BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA, May 12–14 — It was a field (events) of dreams come true for rookie head coach Justin St. Clair of Nebraska as the Huskers scored 151 points — 99 in 6 of the field events — to win their first Big 10 outdoor title since ’16.
Minnesota was 2nd with 122 and Iowa 3rd with 120, scores that in most years would be good enough to win. Wisconsin (72) and Michigan (56) rounded out the top 5 among the 13 teams.
Nebraska has always had a very strong field event presence, but the Huskers took it to new levels at this meet, with 1–2 finishes in the high jump, javelin throw, shot put and discus. The latter two included Jonah Wilson and Maxwell Otterdahl trading 1st- and 2nd-place finishes as junior Otterdahl repeated his ’22 DT win.
Nebraska’s long jump champ Till Steinforth (25-7¼/7.80) also found time to win the decathlon with a PR 8064 points. Michigan State’s Heath Baldwin (PR 8084) opted out of the 10-eventer but grabbed 4th in the HJ and 5th in the javelin and ran in two others for kind of a 40% multi.
“Winning the title is a great thing, just with the feeling of the team coming together and cheering each other on and supporting each other,” St. Clair said. “Our objective was to win, but to win in the fashion we won in as a group and as a family was very special to me. There were tremendous results across the board and multiple champions, facility records, conference records, even a Swedish national record [on the women’s side].”
Steinforth and Matthew Wilkinson were the only individual event double winners as the Minnesota steeple specialist claimed that title on Saturday night in 8:38.40. He returned fewer than 24 hours later to outlast his rivals in a humid death march 5K in 13:51.31 that saw 10 of 38 starters fail to finish.
Collegiate leader Kostas Zaltos of the Gophers won his third hammer title in 245-10 (74.93). With 100 champ Kion Benjamin (10.18) on the second leg, Minnesota’s 4 x 100 squad clocked a meet record 38.87, fourth-best mark in Big 10 history.
Darius Luff won Nebraska’s only running title, taking the 110H in 13.32 over Michigan’s Josh Zeller (13.40). Wisconsin’s Jackson Sharp led the 1500 wire-to-wire for a 3:42.72 win. And Indiana’s Camden Marshall pulled off an 800 win (1:46.57) for retiring coach Ron Helmer.
Iowa was strong as usual in the short and mid sprints and hurdles with the 200 winner in Austin Kresley (20.26), the 400 champ in Jenoah McKiver (45.59), the 400H titlist in Austin West (49.34) and the 4×4 win in 3:06.30.
BIG 10 MEN’S RESULTS
(5/12—10K, PV, HT, JT; 5/13—St, HJ, LJ, SP)
Teams: 1. Nebraska 151; 2. Minnesota 122; 3. Iowa 120; 4. Wisconsin 72; 5. Michigan 56; 6. Penn State 54; 7. Indiana 52; 8. Michigan State 51; 9. Illinois 49; 10. Ohio State 37; 11. Rutgers 29; 12. Purdue 22; 13. Maryland 4.
100(-0.4): 1. *Kion Benjamin’ (Mn-Tri) 10.18; 2. Lawrence Johnson (Wi) 10.22; 3. *Carlon Hosten’ (Mn-Tri) 10.22; 4. *Austin Kresley (Ia) 10.26.
200(0.3): 1. Kresley 20.26; 2. Hosten’ 20.43; 3. **Devin Augustine’ (Mn-Tri) 20.45; 4. Nadale Buntin’ (Rut-StK) 20.49.
400: 1. *Jenoah McKiver (Ia) 45.59; 2. **Zidane Brown (OhSt) 45.75; 3. *Dubem Amene’ (Mi-Ngr) 46.20; 4. **Noah Sage (MiSt) 46.36.
800: 1. **Camden Marshall (In) 1:46.57; 2. **Adam Spencer’ (Wi-Aus) 1:46.84; 3. ***Handal Roban’ (PennSt-StV) 1:47.59; 4. **Darius Smallwood (PennSt) 1:47.87.
1500: 1. *Jackson Sharp’ (Wi-Aus) 3:42.72; 2. *Evan Dorenkamp (PennSt) 3:43.06; 3. Nick Foster (Mi) 3:43.29; 4. John Petruno (MiSt) 3:43.43.
St: 1. Matthew Wilkinson (Mn) 8:38.40; 2. ***Logan Measner (Wi) 8:46.50; 3. *Jake Gebhardt (In) 8:51.10; 4. *Benjamin Nibbelink (Wi) 8:54.78.
5000: 1. Wilkinson 13:51.31; 2. **Max Murphy (Ia) 13:54.94; 3. Tom Brady (Mi) 13:56.70; 4. *Bob Liking (Wi) 13:57.37.
10,000: 1. Brady 29:01.25; 2. Murphy 29:18.05; 3. *CarLee Stimpfel (MiSt) 29:28.64; 4. ***Micah Wilson (Wi) 29:42.36.
110H(0.7): 1. *Darius Luff (Nb) 13.32; 2. Joshua Zeller’ (Mi-GB) 13.40; 3. *Brithton Senior’ (Nb-Jam) 13.61; 4. **Michael Buchanan (Mn) 13.82; 5. Bret Dannis (Il) 13.85.
400H: 1. *Austin West (Ia) 49.34; 2. Julien Gillum (Ia) 50.46; 3. **DeVontae Ford (Il) 50.93; 4. Omar Rodgers (Nb) 51.20.
4 x 100: 1. Minnesota 38.87 (Hosten, Benjamin’, Schirmer, Augustine); 2. Iowa 39.41; 3. Purdue 39.87; 4. Nebraska 40.34.
4 x 400: 1. Iowa 3:06.30 (McKiver, Stapleton, Gudgel, Gillum); 2. Illinois 3:06.79; 3. Penn State 3:06.91; 4. Minnesota 3:06.93; 5. Ohio State 3:07.48.
Field Events
HJ: 1. Mayson Conner (Nb) 7-2½ (2.20); 2. **Tyus Wilson (Nb) 7-2½; 3. *Shaun Miller (OhSt) 7-1½ (2.17); 4. *Heath Baldwin (MiSt) 7-¼ (2.14).
PV: 1. Trevor Stephenson (MiSt) 18-0 (5.49); 2. *Nathan Stone (In) 17-10¼ (5.44); 3. **Tyler Carrel (In) 17-2¼ (5.24); 4. *Luke Knipe (PennSt) 17-2¼.
LJ: 1. **Till Steinforth’ (Nb-Ger) 25-7¼ (7.80); 2. **Sincere Robinson (Rut) 25-5½ (7.76); 3. James Carter (Ia) 25-½ (7.63); 4. *Micaylon Moore (Nb) 24-7¾ (7.51).
TJ: 1. **Praise Aniamaka’ (Pur-Can) 52-7¼ (16.03); 2. Carter 52-4 (15.95); 3. Moore 52-¾ (15.87); 4. *Terrol Wilson’ (Nb-Jam) 51-5½ (15.68).
SP: 1. Jonah Wilson (Nb) 69-11½ (21.32) (out CL);
2. *Maxwell Otterdahl (Nb) 69-7½ (21.22); 3. **Jason Swarens (Wi) 67-4¾ (20.54); 4. **Lucciano Pizarro (PennSt) 65-¾ (19.83); 5. *Hayden Tobias (OhSt) 65-½ (19.82).
DT: 1. Otterdahl 192-0 (58.53); 2. Wilson 185-10 (56.64); 3. Kaleb Siekmeier (Mn) 185-6 (56.55); 4. **Tyler Sudduth (Il) 185-2 (56.45).
HT: 1. *Kostas Zaltos’ (Mn-Gre) 245-10 (74.93);
2. Tyler Merkley (PennSt) 241-8 (73.67) (10, x AmC);
3. Jake Kubiatowicz (Mn) 226-8 (69.08); 4. Sam Coil (Wi) 213-3 (65.00); 5. **Collin Burkhart (PennSt) 212-0 (64.63).
JT: 1. *Arthur Petersen’ (Nb-Den) 252-8 (77.03);
2. ***Dash Sirmon (Nb) 247-2 (75.35) (6, 9 AJ);
3. Austin Parsons (Mn) 236-8 (72.15); 4. ***Mike Stein (Ia) 230-5 (70.23); 5. *Heath Baldwin (MiSt) 226-9 (69.11).
Dec(5/12-13): 1. Steinforth’ 8064 (10.66, 25-5¼/7.75, 46-2¾/14.09, 6-2¾/1.90, 48.06, 14.16, 128-9/39.25, 16-4¾/5.00, 174-6/53.20, 4:48.86); 2. *Ryan Talbot (MiSt) 7786; 3. *Aiden Ouimet (Il) 7679; 4. Mason Mahacek (Mi) 7560.
