Results

MADISON, Wis. - The Wisconsin men's track and field team opened up the 2017 indoor season with a dominating performance against SIU Edwardsville, besting the Cougars 84-50 and winning 11 of the 15 events on Saturday afternoon in the Shell.
 
"Today is all about just coming out for the first meet, getting the cobwebs out, getting kids in uniform, getting reps and getting out there and having some fun," Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said.
 
During a day filled with Wisconsin victories, junior Riley Budde started the day right where he left off last season. With a new personal best of 71 feet, 4 inches in the weight throw, Budde claimed the first win of the season for the Badgers.
 
Budde also ended the day with another first-place finish, besting fellow junior Josh McDonald in the shot put with a toss of 59-1 1/2. McDonald took second with a throw of 55-0.
 
"You expect the Badgers to get a lot of wins out there today, and we did that," Byrne said. "I don't want to single out any individuals but there were a lot of just good performances, confidence-boosters for next week and again just to get the legs turning over."
 
Lorenzo Larry brought home two wins for Wisconsin with a pair of stellar runs in the 60-meter dash and the 300-meter dash. For the 60 meters, the senior clocked in at 6.89 to earn his fourth victory in the event during the past two seasons. Larry's finishing time of 34.50 in the 300 meters marked the third time in his career at Wisconsin that he won multiple events during an indoor meet.
 
"It was a pretty decent performance, it could have been better, but we had a long week this week," Larry said. "We used this as a meet to get us prepared for the rest of the season. I think it turned out pretty well."
 
In the mile run, Eric Brown II edged out fellow Badger Cooper Barth to earn the first-place finish, crossing the line in 4 minutes, 17.82 seconds. Barth took second with a time of 4:18.22.
 
Senior Brandon Mortensen won the 60-meter hurdles, exploding out of the starting blocks and finishing in 8.19. In his first collegiate race, freshman Zachary Lorbeck placed third with a time of 8.68.
 
Tim Guthrie snagged a victory in the pole vaulting competition over six of his teammates. Guthrie earned a top jump of 15-7 while Rashid Coulibaly and Brandon Mortensen finished just behind him at 14-11 and 14-5 ¼, respectively.
 
The all-Badger event of the 400 meters was captured by senior Ryan Davis, who crossed the finish line in 48.68. Corbin Ellis and Ryan Dundun rounded out the top three with times in 49.12 and 49.73, respectively.
 
The final running event of the day on the men's side was a battle between two Wisconsin teams. A photo finish during the 4x400-meter relay ended with the team of Eric Brown II, Ryan Davis, Cooper Barth and Ryan Dundun crossing the line in 3:22.93, just six hundredths of a second ahead of the other Badger squad.
 
"It steps up a lot next week when we have a dual meet against Minnesota," Byrne said. "Minnesota won that meet for the last two years, but they're coming into our home turf. Competition is just going to kick up another level."
 
Wisconsin will go up against Minnesota next weekend at the Shell, starting on Friday night at 6 p.m. followed by Saturday's events that begin at Noon.
 
"We need to get that trophy back here and win it for the Badgers," Byrne said.