IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Wisconsin men's track and field team officially opens up championship season this weekend and will head to the University of Iowa for the Big Ten Outdoor Championships.

The 2019 Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be broadcast live on FloTrack for subscribers. In addition, a tape-delayed broadcast of the meet will air on BTN on Wednesday, May 15.

Fans can also follow along on Instagram and Twitter (@BadgerTrackXC) and catch a recap on UWBadgers.com following the meet.

1. LEADING THE WAY: Two Wisconsin athletes currently lead the Big Ten conference in their respective events heading into this weekend's championships. Junior Olli Hoare posted a school record time of 3:37.21 in the 1500 meters at the Bryan Clay Invitational, which was a then-world-leading time and also currently leads the NCAA and the conference. In addition, redshirt junior Ben Eidenschink's 10K time of 28:55.76 also tops the event in the conference standings. 

2. BIG TEN, BIG MARKS: UW enters this weekend's conference championships with a total of 14 marks that rank within the conference's top-10, seven of which rank within the top-five. In the field, Rashid Coulibaly holds the No. 2 pole vault mark in the conference, while thrower Austin Glynn appears in the rankings twice, checking in at No. 5 in the discus and No. 6 in the hammer throw. Additionally, redshirt freshman Seth Hirsch's personal best time of 29:31.11 in the 10K and Morgan McDonald's time of 13:50.92 in the 5000 meters both come in at No. 5 in the conference. 

3. MULTI MAGIC: Wisconsin's multi-event athletes will look to score some big points for UW in the decathlon at this year's Big Ten championships, and will be returning three of the top-10 scorers in the event. Redshirt senior Trent Nytes checks in as the No. 2 seed in the event with 7,618 points, which also ranks ninth in the country. Paul Afflitto and Zach Lorbeck also have leading decathlon scores, as Afflitto's point total of 6,722 ranks eighth while Lorbeck's score of 6,577 checks in at ninth overall in the conference. 
 
4. BACK FOR MORE: The Badgers saw success at last year's Big Ten Outdoor Championships, highlighted by Olli Hoare's win in the 1500 meters. Hoare won the preliminaries to advance to the finals, which he won in a nail-biter race down the last stretch. The UW multi-event athletes also contributed major points to UW's top-10 finish at the championships, placing all four of its decathletes within the top-7 finishers. The distance athletes also performed well, with Ben Eidenschink placing fourth in the 10K and three Badgers finishing within the top-10 of the 5000 meters, including Eidenschink, Morgan McDonald and former Badger Joe Hardy. 
 
5. GOING BACK TO CALI: After the conclusion of the Big Ten championships, the Badgers will turn their attention to the NCAA West Preliminary Championships in Sacramento. Qualifying athletes will race and ultimately aim to punch their ticket to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas in June.