Junior Aaron Thompson scored two points in the 400 hurdles, placing seventh in 53.75 seconds.
Wisconsin picked up a point in the 4x100, as the quartet of Ryan Davis, Corbin Ellis, James Stecker and Thompson finished eighth in 41.25 seconds. Hours later, the group came close to scoring again in the 4x400, but finished ninth in 3:12.62.
A trio of Badgers competed in the shot put, headlined by redshirt freshman Riley Budde, who set a personal best in the event at 57-11 3/4. A native of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, Budde ranks eighth in program history in the event. Fellow redshirt freshman Josh McDonald was 18th in 55-1, and senior Andrew Brekke was 20th in 54-2.
Freshman Austin Kafentzis, in only his second competition of the season, finished 11th in the javelin with a throw of 199-9.
Wisconsin ended the three-day meet tied for eighth place with Purdue with 54 points. Illinois won the team title with 145 points, while Nebraska was second with 108 points.
"Last year, we won the team title and got 49 points out of the 5000 and 10,000 meters," Byrne said. "Replacing those guys was tough, and that made a huge difference out there today in team scoring. We wouldn't have won, but we certainly might have been in the top two or three.
"We're a young team. We'll be back next year stronger and better trained. We still have a lot of work to do, but we will get after it."
