EUGENE, Ore. – The Road to Rio for six current and former Wisconsin track and field athletes continues this weekend with the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field.
The trials, which start on Friday and wrap up on July 10, serve as the ultimate qualifying meet for American athletes looking to represent the U.S. at the 2016 Rio Olympics in August. Track and field athletes need to finish in the top three at the trials and also hold the Olympic standard in their event to advance to next month's Olympic Games.
Two UW seniors,
Kelsey Card and Zach Ziemek, will be joined by former UW standouts Reed Connor, Jessica Flax, Evan Jager, and Michael Lihrman during the 10-day competition.
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Getting action started for UW is Card, who competes in the qualifying round of the discus on Friday at 6 p.m. CT. The 2016 NCAA discus champion looks for a spot in the final, which is on Saturday at 12:45 p.m. and will be shown on NBC.
Card is ranked second in the U.S. in the discus with a season-best toss of 208 feet, 5 inches, at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field. She is also ranked as the No. 16 individual in the world in the event.
It marks her second appearance at the U.S. Olympic Trials after competing in the discus at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials as a true freshman.
In addition, Card will compete in the shot put prelims on July 7 at 1 p.m. with the finals starting at 8:15 p.m. Â She holds a season-best throw of 60-10 3/4 that she unleashed at the Wisconsin Twilight in May.
Ziemek makes his trials debut in the decathlon at 11:45 a.m. on Saturday. The 400 meters, the final event on the first day of the decathlon, is set to be shown on NBCSN at 4 p.m. Decathlon action resumes on Sunday at noon with the 110-meter hurdles and will conclude at 7:33 p.m. with the 1500 meters, which can be seen on NBCSN.
Ziemek's score of 8,300 points at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships is the ninth-best score in the world and is the best score recorded by an American this year. 'Double Z' finished third in the decathlon at last year's U.S. outdoor championships and finished 15th at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing.
A pair of former UW runners, Jager and Connor, compete on Monday in the steeplechase and 5000 meters, respectively. The first round of the steeplechase, set to start at 5:33 p.m., and the preliminary round of the 5000 meters, scheduled for 7:02 p.m., will air on NBCSN.
The American record holder in the steeplechase with a time of 8 minutes, 0.45 seconds, Jager looks to make it to his second Olympics as he finished sixth in the steeplechase at the 2012 London Olympics. The Algonquin, Illinois, native competed at UW in 2008 and finished eighth in the 1500 meters at the NCAA outdoor championships.
The steeplechase final will be held on Friday, July 8 at 7:23 p.m. and will be shown live on NBC.
Connor makes his Olympic trials debut in the 5000 meters, as he enters with a personal-best time of 13:30.27 set earlier this month in Portland, Oregon. A two-time first-team All-American at UW, Connor helped UW win a national title in cross country in 2011 and was named the 2014 Big Ten Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.
Connor looks for a spot in the finals of the 5000 meters, which takes place on Saturday, July 9 at 7:20 p.m. on NBC.
After a rest day on Tuesday, former UW thrower Michael Lihrman competes in the qualifying round of the men's hammer throw on Wednesday at noon. The finals of the hammer take place later in the day at 7:30 p.m.
Lihrman has a career-best throw of 247-0 set at last year's Wisconsin Twilight during his senior year at UW and a season-best effort of 241-9 at this year's Wisconsin Twilight, which ranks sixth among American throwers this year. The Rice Lake, Wisconsin, native was a two-time NCAA champion in the weight throw and a three-time first-team All-American.
The final Badger to compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials is Jessica Flax, as she will participate in the heptathlon on July 9 and 10, the final two days of the meet. The heptathlon starts on July 9 at 2:30 p.m., while the second day of action begins on July 10 at 4 p.m.
A three-time first-team All-American, Flax is the former school record holder in the heptathlon with a collegiate-best score of 5,826 points. She scored a career best 6,068 points in the seven-discipline event earlier this year at the Mt. Sac Relays and is ranked fourth among American heptathletes this year.
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