Big Ten track teams keep busy while waiting for tourney

With the Big Ten Championships coming May 22-24, the men's track and field teams have been preparing themselves for their annual civil war by competing in big-name events and capturing several qualifying marks for the NCAA Championships in June.

Wisconsin, which will face off against Penn State and Minnesota this coming weekend in the Sea Ray Relays, spent the past weekend with Mickey and the gang at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla.

Fischer's high jump mark of 7-1 -- set a new complex record in the event. Matt Rodgers won the 400 intermediate hurdles and teamed with Ryan Truschinski, Giscard Bernard and Brody Rose in the 4x400 meter relay, running the anchor leg en route to winning the event with a time of 3:12.20. Junior Tim Kulinski and senior Marcos Fredrick finished two and three, respectively, in the shot put.

Wisconsin head coach Ed Nuttycombe said he was pleased with the team's performance and is looking forward to meeting Groves, his longtime personal friend and onetime babysitter, in the Relays.

Michigan finished third in a rain-soaked meet on Saturday at the University of Southern California. Kevin Sullivan's time of 3:53.95 in the 1500-meter run was good enough to set the record at Cromwell Field and give him a provisional NCAA qualifying mark.

"I was pleased with the race," Sullivan said. "It was right around where I wanted to be coming into the meet, I wasn't expecting to set a record but as my first 1500 of the year it was a solid opener and I'm very happy with it."

When asked whether he thought the provisional mark would be enough to qualify him for the championships in the event, Sullivan said there's still room for improvement.

"It probably could stand up (to qualify for the NCAA championships), but I plan on hitting it out with a better time if I keep improving as the season progresses."

Also qualifying was two-time all-American John Mortimer, who won his specialty event, the 300-meter steeplechase, by more than 10 seconds with a time of 8:43.5.

Big Ten rival Ohio State also competed in the meet, finishing fourth in the quadrangular scoring.

In another Big Ten face-off, Indiana defeated rival Purdue by 5.5 points in Indiana's Big Four meet. Indiana amassed 195.5 points through strong performances by senior Ty Yaeger in the 100-meter high hurdles and sophomore Russell Brooks, who won the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.62 and the 200-meter dash in an outdoor season-best time of 21.74.

Brooks was named co-MVP of the meet with Purdue's Chris Cozort. The Boilermakers finished second with 190 points, followed by Indiana State and Ball State.

Minnesota split between the Cyclone Open in Ames, Iowa, the Texas Relays in Austin, Texas, and the Bolstroff Time Trial hosted by Macalester College this past weekend. Senior Niles Deneen finished fifth in the 110-meter hurdles in Austin while three Golden Gophers won events at Macalester.

Minnesota heads to Knoxville, Tenn., next weekend where the team will compete with Penn State and Wisconsin.

Iowa placed third at the Jim Click Wildcat Shootout in Tucson, Ariz., on Saturday. Senior Monte Raymond was the sole individual champion for the Hawkeyes, winning the 400-meter hurdles in an NCAA-provisionally qualifying time of 50.90.