Still a month away, but any prediction on the Men's Big 10 meet? I don't think it will be a Minnesota runaway like it was indoors. Badgers look like they're rollin out some serious distance firepower along with the usual field eventers. If Mellon runs and Mead is injured, they must think they can win title.
IU will be there, especially at home. They may not have quite as much distace as Badgers, but high jump, pole vault, triple jump winers will get them the rest of the way.
Better watch out for Iowa; they have geat hurdlers, 400 and 200, field, and throws.
MN racked up too many points for them to be easily caught outdoors, especially since they have this distance guy that did not run indoors... (and I am a Bucky fan).
Thrower and Mead probably redshirting. That evens things out (especially with IU showing up better than indoors). Believe in Badgers. Nutty and Mick are going to get another one they're not favored to win!
Lots of quality guys - Studt, Fisher, Mead, Connor, Ahmed, Bolas, Leuenberger, Hairston, Crawford - haven't yet competed outdoors and I'm probably missing a bunch. Until that gets sorted out, who knows?
Based on the guys that have competed, Iowa is for real and you can make a case right now for them being the favorite, or at the very least being right there with Minnesota and Ohio State. I don't see Indiana being there even at home. Yeah, they've got the two jumpers and vaulter and some distance guys, but that's it. Wisconsin has nothing in the field events they can rely on (might be able to scrape up 15 total on a good day) and the long distances will be too deep to roll the table there. Plus, Groce can barely break 48 these days.
Badger field points in the JT (even first? in 2009 Dehn won Regionals with 231-10 (70.66m)), HJ, PV if MdF gets back, LJ (swept 1-2 2009 indoors), Deca (although the Big Ten is deep) plus even some throws. Upside max from field is probably in the 30s. I agree that running the table in the distances is hard, even if Mead is out, but they had four guys go sub-14 at MtSAC, which usually is not as fast as Stanford and that does not include Ahmed and Darling was 13:49 which was 63 second faster than his HS time.
With Mead out, Rombough and Williams are only 2 guys who can hope to break up Badgers in 5k and 10k. Thats serious points.
26mi235 wrote:
Badger field points in the JT (even first? in 2009 Dehn won Regionals with 231-10 (70.66m)), HJ, PV if MdF gets back, LJ (swept 1-2 2009 indoors), Deca (although the Big Ten is deep) plus even some throws. Upside max from field is probably in the 30s. I agree that running the table in the distances is hard, even if Mead is out, but they had four guys go sub-14 at MtSAC, which usually is not as fast as Stanford and that does not include Ahmed and Darling was 13:49 which was 63 second faster than his HS time.
Forgot about Dehn. They scored 2 points in the field events Indoors. Mackinson has struggled horribly with fouls this whole year. They may get some mid to low finishes in the SP, Discus and HJ, maybe totaling 10 at the very best. Maybe 6 in the LJ, nothing in the TJ and Hammer. Doesn't make sense to not redshirt MD even if he's healthy, that would even up his indoor and outdoor eligibility. 10 in the JT between Dehn and Steinbach puts them at 26 max. I'd like to be wrong, believe me, but I just don't see it.
1500 Miller, Bolas, Finnerty scoring inside top 5. 25 total
5000 Miller, Darling, Gasper, Peacock inside top 6. 27 total
800 Mellon, Rucks 2 in top 6. 8 total
10000 Peacock, Ahmed, Krause 3 in top 5. 15 total
Steeple Gasper wins with Shields 5th. 14 total
89 points. Good for 4th with no other events. Another 30 points total to win!
I'm tired of hearing that Iowa has a real "Team" they have some good kids (Willey in the 400) and other than that nothing. Minnesota will win again. It's always a Minnesota and Wisconsin dual isn't it?
Im getting tired of people's absurd predictions with the badger distance. The Big Ten is very deep, and the days of wisconsin scoring 4 guys in events are over.
Only real potential breaking up of Wisconsin and potential for top 5 in steeple to 10k:
Lex Williams
Chris Rombough
Hassan Mead (redshirting/injured)
Ben Blankenship
Jeff See
3 out of the 9 IU guys that should be able to but don't.
Minnesota is pretty smart. If they didn't think they could win, Studt wouldn't be redshirting and Hassan, even if on the bubble of being healthy, would compete.
Minnesota easily wins.
Wiscosnin on backs of young distance runners for 2nd.
IU (at home) edges OSU for 3rd
Penn State and Purdue battling for 5th and 6th
Iowa still not very good for 7th
Michigan who has fallen more than any program in conference from last year for 8th
Illinois showing some sprinters but not much else in 9th
MSU brings in rear.
I think people are overrating IU a bit. They just got beat by MSU in a quad meet, and it seems like they had all of their big guns (save Coover who NH'd, but Foster from MSU didn't compete, so it's seemingly a wash.). Granted, the format is different, but I tend to think IU will be down in the 6th/7th range, along with MSU and Purdue. Michigan is bad this year. They'll be back, but they'll likely battle Illinois for last.
the steeple should be one of the most interesting events this year. Gasper will be there as always, maybe Turner/Baylo will be able to actually finish in the top 5 where they belong but maybe not. IL had a guy (or two?) around 9:00. WI had Thomas and Shields near 9:00. IA had a guy at 9:00 I believe as well. Finally some teams are starting to realize how easy it is to get points in the weakest event in this conference.
What year did Rombough redshirt?
I honestly don't believe he has eligibility?
Regardless, Minnesota must have it locked up to be redhsirting Studt. Better question is if Mead is healthy or not? If not, Wisconsin is going to run a ton of points in distance!
Mellon was a close 5th at iNCAAs; he should be better here despite Penn State. Mackinson already has two 24+ meets, and the marks a a little misleading for the throws guys because it is hard to be ready too early in Wisconsin, even with a warm spring (MN has this issue also) and the new throws coach should help, as well as with the PV (he had his top woman at 4.42)
24-3 ½ (7.40m) Rayme Mackinson 5th Florida State Relays (3/26)
24-0 ¼ (7.32m) Rayme Mackinson 5th Florida Relays (4/2)
23-5 ¼ (7.14m) Victor Dupuy 6th Florida State Relays (3/26)
I think that MN is still the team to beat and by a bunch, however. As I have said before, I think that they come to the meet ready to perform better than almost any other team in the Big Ten.
By the way, watch out for this kid as a RS Freshman next year: Japeth Cato
You guys are missing out on the Fighting Illini. Riley, Shroko,the 4x1, 4x4, Triple Jump, Hammer, etc. They are the
dark horse team. If they have a perfect meet they could surprize everyone. McReven is hot!!!. The Illini will rule.
Minnesota will again go 1-3 at least in decathlon (see Drake) so thats 24 points at least to start. Expect the exact same beating as indoors!
So Shotwell will NH in the Pole Vault at the Big Ten's like he did at Drake? He was kicking goof butt until then.