Big Ten 4x4 ???

their 4th guy fell with 250 to go and just stood up as wisco passed him. didn't give chase, didn't finish

Wow....that is even worse

No contact, just a fall??

Wow! Wisconsin narrowly wins, but four other teams could have taken it. 2nd to 5th were separated by 1.5 pts.

Nightmare time for each of the 2-5 teams. Nebraska had a hurdler FS the final and he probably would have been 2nd or 3rd. Minnesota's WT guys way underachieved with the title on the line late in the meet. Illinois 4x400 just needs to finish. Penn State did about as well as they could have, but certainly could have used Gehret. Should they have run Loxsom in the 400 as well as 600, like Minnesota did with Abda?

Wisconsin didn't have a great meet, but it was just good enough.

1) Wisconsin 90

2) Illinois 87.50

3) Penn State 87

4) Nebraska 86.66

5) Minnesota 86

6) Indiana 72

7) Iowa 49

8) Ohio State 40

9) Michigan 39

10) Purdue 35.83

11) Michigan State 29

Yeah, track and field is like that. Thanks.

Do the coaches, athletes & fans in attendance know where their respective teams stand after each event is final at a championship meet like this? In other words, are updated standings immediately available so everyone is aware of what's at stake as the last few races are contested?

They hold the 4x4 until all other events are completed. So yes, at least for the 4x4 the scores and positions of the teams are known.

i-l-l...I-N-I, LOL

Great Question. I imagine all of the coaches know how to communicate prior to the meet and at least before each session what their standings are and what their chances are. Teams with a chance, have their lineups created for the sole pupose to place as high as possible. I'm sure the athletes are trying their best regardless of where their team stands. The events really fly by in the final session and if meet management doesn't do a very good job of communicating team scores then that's too bad since they are more than capapble of doing so for both the teams and the spectators. Glad they hold the 4 x 4 though. Scores are updated at the bottom of the results sheets when they are posted and should be announced after event results are read. Can get a little tricky for the announcers to coordinate while calling races and presenting awards but if enough time is allowed during the schedule it can work really well.

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They regularly posted scores on the video/timing board and announced them as well. If teams didn't know the situation before the race started, they just weren't paying attention.

Illinois was in contention but had an issue which I couldn't see from where I was at. I was told their runner went to the ground, but got back up. He then stumbled on the next turn less than 30ft from me. Their runner was a couple steps behind the leaders at that point and appeared to simply stumble, went into a roll, popped up, stood there in frustration, and then walked off the track.

I kind of hope this kid is a 5th year senior with no outdoor eligibility. He did not appear to be injured as he walked away. It really seems like he simply got frustrated and quit. I hope his teammates and coaches are forgiving; otherwise, it's going be a very long bus ride home.

This is from Illinois' site:

"The meet came down to the 4x400m relay squad as the Illini trailed Wisconsin by just 1.50 points. The Orange and Blue were tripped on the final exchange as Pamilton fell. Stephon then was tripped up with less than a lap left and the relay squad did not finish."

I think the Illinois' site is giving a very favorable view of the situation. My understanding is that on the exhange, which was on a curve, they ran straight and got tangled up with another team. With regard to getting tripped with less than a lap remaining, that makes it seem like someone did something to him. I simply saw him stumble, but it's possible that his back kick hit a runner he was passing on the turn, but that would indicate he wasn't clear of that runner before cutting in.

I have no vendetta against this runner or Illinois. It had to be incredibly frustrating for the team to go to the track twice within ~100m with so much on the line. While there may have been contact related to each incident, it's not clear who was at fault in either case.

The very simple truth is that the athlete should have finished. When he fell, he rolled right up to a standing position and by all appearances was not injured. They may not have caught the first couple teams, but still could have finished well enough to win the team title.

This will be on the Big 10 Network for all to see.

the guy didn't get tripped by anyone. he tripped over his own feet!

It seems like the guy ran the wrong race. He ran the race of someone that had to have everything work perfectly and to do a superb job to have a chance for the Conference Championship. Instead, he should have been running a smart, carefully paced race so ensure that they won. Part his problem, part a coaching problem. Which coach won? They one that has done it repeatedly over his 30 years.

I was standing right in front of the last exchange. He took the handoff facing the wrong way and stumbled into another runner which caused the first slip up, then fell with less than 300 to go and did not continue the race when Wisconsin was well beaten in the race and all he had to do was finish. I do not understand why he ran such a reckless race. No way Illinois should have lost.

Is there a youtube video of this anywhere up yet? Did the Big 10 network film this?

Can't find youtube but found this: "BTN will air tape-delay coverage of the Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships at Noon ET on Saturday, March 2."

If Illinois hadn't had the screw-up(s), what's the best guess on where they would have finished? They had the guy who won the 400 by some ridiculous margin on the anchor, although he had run the 200 just before the two 5000 races. Nebraska had their 24 year old Latvian transfer Olympian on their anchor leg. I'm guessing he ran a fine leg, since Nebraska qualified nobody to the 400 finals and then runs 3:06 in the 4x400. He didn't run the open 400, they had him concentrate on the jumps.

Wisconsin did not run a good race with a team title on the line. They wouldn't have even placed without the Illinois screw-up. And if Penn State had won the 4x400 . . . .

Event 28 Men 4x400 Meter Relay

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

Meet: M 3:08.06 2012 OSU, OSU

Blanks, Smith, Brooks, Murdaugh

Big Ten: B 3:03.48 2004 MINN, MINN

Merritt, Jakobsson, Steele, Potter

SPIRE: S 3:07.29 2/9/2013 George Mason, George Mason

G Empty, A Vaughn, A Coburn, D Verburg

School Finals H#

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

1 Nebraska 'A' 3:06.67S 2

1) Hall, Ricco 2) McKenzie, Dexter

3) Sandefer, Christian 4) Leitis, Janis

2 Minnesota 'A' 3:07.19S 2

1) Capek, Jacob 2) Boy, Cameron

3) Deng, Goaner 4) Abda, Harun

3 Penn State 'A' 3:08.56 2

1) Bennett-Green, Brandon 2) Loxsom, Casimir

3) Gilmore, Matt 4) Bennett-Green, Bernard

4 Ohio State 'A' 3:09.14 2

1) Page, Champ 2) Smith, Korbin

3) Blanks, Antonio 4) Brooks, Marvel

5 Purdue 'A' 3:09.73 1

1) Cosey, Mario 2) Parks, Nicholas

3) Peart, Andre' 4) Kendrick, Andrew

6 Michigan 'A' 3:10.09 1

1) Washington, Philip 2) Chapman, Nathaniel

3) Taylor, Aaron 4) Arastu, Ali

7 Iowa 'A' 3:10.32 1

1) Holmes, Ethan 2) Van Cleave, Kaleb

3) Rickels, Keaton 4) Weir, Ryan

8 Wisconsin 'A' 3:10.58 2

1) Payne, Garret 2) Woloszyk, Tyler

3) Awosika, Babatunde 4) Simmons, Drew

9 Indiana 'A' 3:11.34 1

1) Etgen, Cortland 2) Stoner, Nick

3) Roller, Lance 4) Pierre Louis, Nathan

10 Michigan State 'A' 3:14.41 1

1) Michael, Keenan 2) Hendricks, Aaron

3) Whitelow, DeVantre 4) Foster, Stephon

-- Illinois 'A' DNF 2

1) Zahn, DJ 2) Viney, Cam

3) Green, Juan 4) Pamilton, Stephon