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Men’s track second after day two, women fall
to seventh
The men’s track team
dropped to second place with 58 points in the Big Ten Championships in West
Lafayette, Ind., Saturday, after Minnesota put forth a strong performance and
claimed first place with 74 points. Wisconsin won one event and had seven
athletes finish in the top 10 Saturday. Eleven Badger athletes qualified for
Sunday’s finals while 14 Golden Gophers made the cut and will compete Sunday,
making for a close competition between the border rivals.
“We have to be perfect
tomorrow. We can’t afford any mistakes or letdowns,” UW men’s coach Ed Nuttycombe said. “Tomorrow we can’t have any miscues of mishaps if we’re going
to try to make a run at (the title). We don’t have any margin for error. We’ll
just go and see if we can do it.”
Freshman Paul Hubbard won
the long jump, upsetting defending champion Aarik Wilson, a junior from Indiana.
Hubbard’s jump of 24 feet, 5 ½ inches was an inch ahead of Wilson’s final jump
of 24-4 ½. Wisconsin sophomores Joe Conway and Rick Bellford finished fifth and
seventh, respectively. Hubbard also won the long jump at the Big Ten Indoor
Championships in February.
In the decathlon, UW senior
Ashraf Fadel finished second behind Minnesota junior Travis Brandstatter. Fadel
earned an NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 7,515 points, while Brandstatter
finished with 7,724 points. Badger sophomore Joe Detmer took fourth, including a
first-place finish in the decathlon 1,500 meters in 4:17.09. He accumulated an
NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 7,292 points. Wisconsin senior Ryan
Tremelling also scored a provisional mark, finishing fifth in 7,019. Sophomore
Ben Roland finished ninth with 6,393 points.
Freshman Joe Thomas took
fifth in the discus but improved both his personal best throw and his NCAA
Regional qualifying mark with a throw of 178-0. He is currently ranked No. 6 on
Wisconsin’s career list.
Wisconsin’s women’s track
team is currently in seventh place with 25 points at the Big Ten Championships,
with only sophomore Melissa Talbot earning a first-place finish for the Badgers
Saturday. Talbot won the heptathlon with 5,057 points, which is an NCAA
provisional qualifying mark. Sophomore Erica Schoeller also participated and
took sixth with 4,779 points.
The women also earned
points from redshirt freshman ‘A Havahla Haynes, who took seventh in the
3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing in 10:34.51. She currently has the
third-fastest time in school history.
Wisconsin qualified eight
runners for Sunday’s competition, including freshman Shuntia Lucas (100 and 200)
and senior Hilary Edmondson (800 and 1,500).
Openweight crew sends
six to grand finals
Wisconsin’s women’s
openweight crew made its presence known Saturday at the NCAA Central/South
Regionals and will advance all six of its boats to the grand finals Sunday in
Oakridge, Tenn. The competition serves as a qualifying race for the 2004 NCAA
Championships, held May 28-30 in Sacramento, Calif.
In the varsity eight race,
No. 4 seed Wisconsin advanced to the semifinals after winning its heat in the
quarterfinals. The Badgers then placed second behind Michigan in the semifinals
with a time of 6:48.4 and advanced to the grand finals.
Wisconsin’s second varsity
eight boat also qualified for the grand finals after finishing in 7:09.5 in the
semifinals, clocking in third after Minnesota and Ohio State. In the varsity
four, Wisconsin qualified for the grand finals after taking second in the
semifinal race, finishing in 7:54.2.
Wisconsin also qualified
boats in the novice eight, second novice eight and open four races.