The Wisconsin men's track team will focus on relay rather than individual events at the Drake Relays, while the women's team will be hoping for good weather and regional qualifying marks at the Marquette Twilight this weekend.
As one of the premier meets in the Midwest, the Drake Relays will feature Big Ten schools, including Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio State, and other top schools, such as Notre Dame and indoor national champion Arizona State.
It's a relay meet, so running well means you have to have four guys all do well,"" men's head coach Ed Nuttycombe said.
After earning two regional qualifying spots last week and five the week before, Nuttycombe said the team is on target to perform well at the end of the season, but emphasized the team still has a long way to go.
""The distance guys opened up fast, and they kind of set the pace, so the rest of us just got to follow suit,"" junior sprinter James Groce said. ""We're not really worried too much about getting more qualified right now. As a team, the important goal is Big Tens.""
Groce, who qualified for regionals in the 400-meter dash and 4x400 relay, will be competing on several sprint relays at Drake.
Groce, freshmen Quinn Evans and Andrew Milenkovski and senior Luke Hoenecke will look to improve upon their 3 minutes, 9.08 seconds 4x400-meter relay qualifying effort from three weeks ago.
Other relay events include the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x800-meter relays as well as the sprint medley, distance medley and 4x110-meter shuttle hurdle relay.
Wisconsin won the meter shuttle hurdle relay at the Sea Ray Relays with seniors Peter Dykstra and Adam Pischke, junior Brennan Boettcher and sophomore Nate Larkin, who recently qualified individually in the 110-meter hurdles.
""This will be the widest variety of events that we've run,"" Nuttycombe said. ""We may end up running in all the relays, and we haven't done that in years, so it'll be fun.""
In addition to the relays, the hurdlers, decathletes and field-event athletes will compete in their individual events.
Good weather will also be conducive to good performances.
""We haven't had good weather at all this year,"" Groce said. ""It's either been cold and rainy or cold and windy.""
The distance crew will compete in Oregon this weekend, and a few athletes will compete at the Kip Janvrin Open in Indianola, Iowa, outside of Des Moines.
Women's preview
The women's team will send 11 athletes to the Drake Relays, while the rest stay in-state to compete individually at the Marquette Twilight.
""It's really tough to get individuals in the Drake Relays, and we had just horrible weather at Iowa last week,"" sprints coach Mark Guthrie said. ""So we're going to take most of our athletes to Marquette so they can compete in their individual events.""
The women's team has qualified individuals in 10 events so far this season but got only one last weekend, compared to seven the week before.
Senior Venus Washington, who qualified for regionals in the 100-meter dash and long jump, ran an impressive 100 meters at the Sea Ray Relays two weeks ago, earning the No. 2 all-time best mark for UW by finishing in 11.62 seconds.
""I guess the training kicked in,"" said Washington, who also acknowledged a little help from the wind. ""I think a lot of people are thinking about the record more than I am. My goal is just to stay healthy and stay consistent.""
Washington is scheduled to compete in the 100-meter dash and long jump as well as a couple sprint relays.
""I love getting in that atmosphere [of the Drake Relays],"" Washington said. ""It's exciting. There's a lot of talented competitors there, and it really gets you pumped.""
Also competing at Drake will be the hurdlers, heptathletes and a few other athletes.
Most sprinters, throwers and field-event athletes will hope for good weather in Milwaukee Saturday at the Marquette Twilight.
The sprinters, freshman Akaila Cabell and junior Caitlin Dodge, as well as pole vaulter junior Jenny Soceka and sophomore jumper LaQuita Brazil, placed in the top two at Iowa last weekend and will be looking to improve upon their efforts.
Junior throwers Amanda Hoeppner and Amy Lewis and senior thrower Kayla Schultz qualified in one event each and will be looking to qualify in other events at Marquette.
The distance crew competed in California last week and will take this weekend off.
""We're close to where we want to be, but we've got to start going,"" Guthrie said. ""We're going to start giving them their legs back so they're ready to go by Big Tens.""
