With the cover of clouds and under a steady downpour, the 2006 Track and Field Big Ten Outdoor Championships took place on campus this weekend, bringing equal amounts of competitive energy, high spirits and personal agony.
Teams from across the Big Ten gathered on Ralph Young Field to compete to see who would be crowned the champion.
Despite the bad weather, many of the competitors were excited for the start of the tournament and the fact it was held at MSU.
"The facilities here are real good," said Steve Meyers, a Penn State junior competing in the shot-put and discus. "I'm always excited to travel to a different place each year for this event. It allows me to see different parts of the country that we would never get to see."
When the question arose about whether the event should keep changing sites each year or stay at a neutral site, many people felt it should remain just the way it is.
"It should be a different site each year," said Scott Bennett, the Minnesota field events coach. "It gets communities exposed to track and field events, and allows athletic departments to look over the event and motivate (themselves) to build better facilities for the track teams."
It was the first time Walt Drenth led his team as the official head coach of MSU's men's track and field team. Drenth had been the interim head coach since January and was introduced by Athletics Director Ron Mason as the new head coach Thursday.
"I'm excited to get started and just want to take care of opportunity," Drenth said. "The primary goal that I want to accomplish is to create an environment of success and make it so when people leave the program, they leave as leaders in all facets of life.
"What I want from my guys is for them to compete at the best of their ability," Drenth said.
During the first two days of the event, fans and competitors drudged through cold and wet weather as most of the preliminaries and trials were held.
Julien Williams, an MSU fifth-year senior competing in the long jump, said that he was happy with the team on Saturday and hopes everyone makes it to the finals on Sunday, healthy and ready to compete.
"The team has done pretty good considering the weather," Williams said. "At this point it's time to shoot to score and go for the win."
The men's team finished ninth overall, ahead of Purdue, with a total of 49 points.
The closest event was Sunday's men's 110-meter hurdle. Through the first 100 meters, the top four runners were step-in-step. As the men crossed the final hurdle and headed for the finish, it seemed as if senior Andre English of the University of Illinois had it won.
University of Michigan junior Jeff Porter suddenly lunged for the finish line, however, and captured the first place victory by .01 of a second.
In the process of lunging, Porter slipped and crashed — skidding across the track. After he had finished his crash, Porter repeatedly slammed his fist on the ground in victory and pain.
John Childress, an MSU junior hurdler who came in fourth in the race, said he had no idea how close the race was until it was over.
"I was so focused on the finish, and we were so bunched together, that I never had a clue how close it really was," Childress said.
By the end of the day, the Wisconsin men's and women's teams had won the weekend's events with a commanding lead in the points.
For MSU, senior jumper Taren James brought in the most points, finishing first in women's triple jump and second in women's long jump.
Despite the low placement for the MSU teams this year, including the women's last place finish, team members look forward to next year's championships, sophomore sprinter Jeremy Orr said.
"Coach Drenth is helping to make a better team for the future, and I have high hopes for the future," Orr said. "In a couple of years this team will be one of the big threats atop the Big Ten."
