Five things to know: Big Ten Indoor Championships

Friday, February 23

Geneva, OH

9 AM

Wisconsin Badgers

Big Ten Indoor Championships

Photo by: Eric Miller

Five things to know: Big Ten Indoor Championships

February 21, 2018 | Women's Track & Field

No. 22 Badgers kick off championship season at the SPIRE Institute

Big Ten Indoor Championships

Friday, Feb. 23 - Saturday, Feb. 24 | Geneva, Ohio

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MADISON, Wis. – The No. 22 Wisconsin women's track and field team opens championship season this weekend as 23 Badgers will compete at the 2018 Big Ten Indoor Championships at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. The meet begins on Friday at 9 a.m. CT while action on Saturday also starts at 9 a.m.

Badger fans can follow the action on Twitter (@BadgerTrackXC) and can watch the meet live on FloTrack Pro.

1. LAST YEAR AT THE BIG TENS: At last year's Big Ten Championships the Badger women took home a sixth place finish with a score of 64.5. The Badgers went home with 24 personal records and a multitude of medals including gold for pole-vaulter Taylor Amann and pentathlete Georgia Ellenwood. Banke Oginni and Ellenwood also earned spots at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the weight throw and pentathlon respectively.

2. OUTSTANDING OGINNI: Banke Oginni had a stellar weekend at the Shell Shocker with two wins on the night. Oginni now holds the No.2 spot in school history in both the shot put and weight throw after her performance. The junior threw a bomb in the shot put of 55 feet 5 1/2 inches, crushing her previous record by over three feet.

3. SHELL SHOCKER: Wisconsin took home 11 personal records last weekend during their win over Marquette and Northern Iowa in a double dual. The Badgers earned 126 points led by a Badger win in 11 of the 14 events that took place at the meet. Freshman Mary Bartelson led the brigade on the track picking up two wins in the 60 and 200 meters including a personal record in the 60 meters of 7.70 seconds. The Badgers also swept the horizontal jumps with Chinne Okoronkwo winning the triple jump with her best mark of the season of 41-6 (12.64m) and Meagan Blair picking up a win in the long jump with a mark of 18-4 1/2 (5.60m). Sophia Rivera also took a spot in the record books with her mark in the shot put of 54 1/2 (16.47m) ranking third in school history.

"Last weekend's meet was all about getting more kids on the bus," UW Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Mick Byrne said. "That was exciting to see kids embrace that, enjoying the fact that they're competing. It's not about marks, it's about beating other people. The Big Ten Championships is different. It's a team title, which is something that I love. We don't have enough competitions like this where there's actually a team score. We've kind of created this monster in the sport where it's very selfish, it's all about times, it's all about performances. There are a couple of those meets, The Dual meet for example, where we don't have to worry about those factors. More importantly this is about a team score, and ultimately, that's what track and field is all about."

4. HEADING FORWARD: The Badgers are ranked No. 22 in the nation according to the USTFCCCA National Coaches' Poll heading into the Big Ten meet. Only Minnesota and Purdue are ranked higher than the Cardinal and White so this puts Wisconsin third among Big Ten teams heading into the conference meet.

5. & BEYOND: Following Big Tens, qualifying Badgers will take on the national stage at the NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas. To qualify, athletes must finish in the top-16 within their event or top-12 for a relay.