Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships

The Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships took place May 16-18 at Purdue University at West Lafayette, Indiana.

Winning the women's title was Penn State with 136 points. Nebraska was the runner-up with 102.5 points and host Purdue was third with 89 points. Michigan tied with Iowa for fourth with 86 points.

On the men's side, Wisconsin claimed the title with  121 points. Illionis was second with 109 points and Nebraska was third with 106 points.

Michigan's Erin Finn and Cindy Ofili had a wonderful weekend in West Lafayette by winning conference titles. Finn won two events. She won the 10,000m in 32:41 and the 5,000m with a time of 15:48.90. In the 10,000m, Finn set a conference meet record and broke the school record. In the 5,000m, she set a Big Ten meet and facility record. Ofili won the 100m hurdles in a career best of 12.93. Ofili also placed third in the 200m in 23.74 and fifth in the 100m (11.75). Fellow teammate Shannon Osika finished on the podium in the 5,000m in third place (16:17.80).

Erin Finn was named Big Ten Athlete of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Athlete of the Championships. Finn had a fantastic freshman year at the University of Michigan.

Starting the championships off with a sweep was Wisconsin in the men's 10,000m. Reed Connor won the event in 29:06.10. Second was teammate Mohammed Ahmed in 29:06.60 and third was Michael VanVoorhis in 29:06.65. Morsi Rayyan of Michigan placed seventh in 29:12.94.

Winning a second-straight decathlon title was Wisconsin's Zach Ziemek. Ziemek finished with 7,659 points over the 10 events.

Sweeping the podium again was Ahmed, Connor and Malachy Schrolbilgen of Wisconsin in the 5,000m. Ahmed won in 14:09.53, Connor second in 14:09.86 and Schrobilgen third in 14:10.50. Teammate VanVoorhis placed 8th in 14:12.84. Michigan's Mason Ferlic was fifth in 14:11.12.

Wisconsin's Mohammed Ahmed was named the Big Ten Track Athlete of the Year and Mick Byrne was named Coach of the Year.

The Wolverines women's track and field team will send 13 athletes and the men's track and field team will send 12 athletes to the NCAA Division I East Preliminary from May 29-31 at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida.

The Badgers men's track and field team will send 19 athletes to the NCAA Division I West Preliminary at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. 

Athletes that place in the Top 12 (or six relay teams) at the Preliminaries will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon from June 11-14.