MADISON, Wis. – After opting out of competition last weekend in Iowa the Badgers are heading to warmer weather in California starting Wednesday and will have athletes competing in the Mt. Sac Relays, Beach Invitational and Bryan Clay Invitational throughout the weekend.

The UW multi-event athletes get things going at Bryan Clay on Wednesday and Thursday in the combined events portion of the meet while the rest of the Badgers will compete at the invite Thursday and Friday. A number of Badgers will also compete Thursday and Friday at the Mt. Sac Relays, held at El Camino College in Los Angeles and the Beach Invitational, Friday and Saturday, in Long Beach, California.

Fans can keep up with all things Badger track on Twitter (@BadgerTrackXC) and catch daily recaps on UWBadgers.com. The Bryan Clay Invitational and Beach Invitational can be seen live on FloTrack while the Mt. Sac Relays can be viewed on USATF.TV.
 
1. LAST TIME OUT: The last time the Badgers competed was at the Spec Towns Invite in Athens, GA, where multiple athletes earned personal bests, and Carl Hirsch walked away with his second-straight win of the outdoor season. Hirsch took the crown in the 1500 meters for his time of 1:50.35, just a fraction of a second shy of his personal best. Other notable performances from the Georgia meet were put up by Josh McDonald. McDonald earned back-to-back top-five finishes in the throwing events, placing fourth in the shot put and fifth in the discus with a season-best throw of 178-3 (54.34m).

2. CRUSHING IT AT COMMONWEALTH: Two Badgers took on the international spotlight at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Carrara, Australia. Former UW standout and two-time Olympian Mohammed Ahmed and current senior Morgan McDonald both competed in the 5,000 meters, where Ahmed was the runner-up and McDonald finished eighth. Just five days after that race, Ahmed returned to the track to clinch his second silver medal of the Games, this time in the 10,000 meters.

3. DECATHLON DREAMING: This weekend's Bryan Clay Invite will mark the first decathlon competition of the season for the Wisconsin multi-event athletes. Paul Afflitto, Zach Lorbeck, Trent Nytes, and Sawyer Smith will compete in the two-day, ten discipline event. Last year, Smith led the way for the Badgers, most notably earning a huge personal best of 7,450 at the John McDonnell Invite, where he was the runner-up.

4. IN THE RANKINGS: The Badgers are currently leading the Big Ten Conference in the 10,000 meters event, with four runners clocking in with top-five times so far this season. Zack Snider leads the conference with his PR time of 29 minutes, 15.73 seconds while Ben Eidenschink ranks second with his personal best time of 29:17.42. Tyson Miehe comes in at third with his time of 29:18.87 and a time of 29:42.11 earned Zack Benning the fifth-place ranking. This quartet also checks in at seventh overall by the US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association #EventSquad rankings.

5. RELAY EXCITING: After wrapping up competition in California, the Badgers will return to the Midwest for the Drake Relays in Iowa and the National Relays in Fayetteville, Arkansas.