UW men's track and field head coach Ed Nuttycombe addressed the media Monday for the first time since his squad won six events and captured four NCAA regional qualifying marks during last weekend's Wisconsin Twilight Invitational.
As exciting as the results of this weekend's events were, the team has to immediately get ready for next weekend as it looks to defend its title at the Big Ten Conference Outdoor Championships. Still, Nuttycombe was happy with the state of affairs surrounding the team.
""Well, I'm very pleased with where we are right now,"" Nuttycombe said. ""We had a home meet this weekend, and although everyone on the team did not participate, a great number of them did. And we had some good performances, some upgrades in numerous areas and, equally important at this time of the year, we got out of the meet injury free to my knowledge and are really looking forward to the weekend.""
Staying injury free has been a key to the success for the Badgers', who find themselves looking to complete the esteemed Big Ten Triple Crown, which consists of conference titles in outdoor track, indoor track and cross country during the same academic year. If the Badgers win next weekend, they will have completed a record four consecutive Triple Crowns. But Nuttycombe has kept relatively silent on the subject, even as the third and final event nears.
""I've mentioned it one time the entire year,"" Nuttycombe said. ""Oh, I might have mentioned it in the opening meeting in September, but I mentioned it one time since then. It's not something that you dwell on.""
This focus and determination the Badgers have had all year is a reflection of the senior leadership on the team. Making up 14 of the members of the team, the seniors have been instrumental in the successes of both this season and the previous three. Nuttycombe was quick to acknowledge the presence and importance of his seniors.
""We had a little ceremony at the home meet and we introduced our seniors, and on one hand, it makes you feel good about the weekend coming up. On the other hand, it makes you realize that there are a lot of big shoes to fill,"" Nuttycombe said.
""The Joe Detmers and the Nate Browns and the Tim Nelsons and the Chris Solinskys and the Demi Omoles, and there were actually 14 seniors on the list and a lot of them have been very instrumental in the success over the last three, four years. And there are a lot of shoes to fill. We're working hard at that, but I think right now we're going to concentrate on this weekend.""
Filling the shoes of graduating seniors will have to wait, and hopefully, the seniors can cap off their careers by completing the Triple Crown, and then move on to defending their national championship of a year ago. And if the team continues to do as well as they have, these goals are all in reach.
—uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
