Feb. 23, 2006

Iowa will play host to the 2006 Big Ten Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend.  Wisconsin enters this year's meet as winners of the last five Championships and eight of the past 11. While the whole field will be looking to end the Badgers' dominance, UW comes in with another strong team. 

Here's a quick look at some of the top athletes to watch for by event group in this year's championships.

Sprints
Wisconsin's Demi Omole enters the meet with the top time in the 60m final for the year (6.62), but missed a chance at last year's 60m title when he tweaked his hamstring and pulled up short in the final after posting the best time of the semifinal heats.  Challengers to Omole will include Illinois Greshman Dominique Worsley and the Indiana duo of Marcus Thigpen and Wil Glover.

Omole also has the top time in the 200m at 21.22, but that's just .01 better than Worsley with three others - Indiana's David Neville, Illinois' Abe Jones, and Minnesota's Aaron Buzard - within two-tenths of Omole's time this season. Neville is the defending champion in the event, but will face stiff competition to retain his title.

Buzard leads the way in the 400m field, posting a season-best 46.20 in the event, just shy of a half-second better than his closest rival.  Neville, defending champion Abe Jones, and Illinois' Nathan Vadeboncouer join Buzard with NCAA-qualifying times in the race.

In the 60m hurdles, Michigan's Jeff Porter is one of three provisional NCAA qualifiers entering the meet, along with Purdue's Ricky Pinkney and Illinois' Andre English.  Pinkney won the event in 2005.

Middle Distance
Illinois' Trammel Smith has the best time of the season in the 600m, posting a 1:16.50.  Buzard and Wisconsin's Joe Detmer will provide tough competition to Smith in the event.

Smith also excels in the 800m where he also holds the top time of the year.  His primary competition in that event will be Michigan State's Phil Marlatt and Minnesota's Trent Riter, who are each within two seconds of Trammel's best effort of the season.

Michigan's Mike Woods will look to continue a strong Wolverine tradition in the event that has been heavy on the Maize and Blue in recent years.  Woods has the only sub-four minute time in the conference this year, posting a 3:57.87 in late January, automatically qualifying him for the NCAA Championships.  Only Wisconsin's Ben Gregory has come within five seconds of Woods' time this season.

Distance
Mike Woods will also be a favorite for the 3000m where he also has an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 7:52.27.  Wisconsin's Chris Solinsky will provide the primary competition in the event for Woods.

Indiana's Stephen Haas has the best time in a deep field of competitors in the 5000m run.  Four participants have NCAA automatic times, including Haas, Solinsky, Ohio State's Brian Olinger, and Wisconsin's Tim Nelson.  Solinsky was the runner-up in last year's event and will hope to follow on former teammate Matt Tegenkamp's success in the event.

Relays
Illinois has posted the best 4 x 400 time of the year, the traditional final event of the championship meet.  The Illini's best time (3:07.41) is over three seconds faster than the closest competitor - Minnesota (3:10.63).  Illinois won the event last year.

In the distance medley relay, the Illini and Gophers also have the top two times, but deep distance corps from defending event champion Michigan and Wisconsin will always be tough in the event.

Jumps
Penn State's Fritz Ryan has the best high jump of the season in the conference with a 2.17m leap, provisionally qualifying him for the NCAA Championships.  The Minnesota duo of Derek Gearman and Kevin Netzer are just behind with top jumps of 2.15m each.

In the pole vault, Michigan State's Brad Gebauer, defending champion in the event, leads the field with a 5.35m effort, 0.14m better than Illinos' Eric DiSilvestro (5.21m) and Purdue's John Porter (5.20m).  All three marks are NCAA provisional qualifying numbers however.

Indiana's Kiwan Lawson has the best long jump entering the meet at 7.75m.  Wisconsin will look to put up big points in this event with four of the top seven performances in the conference to date, led by Paul Hubbard at 7.62m.  Illinois' Nick Brown will also challenge for the crown.

The runner-up in 2005, Alonzo Moore will look to win the triple jump for Wisconsin.  Moore has a top effort of 16.22m this winter, which is an NCAA automatic qualifying score.  Michigan's Michael Whitehead (15.82m), Wisconsin's Rick Bellford (15.73m) and Illinois' Nick Brown (15.73m) will likely be the toughest competition for Moore.

Throws / Multi
Minnesota's Karl Erickson leads the field in the shot put with a top throw of 19.04m entering this weekend.  Iowa's Shane Maier, Minnesota's Adam Schnaible, Indiana's Ryan Ketchum, and Penn State's Steve Meyers all have NCAA provisional throws to date which should make for a hotly contested final.

Minnesota's Adam Schnaible has a NCAA automatic qualifying weight throw of 21.24m this season, best in the conference.  Other top competitors will be Ohio State's Leonard Jatsek, Iowa's Adam Hamilton, and Penn State's Scott Vernon.

Penn State freshman Chris Morrissey has the top heptathlon score of the season with 5194 points, but the next four best recorded scores belong to the Wisconsin Badgers.  Senior Nathan Brown, junior Peter Dykstra, sophomore Brennan Boettcher, and freshman Jeff Treslley will all look to pick up points for the Badgers.

Big Ten Men's Indoor Track

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