Chalk up another triumph for UW in the realm of track and field. The UW men's indoor track team won its first indoor national championship Saturday and also became the first Big Ten team to claim the honor.
UW was anchored by senior Chris Solinsky, who entered the 3,000 meter race as the two-time defending national champion. This time around, Solinsky came in second, even though he recorded a new school record in the event with a time of seven minutes, 51.69 seconds. The previous UW record stood at seven minutes, 51.75 seconds set by Matt Tegankamp during the 2005 season. Solinsky did win the 5,000 meter race, however.
""It was bittersweet because I won the last two years and I wanted to come in here and do something that no one has ever done,"" Solinsky noted. ""No American has ever won the double and no one in the history of the [3,000 meters] has ever won three [titles in a row]. He just had a better kick than I did today. I just wasn't able to run it out of him like I have been able to in the past.""
Solinsky then added, ""The biggest picture is that we won the team title and no Big Ten team has ever done that.""
UW senior Demi Omole notched eight points for UW by finishing second by a tight margin of .01 seconds in the 60-yard dash. Omole ran the second fastest time of his career, crossing the finish line with a time of 6.57 seconds.
""Being a senior and this being my last time around, I really wanted to get the victory, but the eight points is sufficient enough and I'm proud of that,"" Omole stated after the race.
The Badgers were also well-represented in the heptahlon event as UW senior Joe Detmer set a world record in the 1,000 meter portion of the event. On top of the world record, Detmer also established a new school record for total points throughout the event by amassing 5,761 points, good enough for a fifth place finish.
The Badgers finished the meet with 40 team points, enough to overcome the second place finisher, Florida State. Being the first Big Ten team to win the national title is especially sweet for UW considering where it has been the past few years.
""We've been in the top 10 and top four but this is the first time we've won it all,"" head coach Ed Nuttycombe affirmed. ""This year we were able to get enough people in the same place at the same time to get it done.""
—uwbadgers.com
contributed to this report.
