Five things to know: 2018 outdoor season

Friday, March 30

Stanford, CA

11:30 AM

Wisconsin Badgers

Stanford Invite

Photo by: Walt Middleton

Five things to know: 2018 outdoor season

March 29, 2018 | Men's Track & Field

Badgers open up their outdoor slate with two meets in California

Stanford Invitational

Friday, March 30 | Stanford, California

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UCSD Invitational

Saturday, March 31 | San Diego

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MADISON, Wis. – After wrapping up their indoor season with a collection of first and second-team All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships, the Wisconsin men's track and field team starts its outdoor season this weekend with a pair of meets in California.

On Friday, four Badgers – Zack Benning, Ben Eidenschink, Tyson Miehe and Zach Snider - will compete in the 10,000 meters at the prestigious Stanford Invitational before the rest of the team competes in San Diego on Saturday.

Badger fans can follow the action on Twitter (@BadgerTrackXC) while Friday's meet can be seen live on FloTrack.

1. MULTI EVENTS: A pair of Badgers, Trent Nytes and Zach Lorbeck, are coming off of second-team All-America honors at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships and look to repeat their indoor success during the outdoor season. Last year the Badgers placed three in the top-five in the decathlon at Big Tens as Sawyer Smith placed third with 7249 points, Nytes was fourth with 7086 and Paul Afflitto was fifth with 6945 points.

2. JUMPS: Returning for his second outdoor season with the Badgers is Rashid Coulibaly, who as a freshman, qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a personal best height of 17 feet, 6 1/2 inches (5.35m) at the NCAA West Prelims. That mark was the best vault in program history by a freshman. In addition, Tim Guthrie scored in the pole vault at last year's Big Ten outdoor meet thanks to an outdoor PR of 16-10 1/4 (5.14m).

3. THROWS: Returning to the throwing ring are Josh McDonald and Tucker Wedig, who both put up big marks last outdoor season. McDonald threw the top three discus marks for Wisconsin last season, most notably placing third at the Jim Click Shootout with a lifetime best throw of 189-11 (57.89m). McDonald advanced to the NCAA outdoor meet in the shot put, a year after the senior threw the discus at the national championships. Wedig's specialty is the hammer throw, and last season, the sophomore was an NCAA West Preliminary Round qualifier in the event with a personal best toss of 198-8 (60.56m).

4. DISTANCE: Last season, senior Joe Hardy earned second-team All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 5000 meters thanks to a 15th-place finish. Sophomore Ollie Hoare has also grown tremendously as an athlete since last outdoor season, and the reigning Big Ten Champion in the 3000 and 5000 meters will look to continue his successful track campaign this spring.

Also back for the Badgers will be senior Morgan McDonald, who will race at the Commonwealth Games on April 8 before returning stateside for the Badgers. McDonald won the 5000 meters at the 2018 Australian National Championships and Nominations Trial in 13 minutes, 19.05 seconds to earn his spot at the Commonwealth Games.

5. SPRINTS/MIDDLE-DISTANCE: Eric Brown and Corbin Ellis are both coming off of earning first-team All-America honors for their roles in Wisconsin's distance medley relay team. Last outdoor season, Brown qualified once again for the NCAA West Prelims in the 800 meters and placed fourth in the event at the Big Ten outdoor championships. As Ellis enters his last track season competing in UW uniform, he will look to improve upon his PR of 47.30 in the 400 meters that he ran at last year's Wisconsin Alumni Classic to take the crown in the event.