It's home sweet home track for Wisconsin's men's and women's track and field teams this Saturday in Madison. Both teams, in a rare opportunity, will compete in the friendly atmosphere of The Badger Twilight in front of family and friends. Men's track and field Head Coach Ed Nuttycombe is certainly looking forward to the weekend.
\I think we have six or seven seniors that are running their last home meet, so that's always exciting,"" Nuttycombe said. ""To run in front of the home crowd is always exciting. Obviously we don't have many opportunities to do that.""
With the Big Ten Championships only a week after the Badger Twilight, Saturday is, to put it simply, one of the most important events of the outdoor season. But even with the excitement of competing in front of the home crowd, Nuttycombe and women's track and field coach Peter Tegen understand the delicacy of Saturday's competition.
""We have to be a little bit more careful because the Big Ten meet starts already next week on Friday,"" Tegen said. ""There is usually not a whole lot of time to recover or to do anything pretty serious on the track, particularly as far as some of the events are concerned-either the multi-events or the middle-long distance gets a little critical. But, it wears also on the sprinters. The sprinters are pretty sensitive. We have to be very careful with that.""
The track team as a whole is coming off a strong performance this past weekend at the Musco Twilight. Both the men and women took three events and that confidence will certainly carry over into the relaxed atmosphere of the Badger Twilight. The women's 4x100 meter relay team ran a season's best 46.18. Tegen was particularly impressed and expects success this weekend.
""Actually, our 4x100-meter relay is only two-tenths (of a second) off the regional qualifying mark,"" Tegen said. ""We are hoping that actually will be attempted, if the weather cooperates, this Saturday at our home meet here. So, we will try one more time to make that regional mark.""
Nuttycombe is using the Badger Twilight as more of a mini-preparation for the upcoming Big Ten Championships. Hesitant to call Saturday a tune-up meet, Nuttycombe does feel Saturday has that goal in mind.
""Yeah it's a tune-up meet,"" Nuttycombe said. ""When you say that the inference is that anybody who runs is not going to be running all out. If you toe the line you are going to be running all out. But it's a tune-up meet in the sense that people are going to be doing what they need to prepare for the next week. You want to do that in the context of staying fresh and healthy for the next weekend.""
Nuttycombe said the meet will be quite laid back, with most athletes running shorter and faster events and some not running at all, depending on an individual basis. The Twilight is an open invitational and schools such as Iowa, Northern Iowa, some groups from Chicago and schools from around the state are expected to participate. Nuttycombe, from past meets, knows the competition usually stands the test.
""Usually it ends up being a pretty good meet,"" Nuttycombe said. ""Usually there is enough competition where all the events are pretty competitive. You put them all together in one spot and it ends up being a pretty good little meet.""
Senior captain and decathlete Ryan Tremelling, in his last home meet, knows this weekend and past success hold definite bearing for the impending Big Ten Championships.
""Coach Nuttycombe was saying something about, 'You know, we're not the defending outdoor champions,"" Tremelling said. ""That's kind of discouraging, but coming off a huge indoor championship, we're going to try and carry all this momentum in and win the Big Ten outdoor.\
