Wisconsin Men’s track has a well-known tradition of producing great distance runners, and on Sunday it was those distance runners that propelled Wisconsin to it’s third straight Big Ten title. UW has won 19 total Big Ten championships in indoor and outdoor track since 2000.
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Coming in to the 5,000-meter race, Wisconsin was in third to Illinois and Nebraska (96 to 91 to 89 points). However, the Badgers finish 1-2-3 and eighth in the final distance event of the championships and captured a lead of 117 to the 101 points of Illinois with just the 4×400 relay left to go.
UW’s Mohammed Ahmed took home first place honors in XX. He was followed up by teammates Reed Connor and Malachy Schrobilgen for the sweep of the podium places. The Badgers also got points from Michael VanVoorhis who finished eighth in the event.
It was a familiar feeling for the Badgers, because they opened the Big Ten outdoor championship with a sweep of the 10,000 meters as well. Connor won the event in 29:06.10, followed by Ahmed (29:06.60) and VanVoorhis (29:06.65).
Between the two events the Badgers picked up 42 of their first-place total of 117 points. However, you don’t get a Big Ten title by just dominating two events. The Badgers found a way to score in multiple track and field events, and really did their damage by collecting points in the mid-distance and specialized field events.
Wisconsin got good performances from Alex Hatz, who took third in the 1,500 meter run, and Babatunde Awosika who was fourth in the 400-meter dash to finish things out on the track.
UW did a lot of damage in the field as well, with senior Michael Lihrman leading the way with a second place finish in the hammer throw.
Others earning points in field events were Japeth Cato (seventh in the long jump), Collin Taylor (sixth in the high jump) and Danny Block (seventh in the discuss and sixth in the shot put).
UW also saw great performances in the decathlon, with Zach Ziemek taking first place with a total of 7,659 points. He finished 228 points ahead of Kurt Schneider of Michigan State. Also placing in the event for the Badgers was Charlie Foss, who’s 6,963 points were good for fourth place.
The Badgers now will focus their attention on the NCAA West Prelims in Fayetteville, Ark. on May 29th.
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