Feb. 25, 2006

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Wisconsin teammates Demi Omole and Chris Solinsky each set championship records in an exciting first day at the 2006 Big Ten Men's Indoor Track & Field Championships.  Solinsky ran away from the field in the 3000m final and posted a 7:54.73, which set both a Big Ten Championships and facility record, as well as qualifying automatically for the NCAA Indoor Championships.  Omole broke his own meet record with a 6.67 second effort in the semifinals of the 60m dash and has a chance to better that in tomorrow's event final.

Minnesota's Karl Erickson also provided one of the day's high points when he broke the facility record in the shot put with a throw of 19.40m, which also was an automatic qualifying score for the NCAA Championships.

Heptathlon kicked off the day's action with the 60m dash coming first.  Penn State's Shawn Colligan won the first heat and took the top overall time in the event with a 7.21 second effort.  His teammate Chris Morrisey won the second heat, finishing with a time of 7.24 seconds.

In the heptathlon long jump, Ohio State's Scott Hudepohl outdistanced the field with a top leap of 6.89m.  Iowa's Ryan Niver finished second with a jump of 6.78m, followed by Wisconsin's Peter Dykstra at 6.66m.  With his jump, Hudepohl took the lead in the heptathlon standings after two scored events.

Wisconsin athletes posted the top two throws in the heptathlon shot put.  Nathan Brown led the way with a toss of 14.85m, followed by Ben Roland at 13.38m.  Minnesota's Matt Engebretson took third in the event with a throw of 12.58m.  The shot put shook up the overall heptathlon standings again with Brown becoming the overall leader with 2229 points.  Niver held second just 34 points back, while Hudepohl dropped two third with 2186 points.

Niver posted the top mark in the heptathlon high jump, but was unable to knock Brown out of the top spot in the standings after Brown finished third in the event.  Niver's jump was for 2.05m, just edging Brown's mark of 2.02m.  Ohio State's Patrick Woods also posted a best height of 2.02m.  After the first day of competition, Brown led the heptathlon standings with 3,051 points, Niver is second (3,045) while Hudepohl retained third place with 2,953 points.

Three heats of 60m trials were run with Wisconsin's Demi Omole, Illinois' Dominique Worsley, and Michigan's Adam Harris winning their respective races.  Worsley had the top time at 6.78 seconds, just ahead of Omole (6.81) and Harris (6.83).  The third heat was the closest of the three, with Harris edging Indiana's Marcus Thigpen by just .01 seconds.  In the semifinals later in the afternoon, Omole broke his own record as previously mentioned, easily taking a place in tomorrow's final.  Worsley won the other semifinal with a time of 6.77 seconds.

In the trials of the one mile run, Wisconsin's Ben Gregory and Michigan's Mike Woods took top honors in their respective heats.  Gregory had the best time of the event, posting a 4:07.49, nearly two seconds ahead Minnesota's Ben Hanson.  Woods beat out Indiana's John Jefferson by a closer margin, recording a 4:08.95, compared to Jefferson's 4:09.30. 

In the shot put, Minnesota's Karl Erickson won easily with his mark of 19.40m.  In addition to his final record-breaking throw, Erickson also had two other tosses that beat the previous facility record. Indiana's Ryan Ketchum was runner-up with a toss of 18.26m, followed by the Iowa duo of Shane Maier (17.95m) and A.J. Curtis (17.57m).

Iowa's Matty Gorman performed well in his home building, posting a 7.53m leap in the long jump to win the event. Indiana's Kiwan Larson took second with a 7.50m jump, ahead of Minnesota's Derek Gearman (7.49m).

The pole vault almost saw another meet record fall. Michigan State's Brad Gebauer had already cleared 5.50m, and just missed an attempt at 5.60m which would have set a new record.  Gebauer still won the event, easily outdistancing second-place Illinois' Eric DiSilvestro who logged a best mark of 5.15m.

Indiana's David Neville posted the best time in 400m trials at 47.75 seconds.  Other heat winners were Wisconsin's Chad Melotte (48.44), Michigan's Stann Waithe (48.66), Penn State's Ernie Terrell (48.85), and Illinois' teammates Nathan Vadeboncouer (48.70)  and Adrian Walker (49.30).

In the 800m semifinals, Michigan State's Phil Marlatt (1:52.24) and Minnesota's Trent Riter (1:53.44) took top honors in their individual heats.  Illinois' Tim Hobbs (1:52.25) and Penn State's Mark Miller (1:54.17) were the heat runner-ups.

The Purdue duo of Ricky Pinkney (7.95) and Keith Hopkins (7.96) went one-two in the first heat of the 60m hurdle semifinals.  Michigan's Jeff Porter had the top overall time, winning the second heat with a 7.87 second time.

Minnesota's Aaron Buzard (1:19.14), Illinois' Jeremy Kruidenier (1:19.93), Minnesota's Walter Langkau (1:19.79), Wisconsin's Scott Hogseth (1:19.87), Michigan's John D'Arcy (1:20.19), and Illinois' Trammel Smith (1:20.81) were the six winners of 600m trial heats.

In the 200m trials, Indiana's Marcus Thigpen (21.82), Ohio State's Todd Dutch (21.81), Illinois' Dominique Worsley (21.55), Indiana's David Neville (21.64), Wisconsin's Demi Omole (21.87), and Penn State's Ernie Terrell (21.99) all won their individual heats.

The final individual event of the day was the 3000m run where Chris Solinsky set his record (7:54.73).  Mike Woods was Solinsky's nearest competitor, finishing nearly nine seconds back at 8:03.07.  Indiana's Stephen Haas finished third with a time of 8:04.43

An exciting distance medley relay concluded the day with Ohio State winning the event.  The Buckeyes event-winning time of 9:47.78 also set a new facility record.

The championships will resume on Sunday morning at 10:20 a.m. with the second day of heptathlon competition. 

Big Ten Men's Indoor Track

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