Busy weekend for Wisconsin Sports
By Joey Lovell
(Photo by Kirby Lee/WireImage)For the first time in nine years, Wisconsin men’s track won the Big Ten Conference Championships. This year’s indoor tournament was held in Geneva, Ohio.
After Friday’s first day of events, Wisconsin grabbed the early team lead through two first-place finishes. Jackson Sharp, a red-shirt junior who hails from Wentworth Falls in Australia, won the 5,000 meters with a time of 14 minutes and 7 seconds.
Sam Coil, a graduate transfer student from South Dakota State University, also added a first-place finish in the weight throw with a toss of 73 feet, 7 1/4 inches.
Big individual wins seal the team title
Saturday saw Wisconsin bring home three more first-placer finishes.
In the men’s mile, sophomore Adam Spencer brought home the gold with a time of 4 minutes and 13.03 seconds.
Wisconsin senior Lawrence Johnson won the 60-meter sprint with a time of 6.61 seconds.
In the men’s 3000-meter run, Sharp won his second event of the tournament with a time of 7 minutes and 51.53 seconds. Wisconsin also had runners’ place in 3rd, 5th, and 6th positions. The combined total of 23 points of that event gave the Badgers 110 points, seven more than second-place Nebraska.
Wisconsin also was able to pick up points with two scorers in the heptathlon, the shot put, the 800 meters, and also the 400 meters.
The NCAA Indoor Championships will be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 10-11. Wisconsin’s qualifiers will be announced on Tuesday, February 28th.