Wisconsin Badgers men’s track and field athletes concluded their academic spring break competing in two different meets over the weekend. Wisconsin returned to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for the second consecutive weekend to compete in the Battle of the Bayou, and Badgers also traveled to Palo Alto, California to compete in the Stanford Invitational.
The group in Baton Rouge primarily competed in field events but also produced solid results on the track.
The team enjoyed a pair of top-five finishes in field events Saturday in Baton Rouge. Justin Kiefel placed fifth in the triple jump with a mark of 14.63 meters, and Jake Schaefer joined him with fifth-place honors in the discus throw with a mark of 55.08 meters.
The high points of the weekend on the track came from Elliot Harris and Giovanni Wearing. Harris kicked off his junior season posting a time of 48.20 seconds in the 400 meters, a personal best.
Wearing set his own personal best in the 110-meter hurdles. The indoor season Big Ten champion of the event ran a time of 13.63 seconds, which was also good for a fifth-place finish.
Additionally, Wearing continued his climb up the all-time Badgers leaderboard with his personal best, moving up to fourth on UW-Madison’s top-10 list.
The Badgers in Baton Rouge were joined by teammates out west in putting together a satisfactory weekend. A handful of athletes competed in middle-to-long-distance events at the Stanford Invitational.
The highlight for the team in California was the 800 meters, where Adam Spencer emerged victorious with a time of 1:47.47.
The team was well-represented in the 1500 meters and 5000 meters, with five Badgers in the first event and seven in the second. Jackson Sharp led the way for the team in both events, posting team-best times of 3:41.02 in the 1500 meters and 13:44.50 in the 5000 meters.
Sam Craig represented Wisconsin in the longest race of the weekend, the 25-lap 10,000 meters, with a solid time of 29:13.43.
The team will once again split up this upcoming weekend with four different meets on the schedule. On Thursday, Wisconsin will compete in the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate, the Cal State LA Twilight Open and . On Friday, the team will be at the Beach Invitational in Los Angeles.
The Badgers will be represented Thursday through Saturday at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California.