Photo by: Walt Middleton
Arizona’s Jim Click Shootout up next for Wisconsin
April 05, 2017 | Men's Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
Badgers travel for six-team competition beginning Thursday in Tucson
BY AJ HARRISON
UW Athletic Communications
MADISON, Wis. — For a third-straight week, the Wisconsin track and field team heads west as the Badgers will take part in the Jim Click Shootout hosted by the University of Arizona this weekend.
But that's where the similarities end between the Jim Click Shootout and UW's prior outdoor meets, the UC Riverside Spring Classic, the Aztec Invitational and the Stanford Invitational.
This weekend's invitational in Tucson is a scored meet featuring six teams from across a variety of conferences.
"When we go to other meets there are emphases on specific events," UW Director of Track and Field Mick Byrne said. "Last week, our goal at Stanford was having our distance kids compete against some of the best distance competition in the country. Two weeks down the road, our throwers will get an opportunity to go to San Diego to compete at the Triton Invitational.
"But this week is a total team event."
UW will take on host Arizona, Iowa, Northern Arizona, Oklahoma State and TCU at the meet that begins on Thursday and Friday with the decathlon and heptathlon. The rest of the events will take place on Saturday as the women's hammer throw is the first event at 11 a.m. CT while the first track event is the men's 110 hurdles at 2:30 p.m.
"What I like about this meet is it's a one-day meet that's scored, which is easy for fans to understand," Byrne said. "It's about the track and field program. It's about one program competing against another in all events and that's what I like.
"It's all about what I believe our sport needs."
More than 45 athletes will compete this weekend for UW as the Badgers look to grab marks that rank towards the top of the conference's performance list and that can help them qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary Round at the end of May.
"It's all about progressing," Byrne said. "Everything is a process leading up to Big Tens and after Big Tens. We can't say anymore that we're trying to get our legs under us after going through indoor track. It's now time to start getting on the Big Ten list and getting on the NCAA list.
"The challenge is there, it's been put out to the team and now it's time to start throwing down some performances."
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