MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin track and field program will host its final regular season meet on Friday with the 2017 Wisconsin Alumni Classic. Field events at the Dan McClimon Memorial Track begin at 2 p.m. while track events start at 5:45 p.m.
The Badgers will honor their 10 seniors along with many alums that are back in town for the twilight meet that is the team's final meet before the 2017 Big Ten Outdoor Championships next weekend in State College, Pennsylvania.
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Admission is free and parking in Lot 60 is free after 4:30 p.m.Â
On the men's side, 27 student-athletes are slated to compete at the meet. Starting with the sprints, Alex Teague and Kallen Bentz will each participate in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. Larry enters with the best time, a mark of 10.34 which ranks third in the conference. Teague's run of 21.95 earlier this year in the 200 earned him a top-10 finish at the John McDonnell Invitational. Fellow sprinter and senior Lorenzo Larry will cap off his UW career in the 4x100 meter relay.
Moving on to the longer sprints, Ryan Davis headlines the group with the 11th-best time in the Big Ten in the 400 meters (47.10) during a fourth-place finish at the Arkansas meet. The senior is competing in that event during the Wisconsin Alumni Classic along with junior Corbin Ellis, who ran to a tune of 47.55 while placing second at the UC-Riverside Spring Classic in late March.
Cooper Barth is set to go in the 800 meters after placing fifth in the event at the John McDonnell Classic. In addition, Ryan Dundun will hit the track in the 400 meter hurdles, looking to improve upon his personal best of 53.81.
The distance group will be led by a batch of Badgers in both the 1500 meters and the 3000 meters. Ryan Clevenger, Joe Hardy, Olin Hacker and Troy Smith are running in the shorter of the two, with Hardy's time of 3:50.61 pacing the trio. In the 3000 meters, Ryan Nameth is running this event for the first time in the 2017 outdoor season while McKena Ramos hits the track for the 3000 meter steeplechase. Ramos, a senior from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, ran to a time of 10:08.39 during this event at the UW-Whitewater meet last weekend, taking second in the field.
Four members of the squad will be competing in a couple disciplines as multi-event athletes. Paul Afflitto, Brandon Mortensen, Trent Nytes and Sawyer Smith will partake in the high jump and the 110 meter hurdles at the meet. Mortensen's time of 14.53 in the hurdles is the best by a Badger this season, while Nytes holds the honor for the high jump, with a leap of 6 feet, 8 inches (2.03 meters) in the decathlon during a victory at the Jim Click Shootout earlier this month.
Pole vaulters Rashid Coulibaly and Tim Guthrie look to expand upon good results at last weekend's Drake Relays. Coulibaly notched a height of 16-6 3/4 (5.05m) to set a new personal record and fifth-place at the meet. Also in the high jump will be Isaac Hale and Zachary Lorbeck, with both of these freshman recording marks of 6-4 3/4 (1.95m) at the Jim Click Shootout. Additionally, Zac Webster is competing in the triple jump, where he holds a personal best of 45-4 1/2 (13.83m).
Finally, four Badgers will be participating in throwing events at the Wisconsin Alumni Classic. Riley Budde, Nick Krawczyk, Josh McDonald and Tucker Wedig are all set to go for the meet. Budde will take aim at the shot put and hammer throw crowns, and currently holds the top mark in each discipline for the team this season. He is currently in the top 10 of the Big Ten for both events. In terms of the discus, McDonald has launched the best mark this year, placing in the top-three at the Jim Click Shootout and the Aztec Invitational.
On the women's side, 37 members of the Wisconsin team are slated for action on Friday. Highlighted by sensational sophomore
Ebony McClendon, the UW sprinters will aim for the podium. Along with McClendon and her top mark of 23.32 in the 200 meters ranking fifth in the conference, Gabrielle DesRosiers and Kaitlyn Jackson join her in the event. Additionally, DesRosiers is going to compete in the 400 meters while Jackson will run in the 100 meters. DesRosiers holds the 20th-best time in the conference during this event (55.17). Also in the sprinting category,
Casie Pawlik and
Ruth Cesar-Heymann will be hitting the blocks for the 100 meter hurdles.
Sarah Vogel and
Autumn Wickman will compete in the 800 meters, along with senior
Emma Reifel who holds the best UW time this season with a run of 2:11.23 at the Drake Relays. Reifel will also compete in the 1500 meter run and the 4x400 meter relay along with sophomore
Elli Daniels. In the 400 meter hurdles, freshmen
Cynthia Ubah and
Haley Lubow are slated to represent the Badgers. Senior
Brenna Detra will make her last appearance at a home meet by running a leg of the 4x100 meter relay.
Five members of the team are competing in the 1500 meters, with senior
Sarah Heinemann joined by
Anissa Hacker,
Alicia Monson,
Lianna Mack and
Alissa Niggemann. Mack is also slated to vie for the 3000 meter steeplechase crown with
Erin Wagner who won the competition at the Jim Click Shootout. In the 3000 meters,
Rachel Fleddermann,
Katie Hietpas and
Rachel Werking will all make their debuts in the event for the 2017 outdoor season.
Many student-athletes on the women's side are competing in multiple events on Friday beginning with
Mary Bartelson and
Meagan Blair in the 100 meters, long jump and triple jump. At the Jim Click Shootout, Bartelson took third in the long jump with a distance of 18-9 (5.71m) which leads the team this season.
Phoebe Edwards and
Emma Fitzgerald will each compete in the 100 meter hurdles and the 200 meters while Edwards also takes a crack at the javelin title. Additionally,
Katie Steele will participate in both the long jump and triple jump, while
Annie Wagner is set to appear in the javelin and 100 hurdles.
After taking third at the Drake Relays with a jump of 13-3 1/2 (4.05m),
Taylor Amann looks to win the pole vaulting crown at this meet. Joining her in the competition will be
Claire Buck,
Jane McCurry and Chinne Okoronkwo. Okoronkwo is also taking flight in the triple jump, an event she has won three times this outdoor season as a freshman.
With three runner-ups already recorded this season, sophomore
Emma Haugen will try to gain momentum before the Big Ten meet with a victory. She currently ranks seventh in the conference with a top mark of 5-10 3/4 (1.80m).
Tiffany Ike and
Danielle Weber are competing in the triple jump and javelin, respectively, after both won their events at the UW-Whitewater meet last weekend.
In the throws,
Banke Oginni,
Hanna Barton,
Haley Showalter and
Kennedy Blahnik will look to sweep the podium in the discus, shot put and hammer throw. With Blahnik and Oginni competing in the shot put, the Badgers have two top-20 performers in the conference, with Blahnik's toss of 50-0 (15.24m) sitting in 10th. Blahnik is also in the discus with Barton, with both of them placed in the top-15 of the Big Ten. Showalter, who will compete unattached, is aiming to build off her second-place finish at the UW-Whitewater meet last weekend with a heave of 178-6 (54.42m).
