Big 10 Minnesota

Heat sheets are up on the IU website; click on results.

Minnesota's decathletes are setting up for over 20 points, they scored 16 in the pole vault, and won the hammer. 10k is a huge event for the Badgers tonight. If Rombough and Torchia are close to matching the Badgers, it is over before Saturday!

Probably going to predict -

MINNESOTA 139

WISCONSIN 121

IOWA 111

OSU 107

IU 89

Rombaugh second but behind Ahmed, with Krause and Peacock 4/5 => +11 for Wisconsin. MN 2/3/4 guys at 10/11/12. This was actually a relatively quick 10,000, especially if it went 14:50/14:13 (I have no idea/info on the pacing).

1 Ahmed, Mohammed Wisconsin 29:03.71 10

2 Rombough, Chris Minnesota 29:10.67 8

3 Mickow, Colin Illinois 29:10.74 6

4 Krause, Elliot Wisconsin 29:12.53 5

5 Peacock, Landon Wisconsin 29:15.63 4

6 McCandless, Tyler Penn State 29:15.73 3

7 Mayhew, Zachary Indiana 29:26.01 2

8 Grosskopf, Patrick Michigan State 29:28.18 1

9 Mickow, Hunter Illinois 29:30.09

10 Torchia, Mike Minnesota 29:34.61

11 Barrett, Matt Minnesota 29:35.09

12 Gagnon, Pieter Minnesota 29:46.25

Minnesota left a lot on the table in the Pole Vault with the Plencer NH and Szmanda not clearing 16 or better. A clean bar at 4.90 would have finished 7th, that's terrible for the Big Ten as a conference.

Ohio State picked up 13 points in the Hammer from guys not in the top 12 in the performance list, plus a gift two that the Gophers handed them in the Pole Vault. That has to have them feeling pretty good.

Minnesota as a group ran awfully well in the 10K to only finish with 8 points out of it.

Wisconsin likely needed more from the 10K, but the 19 is in the range that you could logically expect. I'm curious about the flow of the race.

Iowa and Indiana had bad days.

Yeah that hurt MN with the PV, i guess i don't know the rules on if you have to decide before the competition what height you will come in because i would suspect that they would have had plencner come in at a lower height with so many already gone... Overall though, nothing really stood out that was very drastic, good number pts in the PV, won the hammer, kept wisco from gaining too much in the 10k, and set their decs up for a good day tomorrow. Obviously i think the big events for MN will come in the 400, 800, and 1500, with the 800 a big wildcard with MN having a lot of guys right around the bubble area, and needing to limit Wisco's pts in those events. Obviously a lot can happen over rest of the meet, but i still think its MN's to lose, its going to be whether MN has the depth to score multiple people like indoors, cause they obviously have their big guns doing well!

with big events in teh 400, 800, and 1500 meaning that they need guys to step up and make the finals

Event 37 Men 4600 Meter Run

===============================================================================

Big Ten Cham: TBD

Big Ten Conf: TBD

Name Year School Seed

===============================================================================

Section 1 Timed Finals

1 Peacock, Landon Wisconsin 12:50

People should notice THE Ohio State University.

The rail came at him from out of nowhere. Jesus H. Christ.

"The Badgers' strategy of pushing the pace early and trading the lead among their four runners paid dividends. Ahmed, Krause, Peacock and redshirt freshman Maverick Darling swapped the lead throughout the early going and were running well as a group until Darling made contact with the rail and was forced to retire midway through the race."

http://www.uwbadgers.com/sports/m-track/recaps/051410aaa.html

This was a punishing race for Minnesota, who thought that would be more competitive with Wisconsin but only one of their guys could run with the four Badgers. Without the mishap it sounds like they would have picked up another placing.

Also, because of the mishap, he is not out of the rest of the meet even with the DNF; I am not certain on this but is should fit the criteria for being allowed in later events (I cannot remember the instructions on this at the last Big Ten meet).

Also, Krause's performance is pretty good for a guy that did not even make XC Nationals in high school and was only 18th in the WI State meet in the 3200 as a junior.

Also, it looks like Grzesiak might break into the MN hold on the decathlon, which could be a bit of a point swing.

Okay it was seriously kind of a running joke about all the mishaps and falls during the indoor race and thought that it was dumb luck, but seriously... how many times can their guys step on the rail or trip and fall in big races... could end up costing them later- im still sticking with the fact that its going to take a tremendous effort by the badgers to have a chance in this meet, and its Minnesota's to lose- plus i don't think Minnesota was probably expecting more then maybe 10 pts out of the 10k, so not really a bad loss for them, worse for the badgers with the fall

Is Iowa done already? Going strictly by the seedings, Iowa is the winner of the meet. However, it didn't have Minnesota getting 2nd in the 10k.

Badgers got 19 from the 10k and will add,

4 from 800 w/ Rucks and Beth making finals (6th/8th)

16 from 1500 w/Miller(2nd), Finnerty(4th), and Bolas(6th)

14 from steeple w/ Gasper(1st) and Shields(5th)

24 from 5000 w/ Ahmed winning (Mead only one who can run with him) and Gasper,Miller, Peacock) Provided nobody falls!

So with 10k, that is a weekend of 77 points.

Add 4 x 1, Jefferson, Groce, long jump, dec, and jav and Badgers are in drivers seat.

I agree with above post regarding Minnesota's 400, 800, 1500 success being crucial.

It is unbelieveable how Iowa or OSU isn't even mentioned because it is always Minnesota versus Wisconsin. Those 2 programs just have better coaches and tougher athletes.

I know it is early, but worst coaching job of the meet winner already is Warhurst with Lex Williams. Sub-4:00 miler and 28:30 season best and fades hard to 13th. April must be hurt as well as he DNS after being entered.

Dont sleep on the Hoosiers. They sent themselves up nicely yesterday and will set themselves up even better today after the Long Jump, High Jump and Steeple.

Lex probably has the worst record relative to marks of any Big 10 distance runner that I can think of. He has repeatedly under-preformed every time that I can remember.

Michigan's distnace men have been underperforming when it matters most for nearly a decade, in both XC and track. Considering the caliber of recruits Ronnie gets, it's hard to fathom how they constantly get beat by mediocre Big Ten distance crews like Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan State, and Minnesota (Mead and Rombough notwithstanding). Considering Michigan's high school credentials, they should be competing at the front of races with Wisconsin. Instead, they are all too often nowhere to be seen. It's had to say if it's lack of development or simply recruiting the wrong guys, but when you compare high school credentials, Michigan is 2nd only to Wisco in the Big Ten. When you compare college results, the story is much different.

What happened to gasper and shields in the steeple??? Did they both fall???

WTF??? wrote:

What happened to gasper and shields in the steeple??? Did they both fall???

15 Shields, Drew Wisconsin 9:19.62

16 Gasper, Ryan Wisconsin 9:24.21

You have got to be kidding me!! That's it. I quit...