60 // VARSITY February 27, 2014
INSIDE
MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
No. 4 Wisconsin prepares
for the Big Ten stage
UW looks to defend its indoor Big Ten title
BY AJ HARRISON @BADGER_TRACK
I
t's championship season for
the No. 4-ranked Wiscon-
sin men's track team, as the
Badgers look to defend their
indoor conference title at the
2014 Big Ten Championships
at the SPIRE Institute in Ge-
neva, Ohio.
After last year's champion-
ship came down the the 4x400
meters, the final event of the
meet, Director of Cross Coun-
try and Track & Field Mick By-
rne is expecting another close
meet on the men's side.
"We run a conference meet
to pick a champion, and there
are obviously some great
teams," Byrne said. "Penn
State right now is just looking
fantastic. And I think Illinois,
Ohio State, they're going to be
teams that are going to give us
some trouble."
The Badgers return a lot of firepower
from last year's squad, including three-
time heptathlon champion Japheth Cato
and last year's heptathlon runner-up
Zach Ziemek, who Byrne expects big
things from.
"He's a guy that feeds off Cato," Byrne
said. "When those two get out there on
Friday and begin competition, I think
we're going to see some good things
from both of them."
Danny Block and Michael Lihrman
lead the league in shot put and weight
throw, respectively, while Reed Connor
and Mohammed Ahmed rank first and
second in the 3000 meters.
"We feel that we have some great
momentum going into the meet as evi-
denced by some of our performances
over the last couple of weekends," Byrne
said.
The Badgers have won three meets
this year, including the Armory Colle-
giate Invite that featured some of the
top teams in the country. Byrne believes
Wisconsin will need to bring it's "A" game
to win its fourth meet of the year.
"Our team knows what the expec-
tation going into the meet are," Byrne
said. "Let's face it, guys like Mo Ahmed,
Michael Lihrman, Reed Connor, our top
athletes know what's on the line here.
We just need to get great support from
the supporting cast. And I think, if we
do that, kids get excited, want to defend
their title.
"I think we'll be in pretty good shape."
SCHEDULE
LAST WEEK
Friday Red & White Open W, 256 pts
COMING UP
Fri. Big Ten Championships 9 a.m.
Sat. Big Ten Championships 9 a.m.
