May 14, 2005

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COLUMBUS, OHIO - It came down to the end in the decathlon and steeplechase events here Saturday (May 14) in the second day of competition of the 2005 Big Ten Conference Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships on the campus of The Ohio State University.

In race for the team title, Wisconsin will enter Sunday's (May 15) final day of competition with a slim lead over Minnesota. The Badger's have 65 points with the Golden Gophers at 59 points and the Indiana Hoosiers third at 41. Rounding out the team standings following day two is Iowa with 32 points, Purdue with 21, Ohio State with 20.50, Michigan State with 13, Penn State with 10, Illinois with 8.50 and Michigan with three points.

The long jump competition was the first opportunity for teams to gain points in the team competition. Aarik Wilson of Indiana boosted the Hoosiers into an early second place tie with Purdue at 15 points a piece. A senior, Wilson came in second a year go and won this year's title with a top jump of 8.00 meters. Michigan State's Julien Williams took home second place with a leap of 7.66 meters while Wisconsin's Joe Conway kept the Badgers in the lead by finishing third with a jump of 7.49 meters

Wisconsin and Minnesota began to pull away from the rest of the field following the high jump competition. John Albert and Bryant Howe took home first and second place honors for the Golden Gophers by clearing 2.15 meters and 2.10 meters respectively. Wisconsin's Brent Boettcher came in third place after jumping over the 2.10 meter bar. Minnesota's Josh Paulson also cleared 2.10 meters and finished in fourth place to give UM more points and move them into second place with 37 points, behind the Badger's 42 points.

Indiana and Iowa closed the gap on the leaders after the discuss event. The Hawkeyes Tim Brodersen won first place with a top throw of 57.01 meters to give the Gold and Black 10 team points. The Hoosiers picked up eight points with Ryan Ketchum's second place performance of 54.67 meters. Minnesota's Curt Schoenfelder finished third after a throw of 54.66 meters.

Nathan Brown of Wisconsin began the day with the lead in the decathlon competition but a disqualification in the 110-meter hurdles ended the juniors' chances of a Big Ten title. Brown's error in the hurdle event opened the door for Minnesota's Travis Brandstatter to take the lead. The senior was the 2004 decathlon winner and turned in the top time in the 110-meter hurdle event at 14.17 to claim the overall lead.

In the discus portion of the ten-event competition, Brown recorded a top throw of 42.22 meters to win the event. However, it was Brandstatter's throw of 38.65 that kept him in the overall lead over Indiana's Jake Wiseman by only 11 points with three events remaining.

Wiseman would overtake Brandstatter for the lead following a lengthy pole vault competition. The senior came in third at Purdue in last year's championships and made a push toward a decathlon title by winning the pole vault event. The Hoosier cleared 4.85 meters to gain 865 points and move into first place with the javelin and 1,500 meters to go.

Wiseman remained in the lead after winning the javelin throw with a toss of 58.08 meters. Brown had the next best throw at 57.96 meters but remained toward the bottom of the standings due to his error in the 110-meter hurdles. Brandstatter was third in the event after his throw of 57.42. With just the 1,500 meters to go, Wiseman held a 60 point edge over Brandstatter for the Big Ten title.

Brandstatter showed why he won this event a year ago by persevering in the 1,500 meters with the track wet from rain. The Minnesota senior took second in the event with a time of 4:38.62. That, combined with Wiseman's seventh place time of 5:10.71 in race, gave Brandstatter the Big Ten Conference decathlon title by 129 points over Wiseman. Brandstatter finished with 7,468 points with Wiseman at 7,339 points and Ben Roland of Wisconsin in third with 7,179 points.

The rain that had fallen throughout the day made conditions for the 3,000-meter steeplechase ideal. Ohio State's Aaron Fisher was in the lead after the final hurdle and looked to have his second consecutive Big Ten Conference steeplechase title wrapped up. However, Indiana's Tom Burns sprinted by Fisher just before the finish line to win the event in 8:45.67. Fisher, it turns out, had hit his leg on one of the barriers and thus was unable to hold off Burns advance. The Buckeye senior finished the event in 8:47.30. Chris Foster of Penn State finished third in 8:56.22.

Sunday's (May 15) final day of competition begins at 11:40 a.m. eastern time. Fourteen Big Ten champions along with the team trophy will be handed out here at Ohio State's Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.