54 // VARSITY March 13, 2014
INSIDE
WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
Latham seeks success at
NCAA championships
UW junior looks to improve on last year's finish
BY AJ HARRISON @BADGER_TRACK
A
fter a second-team All-
America finish at the
2013 NCAA Indoor
Track & Field Championships
in Fayetteville, Ark., Wisconsin
junior Deanna Latham looks to
earn first-team honors in the
pentathlon on Saturday at the
NCAA meet in Albuquerque,
N.M.
Latham is coming off her
best performance in the five-
discipline event, as the New-
berry, Mass., native won her
first Big Ten title last month in
the pentathlon with a person-
al-best score of 4,176 points to
help Wisconsin win its fifth-
straight pentathlon crown.
Latham, the school record-
holder in the 60 hurdles, has
excelled at the big meets in her
career, finishing as the Big Ten
runner-up at last year's indoor
meet, but was overshadowed by Jessica
Flax and Dorcas Akinniyi, two of the best
athletes in school history. The duo com-
bined to win eight conference titles and
earn nine first-team All-America acco-
lades.
Assistant coach Nate Davis, who over-
sees the multi-events at Wisconsin, says
Latham's hard work has helped her get
to this point in her career.
"You can't say that Deanna waited her
turn, because she's never waited for any-
body," Davis said. "Dorcas and Jess came
along before her, but she never deferred
to them. She worked to achieve at the
level they were at, and she used that to
get better.
"The only reason it's 'her turn' is be-
cause she's worked so hard to earn it and
to get to this point as an athlete."
Latham's score of 4,176 set at this
year's Big Ten meet ranks as the fifth-
best in the nation and the third-best total
in school history. She tied a personal best
in the high jump, soaring 5 feet, 7 inches,
and also clocked a time of 8.37 in the 60
hurdles, .04 seconds off her school re-
cord of 8.33.
The pentathlon field at the NCAA meet
is stacked and is headlined by 2013
NCAA champion Erica Bougard, who has
a season-best score of 4,458 points that
she tallied at the SEC championships en
route to the conference title.
"It's going to be a great competition
and nothing is going to come easy," Davis
said. "But that's exactly what Deanna is
used to and what she's trained for for the
past few years.
"She's ready to go."
SCHEDULE
COMING UP
March 14-15 NCAA Championships
