Badgers finish third at Big Ten indoor championships

Photo by: Walt Middleton

Badgers finish third at Big Ten indoor championships

February 25, 2017 | Men's Track & Field

McDonald wins second title of the weekend in 5000 meters

GENEVA, Ohio – Strong performances team-wide, including 24 team personal records, led the Wisconsin men's track and field team to a third-place finish at the 2017 Big Ten Indoor Championships on Saturday at the SPIRE Institute.

"I feel pretty excited about our kids' performance out here today," Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. "This was a really, really intense meet. The conference is blowing up, it's just gone crazy. We were in it right up until that last event. Penn State jumped us in the 4x400 and they got 10 points and that put us into third place."

Junior Morgan McDonald won his second Big Ten title of the weekend in the 5000 meters to highlight the Badgers' day. The Sydney, Australia, was tested near the end of the race, but McDonald had plenty left in the tank to immediately retake the lead going into the bell lap. In the final 300 meters he dropped the hammer to cross the line first with ease.

"It means a lot," McDonald said. "The training is paying off, getting those points for the team, it means everything really. That's what I came here to do, run the 3K and the 5K and do as well as I could in both. To get two wins, it can't really get better than that, so I'm really happy."

Day two also marked the finale of the heptathlon. Coming into the last day of competition Trent Nytes ranked second, Zach Lorbeck fourth, Brandon Mortensen seventh and Paul Afflitto was 13th. During the first event of the day, Mortensen ran an 8.25 in the 60 hurdles, moving him up to fifth place. The other three Badgers maintained their positions.

In the heptathlon pole vault, Nytes, Mortensen and Lorbeck all recorded clearances at 14 feet, 5 1/4 inches. Afflito cleared 13-5 1/4.

The 1000 meters capped off two days of intense competition. Nytes ran a 2:50.86 to secure his second-place finish with 5,526 points and eight points for the Badgers. Mortensen ran the third-fastest time of 2:48.56, finishing fifth overall with a score of 5,422 points. Lorbeck scored 5,260 points and Afflito collected 4,415 points, finishing ninth and 12th, respectively.

Lorenzo Larry helped the Badgers earn eight points in the sprints. The senior clocked in one hundredth of a second over his personal best in the 60 meters, just two thousandths of a second behind the runner-up, finishing third in 6.70. Later in the 200 meters, Larry finished seventh by running a 21.45.

Byrne was happy with Larry's performances, noting "the conference in the sprints is just absolutely blowing up."

Sophomore Corbin Ellis set a school record in the 600 meters, finishing fifth in 1:17.31 to break the school record by one hundredth of a second.

"I wasn't expecting to set a school record so I guess it's still kind of sinking in," Ellis said. "I'm just glad I made my mark and contributed to the team."

Rounding out the sprint finals, Ryan Davis took eighth in the 400 meters. The senior crossed the line in 47.18.

Junior Riley Budde earned a spot on the podium in the weight throw, finishing third. He threw 70-9 3/4 on his third attempt to finish third

In the 800 meters, sophomore Eric Brown placed sixth with a personal-best 1:49.23, scoring three team points. His mark ranks eighth on the program's top-10 list.

Along with McDonald, senior Malachy Schrobilgen had a good race in the 5000 meters. He clocked in at 14:07.85 to place seventh. Freshman Ben Eidenschink finished 13th in 14:21.76. Senior Russell Sandvold won the unseeded section of 5000 meters in 14:25.01. His time was good for 16th overall.

In the mile, sophomore Joe Hardy racked up four points for Wisconsin, finishing fifth in a personal-best 4:04.20. Freshmen Oliver Hoare also earned a point with an eighth-place finish, clocking in at 4:06.00.

Closing out the Big Ten meet was the 4x400 relay. Davis, Ellis, Alex Teauge and Brown tried to rack up enough points to stay in front of Penn State in the team standings, but the Nittany Lions won the event and moved into second overall. Wisconsin finished ninth in the relay with a time of 3:11.27.

"I don't think we could've asked our kids to do much more out there today," Byrne concluded. "I'm really proud of them. They competed, they competed hard. Indiana was just perfect. We were almost perfect, but Indiana was just flawless basically and they deserved that title."