UW men's and women's track teams will compete at home in the Badger Open this weekend for a final tune-up before the Big Ten Championships next week, while the men's distance medley relay will compete at the USA Track Championships in Boston, Mass.
With the departure of three giants of UW track and field - Chris Solinsky, Demi Omole and Joe Detmer - underclassmen are replacing the former top point-getters.
Sophomore Brandon Bethke, recently named Big Ten athlete of the week, broke Solinsky's indoor 3000 meter record after running 7 minutes, 51.54 seconds in Seattle Saturday, clinching an automatic qualifying spot at nationals.
Jack Bolas set a school record and automatic qualifier in the mile two weeks ago, running 3:59.40 at Notre Dame.
Sophomore Ryan Gasper and freshman Evan Jager also hit NCAA provisional qualifying times in the mile, each going 4:03 at Notre Dame. Jager hit a provisional time in the 800, at 1:50.26.
Junior sprinter James Groce along with Jager, Bolas and Bethke will make up the distance medley aiming to hit an automatic qualifying mark in Boston Saturday.
Four of UW's five provisional or automatic qualifying efforts have come from the distance team.
Freshman David Grzesiak made the provisional cutoff after finishing fourth in the heptathlon at Iowa State Saturday. Grzesiak accumulated 5,353 points, the sixth all-time best for a Badger.
Sophomore Victor Dupuy, freshmen Alex Milenkovski and Quinn Evans along with Groce have been UW's top sprinters so far. Freshman Jim Liermann took second at Iowa State with a 49 feet, 2.75 inch triple jump.
The 2007 NCAA championship banner will be unveiled at the Shell during the meet Saturday. Last year, the Badgers became the first Big Ten team ever to take away a national track title.
Like the men, most of the women's qualifying marks have come from the distance squad. Senior Katrina Rundhaug won the 5000 meters in Seattle in 16:00.96, UW's third best all-time. Rundhaug qualified automatically for nationals, while sophomore Hanna Grinaker hit a provisional time in the same race, going 16:36.86.
Wisconsin picked up two provisional mile qualifiers at Iowa State, with senior Ann Detmer going 4:41 and junior Gwen Jorgensen hitting 4:44.22. Sophomore Alicia Pabich, along with Rundhaug and Grinaker hit provisional times in the 3000 meters this season.
Junior Jenny Soceka placed fourth in the pole vault at Iowa State clearing 12-11 3'4 to improve her provisional qualifying mark.
Junior Chavon Robinson placed fourth at Iowa State Saturday in the triple jump with a 41-1 1'2 effort at Iowa, the second best all-time jump. Robinson is also UW's top long jumper, placing fourth at Notre Dame at 19-9.
The other record-breaker this season is junior thrower Amanda Hoeppner, who threw 57- 4 1'4 in the 20 pound weight throw in January.
Wisconsin will host the Big Ten men's track championships March 1-2, while the women will face conference competition in Minnesota.
