Strong efforts from each Badger competing at the 2024 NCAA Indoor Championships resulted in multiple All-American honors and a strong end to the team’s indoor season.
Fresh off a Big Ten team title, the team rolled into Boston with a full head of steam, albeit with limited competitors due to the national championship’s highly selective fields.
Despite the limited number of competitors, Wisconsin was represented well by Jason Swarens and Andrew Stone in the shot put, Adam Spencer in the mile, Jackson Sharp in the 5000-meter, Abdullahi Hassan in the 800-meter and a distance medley relay team composed of Joe dosReis, Jalen Williams, Andrew Casey and Bob Liking.
Wisconsin’s first event was the mile semifinals, where Spencer led the pack. Spencer ran an impressive 3:57.08 and took first among all competitors in two heats to punch his tickets to Saturday afternoon’s finals.
School record-holder Hassan also competed in semifinals on Friday in the 800-meter. With a time of 1:47.7 — good for fifth in his heat and eighth overall — Hassan clinched a spot in Saturday’s 800-meter final.
Early Friday evening, following the Spencer and Hassan semifinal runs, Sharp took part in the 5000-meter race. Unlike the mile and 800-meter, the 5000-meter runs just once and has no semifinal round. This gave Sharp the opportunity to be the first Badger of the weekend to earn all-American honors.
Sharp was successful in this endeavor with a time of 13:31.63, good for eighth place and first team all-American honors.
Shortly after Sharp earned all-American recognition, the distance medley relay team jumped into action in search of hardware.
The team of dosReis, Williams, Casey and Liking ran a time of 9:30.16, which placed the team in eighth. Their finish earned the squad first-team all-American honors.
Shot putters Swarens and Stone were the first Badgers to compete Saturday.
The two throwers both recorded strong outings, with Swarens throwing 19.87 meters to take fourth and Stone throwing 18.46 meters to take 15th. With these performances, both Swarens and Stone earned all-American honors: Swarens with first team and Stone with second team.
Spencer was the first Badger to run on Saturday, competing in the mile final after qualifying the day before. He recorded another strong time of 4:01.92 for second-place finish, just behind Washington’s Luke Houser. Although Spencer just missed out on an individual national championship, the second-place finish earned him first-team all-American honors.
Shortly afterr, Hassan wrapped up the weekend for the team in the 800-meter final after qualifying on Friday. For the second straight day, Hassan finished eight overall, this time with a time of 1:50.78. Like many of his teammates, he earned first-team all-American honors.
While the team lacked the firepower to compete for a team championship, it walked away with each of its nine athletes being named all-Americans — eight of which were first team — concluding a strong indoor season.
The team now enjoys some time off before the outdoor season gets underway on Saturday, Mar. 23 at Louisiana State University's Luriline Struppeck Invite.
