GENEVA, Ohio -- It was a banner day for the No. 22 Wisconsin women's track and field team as five Badgers earned top-three finishes to give UW the team lead after the first day of the 2018 Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Taylor Amann and Georiga Ellenwood both defended their Big Ten titles in the pole vault and pentathlon, respectively, while
Amy Davis and
Alicia Monson went 2-3 in the 3000 meters and
Banke Oginni took second in the shot put to lead UW to a first-day score of 46 points.
Amazing Amann
After clearing her first five bars with a breeze, senior
Taylor Amann missed her first two attempts at 13-8 1/2, putting her quest for a second-straight Big Ten title in jeopardy.
But the senior battled back, clearing the bar on her final attempt before clearing her winning height of 13-10 1/2 on her first opportunity.
A native of Hartland, Wisconsin, Amann became the first Badger to win multiple Big Ten indoor vault titles and the first conference athlete to accomplish the feat since Minnesota's Alicia Rue won three-straight tiles from 2008-2010.
Amann wasn't the only Badger to score in the vault as fellow senior
Jane McCurry cleared a personal-best of 13-0 3/4 to finish eighth while Rayce Albino tied for 11th with a clearance of 12-6 3/4.
Georgia the Great
For the second-straight year,
Georgia Ellenwood took home the Big Ten pentathlon title thanks to a season-best score of 4,264 points.
The senior started strong finishing third in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.59 seconds, first in the high jump with a mark of 5-8 3/4 (1.74m) and fifth in the shot put with a throw of 40-7 1/2 (12.38m), putting her in second place.
Ellenwood turned it around winning the long jump with a mark of 18-9 3/4 (5.73m) to reclaim the lead and solidified her spot in the 800 meters with a personal-best time of 2:14.70.
A native of Langley, British Columbia, Ellenwood helped the Badgers win their seventh pentathlon conference crown in the last nine years and became only the second Badger to repeat as Big Ten champion in the event.
Fellow pentathlete
Phoebe Edwards finished in 10th with 3693 points followed by
Casie Pawlik who finished in 12th with 3525 points.
Banke's Bomb
A week after setting a personal best in the shot put, UW junior
Banke Oginni was back at it again in the shot put on Friday, shattering her PR en route to a runner-up finish at Big Tens.
Oginni threw the shot 55-6 1/2 on her final attempt to jump up to second in the shot put competition. Her throw ranks second in program history and No. 15 in the country currently.
UW also scored points in the event thanks to freshman Sophia River, who finished seventh with a throw of 52-6 (16.07m).
Oginni will return to the field on Saturday to compete in the weight throw.
Two-Three Punch
Wisconsin also picked up major points in the women's 3000 meters as junior
Amy Davis and
Alicia Monson both collected top-three finishes in the second-to-last event on the track on Friday.
Davis crossed the line in 9:12.62 while Monson was right behind her in 9:14.26 as both marks were personal bests and put the duo on the Badgers' top-10 list.
After being in a lead group of six for the majority of the race, Davis took the lead with less than two laps to go before Indiana's Katherine Receveur passed Davis with 200 meters to go, but Davis and Monson were able to hold off a late charge to score 14 points for UW.
UW also picked up a point in the distance medley relay as the group of Liz Bohn, Gabby DesRosiers, Bianca Stubler and
Alissa Niggemann took eighth in 11:32.75.
Straight from the Track
Senior Georgia Ellenwood
On winning the pentathlon with a personal best in the 800 meters:
"Yeah, that's always the scariest event for us in the pentathlon, but I know I'm in good shape, so I just need to trust my training and go out there and run as fast as I can. That's what I did today, so that also gives me some confidence going into nationals."
On heading into NCAAs:
"I'm definitely in a good place right now because mentally I'm good, and physically I know that my body is capable of so much. I think I just needed to put a pentathlon together, I've never done that, so to know that I can score like this when everything is just a little bit above average is really good to know and gives me a lot of confidence."
Senior Taylor Amann
On her goals heading into the meet:
"My goal was to just have fun. This is my last indoor Big Ten meet, so I just wanted to have fun, cheer on my teammates, have a good time, and do the best that I could do. I came in and I was really confident, which definitely helped a lot. Toward the end, I started doing the best that I could and ended up winning again."
On what was going through her head before her final attempt at 13-8 ½:
"I was getting really nervous. It was the third attempt, so I was stressing myself out a little bit. I just remained relaxed and confident. I knew I could do it, so the next bar, I cleared it."
Junior Banke Oginni
On her PR throw on her last attempt:
"It feels amazing. I know when I stepped into the ring I said to myself that I'm proud of you no matter what happens. I gave it my all and it showed. I'm over the moon.
Junior Amy Davis
On going 2-3 in the 3000 meters:
"Alicia and I always talk about how we're like two of the same people, and I know that we've trained her for the past two years, and it wouldn't have been able to happen if she wasn't here. I feel like our confidence is with each other, and when we're together that's how we feel each other across the track."
Sophomore Alicia Monson
On earning 14 team points in the 3000 meters:
"We really want to go out there and do as best as we can, and we expect that we can do that. We're looking forward to racing again tomorrow and coming out to get more points from the team."
Up Next:
Wisconsin concludes the 2018 Big Ten Indoor Championships on Saturday as
Banke Oginni and
Haley Showalter will open up competition for UW in the women's weight throw at 10:10 a.m. CT.
