By Mike Lucas on May 11, 2012 3:31 PM
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A year ago, UW men's track coach Ed Nuttycombe and women's coach Jim Stintzi were thrown for a loss when their "throwers'' fell short of expectations in the Big Ten outdoor championships.
Both are confident that Dan Block and Taylor Smith have learned something from that experience and will put their painfully acquired knowledge to good use this weekend in the field events.
"It's the proverbial saying,'' Nuttycombe said, "you learn more from trying situations - from tough situations - than you do from other situations. I think that's absolutely the case with Dan.
"It was very uncharacteristic of him to not perform at that big setting (fifth outdoors in the shot put). I don't think there's any way that he will let that happen again. He'll be ready.
"His co-hort in the discus - Alex Thompson - will be ready to go, too. He has really come along and he's a big-time meet type of guy who has done well at international junior settings.
"Hopefully, we'll get a Top Three or Top Four in each one of those events (shot put and discus). That will be a good day. Maybe one or the other does better, and we'll see a surprise in one, or both.''
Stintzi has outlined similar objectives for Taylor Smith and Kelsey Card in those events.
"I think the last couple of Big Ten meets, we've had throwers that have put a little bit too much pressure on themselves,'' Stintzi said. "Our motto is, 'This meet is no different than any other meet.'
"We can't approach it like it's the end of the world.''
The results this spring have encouraged Stintzi. "One of the things we're seeing is steady improvements in the throws,'' he said. "We're hitting our peak at the right time.''
How might the throws factor into the team competition for the men and women?
"Big at this meet,'' Stintzi said. "As a matter of fact, you don't want to say one area is going to matter more than another - but for both of our teams, it's just the direction that we've gone.
"Throws matter a lot to us. Ironically, everyone in the Big Ten got this idea at the same time and everybody is good at the same time.''
Nuttycombe cited an example.
"If you look at the rankings,'' he said, "I think the Big Ten has the vast majority of the best throwers in the entire western region of the country in the discus. It's super competitive.''
UW assistant coach Dave Astrauskas has seen a developing trend in the talent pool from the standpoint "throwers from the Midwest used to go to the coast, now they're staying in the Big Ten.''
"Last year at the junior championships,'' he went on, "it was dominated by kids who were already in the Big Ten and going to the Big Ten. So it's only going to get better.''
What are Astrauskas' expectations for his throwers in the Big Ten meet?
"I'm just expecting them to do what they've been doing all year and that's to throw well and throw near their competitive average,'' he said. "That's all I'm asking of them.''
Nuttycombe figures if the Badgers can maintain their status quo that they will be in the hunt. "But we have to hit on the events that we're ranked high in,'' he said, "and hope that's enough.''
The shot put and discus would qualify in Nuttycombe's context.
"I think Dan Block is going to throw well in both,'' he said. "He's coming on at the right time.''
A big weekend for the Wisconsin women's track and field team has translated into a big jump in the rankings.
The Badgers moved all the way to No. 16 in this week's edition of the national rankings compiled by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, which were released Tuesday.
UW leapt 13 spots from its No. 29 ranking last week largely on the strength of junior Taylor Smith's school-record effort in the weight throw. Smith, named Big Ten co-Field Athlete of the Week on Monday, launched a throw of 69 feet, 10 3/4 inches to win the event at Saturday's UW-Platteville Invitational.
The mark vaulted Smith to No. 5 nationally in the event and automatically secured her a spot in next month's NCAA indoor championships.
Because the USTFCCCA's rankings are based solely on athletes' national rankings, Smith's toss buoyed the Badgers.
Also supporting Wisconsin's rank is senior Monika Jakutyte, who ranks in a tie for fourth place nationally in the high jump with the clearance of 6 feet she recorded on Feb. 3.
In addition, senior and three-time All-American Dorcas Akinniyi is currently ranked No. 8 in the pentathlon after scoring 3,991 points on Feb. 3.
The Badgers' other top-25 ranked athletes include the trio of Smith (18th, 53-7 3/4), freshman Kelsey Card (17th, 53-6 1/2) and sophomore Jasmine Boyer (T-26th, 52-2 3/4) in the shot put.
Additionally, senior Caitlin Comfort is ranked 18th in the 5000 meters (16:07.90), while junior Jessica Flax stacks up No. 25 in the pentathlon (3,789 points).
Men slip out of rankings On the men's side, the Badgers slipped out of the rankings after moving up to No. 17 last week. That's despite the effort of sophomore Dan Block, who threw 61-7 1/2 in the shot put to move up to the No. 10 spot nationally over the weekend.
Sophomore Japheth Cato, who is No. 3 in the heptathlon with his Big Ten-record total of 5,939 points, is UW's other top-10 ranked athlete.
The Badgers also picked up top-25 performances from sophomore Alex Hatz in the mile (13th, 3:58.68) and junior Maverick Darling in the 3000 meters (22nd, 7:54.70) over the weekend.
Each year, Wisconsin Athletics submits its top men's and women's athletes for the prestigious Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year and Suzy Favor Female Athlete of the Year awards, presented annually by the Big Ten Conference.
The Badgers' nominees are considered to be the UW Male Athlete of the Year and UW Female Athlete of the Year award winners.
With UW teams experiencing success across the board during the 2010-11 season, it's as difficult a job as ever to narrow the field to just one deserving student-athlete on both the men's and women's sides of competition.
The winner of UW's awards will be announced Friday, but you can read profiles on each of the nominees who were not selected today. Then, make your own decision and vote in our polls on Facebook to determine the fans' choice for the Badgers' top athletes in 2010-11.
(Yes, it's pretty easy to figure out who will be announced as winners Friday...)
The 29th overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears, Gabe Carimi started 49 games throughout his Badger career. A 2010 consensus first-team All-American, Carimi became the second Badger to win the Outland Trophy, given annually to the nation's top interior lineman. He is just the eighth Badger to earn unanimous, consensus first-team All-America honors.
Last season Carimi was a key cog in an offense that led the Big Ten and averaged a school-record 41.5 points per game (fifth in the country), including 45.2 points per game in Big Ten play, second-best in conference history. UW also led the Big Ten and ranked 12th in the country in rushing offense, nearly becoming the first FBS team in history to have three running backs go over 1,000 yards in the same season.
At left tackle, Carimi lined up against some of the best defensive linemen in the country, including All-Americans Ryan Kerrigan of Purdue, Cameron Heyward of Ohio State and Adrian Clayborn of Iowa. He was just the third player in Badger history to earn Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year honors.
Earlier this month, Carimi was named Wisconsin's male Big Ten Medal of Honor recipient. He graduated in May with 3.13 grade-point average in civil and environmental engineering and was a four-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree.
Landon Peacock capped off his senior season for the Badgers in style with a come-from-behind performance that gave him the win in a dramatic men's race at the 2010 Big Ten Cross Country Championship.
The Morley, Mich., native claimed his first individual Big Ten title by a half-second, out-leaning Indiana's Andrew Bayer at the finish line for the win. Peacock clocked in at 23 minutes, 40.8 seconds, while Bayer was second in 23:41.3.
The victory made Peacock UW's 27th individual conference champion and led the way for the Badgers to secure their 12th-consecutive team crown in the first-ever Big Ten championship held at their own Zimmer Championship Course.
Sitting fifth heading into the course's finishing chute, Peacock charged past teammate Mohammed Ahmed and Minnesota's Ben Blankenship and trailed only Bayer with 30 meters to go. He finally hunted the Hoosier down at the line to become UW's first individual titlist since Matt Withrow in 2007.
He went on to earn first-team all-region honors with a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional -- as UW won its eighth-straight team title -- and then scored All-America laurels for the second time in his career with a 20th-place showing at the 2010 NCAA Championship.
In track, Peacock was unable to defend his 2010 Big Ten title in the 5,000 meters as an injury sidelined him for the duration of the indoor season. However, he came back outdoors to finish fifth at the Big Ten meet in the 5,000 and then posted a personal-best time of 13:42.90 in the event at the 2011 NCAA West Preliminary Round.
Despite the outstanding time, which would have won the other preliminary-round heat in Eugene, Ore., as well as both sections of the event at the NCAA East Preliminary Round site, Peacock did not advance to the NCAA championships due to regional qualifying procedures.
Anchoring the blue line for the Badgers in the 2010-11 season, Justin Schultz completed his sophomore campaign as the nation's top-scoring defenseman with 18 goals and 47 points. His 18 goals were the most by a blueliner in the nation since 2002-03 and was just one shy of the UW single-season record for a defenseman.
Schultz had a remarkable sophomore season and did not go more than two games without a point. He scored the opening goal of a game five times and led the Badgers with 14 multi-point games.
The All-American was also named Defenseman of the Year by Inside College Hockey, WCHA Defensive Player of the Year and first-team All-WCHA, was one of the 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award and earned a spot on College Hockey News' national first team.
On Nov. 27 against Michigan State, Schultz became the sixth Badger defenseman in program history -- and the first since 1991-92 -- to record a hat trick. He was also the sixth Wisconsin defenseman to lead the team in points.
Schultz was named WCHA Defensive Player of the Week after scoring the overtime game-winner in a 6-5 victory over Canisius on Jan. 8, snapping UW's 26-game overtime winless drought. He tallied three assists against Alabama Huntsville on Oct. 17 and had a total of three multi-goal games on the year.
In part to Schultz's efforts, Wisconsin ranked No. 8 nationally in goals-against average at 2.39. The Badgers also had the nation's top-scoring defensive corps, with a combined 120 points from the blue line.
Dorcas Akinniyi continues to haul in hardware every time she heads to a championship meet. The Carrollton, Texas, native added to her collection in 2011 with All-America honors both indoors and outdoors.
Akinniyi has qualified for the NCAA championships in all five seasons -- indoor and outdoor combined -- in which she's been eligible. After this season, she has also collected an All-America award four times.
She posted her best-ever NCAA finish with an outstanding fourth-place showing in the pentathlon at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Championships, racking up a school-record total of 4,254 points to earn her first All-America laurel of the year.
That performance came on the heels of her second-consecutive conference title in the pentathlon at the 2011 Big Ten Indoor Championships, where she scored 3,929 points.
Moving outdoors, Akinniyi earned a berth directly to the NCAA championships by virtue of her heptathlon score of 5,352 points at the Mt. SAC Relays Multi-Events in April. She also qualified for the 2011 NCAA West Preliminary Round in the open high jump for the second-straight season.
At the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Championships, Akinniyi piled up 5,554 points -- just 30 markers shy of her lifetime-best score -- to finish sixth in the heptathlon and secure the fourth All-America honor of her career. A career-best 3,469 points on the opening day of the two-day, seven-event competition propelled Akinniyi to another top-eight finish.
After taking a year off to compete with the U.S. Olympic Team in the 2010 Winter Games, Hilary Knight returned to Wisconsin for her junior season, leading the nation with 47 goals and helping the Badgers to their fourth NCAA championship.
Third in the nation in points with 81 on the season, the alternate captain now sits in third place on the UW all-time career-scoring list with 202 points.
Knight tallied a career-best 20-game point streak that spanned from Dec. 10 to Feb. 26, tying for the second-longest steak in UW history. In 41 games, she recorded 25 multi-point games, including three five-point efforts and four hat tricks. With her 47 goals, Knight scored more goals than four NCAA Division I teams did all year.
Knight was named WCHA Offensive Player of the Week twice, once after tallying five points against RPI on Oct. 2 and lastly on Jan. 5 after having back-to-back four-point games against Northeastern and Mercyhurst at the Easton Holiday Showcase.
Scoring just 47 seconds into the Fill the Bowl contest at the Kohl Center, Knight tallied the first of three goals as the Badgers downed Minnesota, 3-1, in front of 10,668 fans on Jan. 29. Her game-winning goal against Bemidji State on Feb. 4 marked her 100th career tally.
She led UW with two points, including the game-tying goal and an assist on the game-winner, against Minnesota Duluth in an NCAA regional game on March 12. She went on to record three assists at the Frozen Four, including two in a 3-2 win over Boston College on March 18 in the national semifinal game.
On the national stage, Knight represented the United States as a member of the Women's Under-22 Select Team at the 2010 USA Hockey Women's National Festival and a three-game series against Canada.
Knight tallied three points for the U.S. Women's Select Team in the 2010 Women's Four Nations Cup in St. John's, Canada, where Team USA placed second.
After winning the national title with Wisconsin, Knight scored the game-winner in overtime against Canada as the U.S. Women's National Team claimed gold in April's 2011 IIHF World Women's Championship in Zurich and Winterthur, Switzerland.
Maggie Meyer capped off a brilliant career at Wisconsin by becoming the first national champion in program history when she won the 200-yard backstroke at the 2011 NCAA Championships in March. Meyer finished the NCAAs as a six-time All-American and was an 11-time All-American for her career.
With seven honorable mention All-America honors in career as well, Meyer tied for the second-most All-America accolades in school history with 18.
The 2011 Big Ten Swimmer of the Year, Meyer won five of the six events she entered at the 2011 Big Ten Championships, bumping her career total to 10 conference titles. The White Bear Lake, Minn., native swept the 100 and 200 backstroke events, then recorded relay wins in the 400 free, 200 medley and 400 medley.
She set four school records as a senior, bringing her career total to six. Meyer also set a Big Ten record in the 200 medley relay.
In addition to setting the school record in the 200 back, Meyer also lowered the mark individually in the 100 back (51.66). In the relays, Meyer was a part of record-setting teams in the 200 medley relay (1:35.71) and 400 medley relay (3:31.73).
Meyer dominated the backstroke events in 2010-11, going undefeated in the 200 backstroke and winning 10 of 11 races in the 100 back. All told, Meyer won 38 out of possible 57 races she entered during the season either as an individual or as a member of a relay unit.
With Wisconsin's Emily Sisson set to make her NCAA championship debut Monday in Terre Haute, Ind., Track & Field News has profiled the Badgers freshman.
The feature, penned by Don Kopriva, discusses Sisson's successes and struggles in her first season, with comments from Sisson and head coach Jim Stintzi:
Although Emily Sisson certainly is not favored in Monday's NCAA Cross Country, Wisconsin's prize frosh has proved she's ready to run up front. ... "It's really important to have confidence in yourself when you're at this level. I used to struggle with confidence and believing in myself, but you have to have the mentality that you're going to win every race you're going into."
Sisson and teammate Caitlin Comfort will race at the 2010 NCAA Championship on Monday, with the women's 6-kilometer race set to begin at 11 a.m. UWBadgers.com will have complete coverage.
Wisconsin legend Suzy Favor Hamilton will be featured Tuesday night as part of the "Big Ten Icons" series on Big Ten Network, a countdown of the top 50 student-athletes in Big Ten history.
Favor Hamilton, a nine-time NCAA champion during her time at UW, checks in at No. 19 on the countdown. Her special, hosted by broadcasting legend Keith Jackson, will air at 8 p.m. Tuesday evening.
Here's a brief glimpse of Favor Hamilton's episode of Big Ten Icons.
They have only been in the professional circuit for less than a month, but Jack Bolas and Craig Miller have wasted no time working their way to the front of the field.
The former Wisconsin track and field athletes signed contracts with New Balance to begin their new careers as professional runners, following a season that saw both earn All-America honors in the 1,500 meters at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
The pair continued their European tour Wednesday with the Morton Mile Meeting in Dublin, Ireland.
The summer continues to heat up for a number of athletes with ties to the Wisconsin men's and women's track programs.
• Incoming freshman Emily Sisson opened the 2010 IAAF World Junior Championships with a 10th-place finish in the 3,000 meters Monday. Her impressive time of 9:16.80 ranks No. 8 on the all-time list for high school athletes, according to Track & Field News.
To put that mark in perspective, Sisson's time would rank No. 9 on Wisconsin's all-time list. Consider the names of Badgers who have run faster and you get a list that reads like a who's-who of UW -- and collegiate track -- history:
That group -- which includes three Olympians -- accounts for a combined 64 individual Big Ten championships, 45 All-America awards and 24 individual NCAA titles.
Sisson won the U.S. junior title in the 3,000 meters last month to earn her spot on Team USA.
• Senior Jenny Soceka, who completed her collegiate eligibility with an All-America performance at the NCAA championships in June, has not slowed down since.
Soceka cleared 14-0 (4.26m) to match runner-up Mary Saxer, who took the second spot on the criteria of misses. Reigning NCAA champion Kylie Hutson won with a clearance of 14-6.
• On the men's side of the Beach Vault competition, UW volunteer assistant coach Joe Samaniuk cleared 17-5 (5.30m) to finish fifth.
• Across the pond, the duo of Jack Bolas and Craig Miller continue their initial European tour as professionals. Both signed with New Balance following the USA outdoor championships in June, where Bolas finished seventh in the 1,500 meters.
After getting off to a fast start in their first two professional races, the pair ran an elite 1,500 meters race as part of the Folksam Grand Prix stop in Karlstad, Sweden, on July 15.
Bolas led the charge by finishing sixth in 3:39.26, with Miller registering a season-best time of 3:40.16 to take ninth place. The pair were among five Americans in the field, including winner David Torrence, who clocked a 3:37.73 to take the top spot.
Both Bolas and Miller are expected to race Wednesday at the Morton Mile Meeting in Dublin, Ireland. The duo will represent two of the seven athletes confirmed for the event that have gone below the 4-minute threshold.
There are major track and field competitions taking place on both U.S.coasts on Saturday, and Wisconsin athletes past, present and future will be well-represented.
First, seniors Jack Bolas and Craig Miller will race for a national title -- and in Miller's case an eighth-career All-America honor -- in the final of the men's 1,500 meters at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore.
That race goes off at 12:30 p.m. (CT), with CBS carrying the event live. You can also watch a free live webstream.
Later this afternoon, you have the latest IAAF Diamond League event, the adidas Grand Prix, set to begin at 3 p.m. in New York. Look for former Badgers Matt Tegenkamp and Evan Jager to make their season debuts in a star-studded 1,500 meters field.
The adidas Grand Prix will air live on NBC and is also available online via webstream from Universal Sports, for a cost of $1.99.
Also competing at Ichan Stadium in New York is incoming Badgers freshman Emily Sisson, who is racing in the Jim Ryun High School Dream Mile. The all-star race is scheduled to go off at 5:22 p.m., as part of the adidas Grand Prix.
Redshirt freshman Dorcas Akinniyi just keeps moving up the awards stand at the NCAA championships.
After finishing seventh to earn All-America honors in the pentathlon at the NCAA indoor championships in March, Akinniyi followed up by putting the wraps on a fifth-place heptathlon finish and another All-America citation Thursday at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore.
Akinniyi posted the second-highest score of her young career by tallying 5,506 points to earn her fifth-place showing. Oregon junior Brianne Theisen defended her title by claiming in the top spot with a score of 6,094.
With her performance, Akinniyi becomes just the third Wisconsin athlete to earn All-America honors in the heptathlon, and the first to ever post All-America finishes in both the indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon.
She also becomes the first Badger to be an indoor and outdoor All-American in the same season since Katrina Rundhaug accomplished the feat in 2008.
Akinniyi, who entered the second day of competition in third place, held her position until the final event. She slid two spots to fifth despite ending the seven-event competition with a personal-best run of 2:21.45 in the 800 meters.
She also posted a mark of 18 feet, 9 3/4 inches in the long jump and threw 114-6 in the javelin to set up her All-America finish.
The performance wraps up an amazing collegiate season for the second-year athlete, who also swept the Big Ten indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon crowns. She'll next compete at the 2010 USA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, in two weeks.
Redshirt freshman Dorcas Akinniyi is off to a fast start at the the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships, as she opened the first day of the heptathlon with a personal-best run of 13.95 in the 100-meter hurdles.
The heptathlon high jump is up next for Akinniyi, who is one of three Badgers competing today in Eugene. Senior Megan Seidl competes in the women's high jump at 6:45 p.m. (CT), right after junior Luke Rucks runs in the semifinals of the men's 800 meters at 6:30 p.m.
Be sure to check back throughout the day for the ever-expanding gallery of photos from Day 1 |
