Wisconsin survived the heat of Austin and advanced multiple men and women out of the West regional to the NCAA Finals but none did it as well as junior Rob Finnerty who took first in the 1500 meters.
He set the pace as Wisconsin qualified seven men and eight women to the NCAA Finals in just about a week’s time. Finnerty finished with a personal best time of 3:42.93 seconds, beating his closest opponent by just under 3 seconds.
“I think a big part of this meet is that, the last two years, I’ve been the first guy out,” Finnerty said. “This time around, I just told myself that I’m going to run my own race and not screw around for 1200 meters and then try to kick.”
Wisconsin had another great showing on the men’s side from Mohammed Ahmed in the 5000 meters who finished 5th in the regional (top 12 from West and East qualfiy for the NCAA Finals). However, that’s only because of how they set up the heats based off of finish and Ahmed’s time was actually 3rd fastest in the field at 4:17.45, just .26 seconds slower than the 2nd best time at the meet.
Ahmed, a junior this season, has a bit of time left as a Badger runner but clearly he’s focused on winning a National Championship already.
“I’m going there to enjoy it,” said Ahmed in an interview post race. “It’s a great experience, always fun, but I’m toward the end of my collegiate career and I came here to win an NCAA title.”
Joining Finnerty and Ahmed at the NCAA Finals in Des Moines will be Austin Mudd (800M), Elliot Krause (10,000M), Dan Block (Discus), Japheth Cato (Decathlon), and David Grzesiak (Decathlon).
Dan Block probably had the most nerve racking day of the all the men on the Badgers team as he sat in 12th place after his final throw of the day with plenty of throwers left in the field. However, no one was able to step up to beat his qualifying throw of 56.68 meters. That distance came on his 5th throw and held on by just under one meter to allow him to advance to Des Moines.
Over on the Women’s side of the field the Badgers didn’t score any victories in the races but were led by a 7th place finish from senior Monika Jakutyte in the High Jump. Don’t let that 7th place finish fool you though as she cleared the same height as the winner at 5-10.75 feet.
The field events were an overall success for Wisconsin on the women’s side of the meet as Jakutyte qualified in the high jump and will be joined at the NCAA Finals by Jordan Helgren (Triple Jump), Taylor Smith (Shot Put), and Kelsey Card (Discus). The only women’s track athlete from Wisconsin to qualify in Austin was Caitlin Card in the 10,000 meters.
Helgren, a senior, had to sweat out her qualifying distance of 41-08.50 feet until the very end. She bested 13th place by three-quarters of an inch to make it to Des Moines.
“I was so nervous,” Helgren said post meet. “Every single jump made it more nerve-wracking. Seeing them jump and being next up just put more pressure on because you’re just standing there thinking if she beats me I have to go twice as hard on this next one.”
However, qualifying for her first NCAA Finals of her career in her final season as a Badger was a sweet reward for all the nervous moments of the day on Saturday.
“This is absolutely incredible,” Helgren said. “I couldn’t wish for anything else. It’s the cherry on top of my entire athletic career.”
Joining that group will be the heptathlon trio of Dorcas Akinniyi, Jessica Flax, and Deanna Latham who automatically qualified for the NCAA Finals.
The NCAA Finals will take place June 6th – June 9th in Des Moines, IA and we’ll have all your updates via Twitter and daily recaps as the final events of the 2011-12 season wrap up for Wisconsin athletics.
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