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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN TRACK & FIELD MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 19, 2015Mick ByrneCOACH MICK BYRNE: Kind of low key, what we would consider a low key meet this past Saturday. Gave some of our younger kids an opportunity to burn some rust off after the break there for Christmas and also gave some of our veterans an opportunity to get out in uniform and do what they do in anticipation of Saturday's big dual meet against Minnesota. I wasn't aware that it was 20 years plus since we've had a dual meet with them and obviously we're very excited about this opportunity and we won the coin toss and we got to host a meet at home we're excited about that. And next year we go back up to Minnesota and do it on their turf. So it's something that I've been looking forward to for the last couple of years. I think it's a trend of what's happening nationally this past weekend, big dual meet on SECTV with Arkansas and Texas. This type of event is gathering great steam around the country, and I think at the end of the day we all want to see a winner from a contest, a competition, rather than the invitational format. From our perspective, it gives our athletes an opportunity to go head‑to‑head in competition and ultimately that's what sports about, rather than just looking at times or distance or heights. So we're very excited about this weekend. We have the elementary race will kick off the day and hopefully we'll get a lot of elementary kids, introduce them to the sport of track and field. And then the dual meet starts at 11:00a.m. with field events and then 12 o'clock with the rest of the meet. Having a dual meet gives us an opportunity to have a short track and field competition, two hours as opposed to going to these massive invitational meets that drag on for five or six, seven hours sometimes. So we believe that we can fill the stands on Saturday. We have hashtagged our stuff "the shell" out there. I'm not quite sure what the hashtag is. But they say it's legal and it's okay and I didn't do anything wrong. So we're looking forward again, as I said, to hopefully getting a lot of fans out on Saturday and showcasing what we do. Q. You mentioned the SEC meet. How long ago did the trend start and how much emphasis will you put on the meet? COACH MICK BYRNE: We'll put a lot of emphasis. Every one of our athletes that we're running this season, our top athletes, they're very excited about it. We're going to‑‑ the coaches are excited about it. We have already started ‑‑ the trash talk on the Internet is already starting. And that's good for the sport. I think it's great for our kids. Again, the focus is on the competition and it's not necessarily on the times. And we're running all our top athletes are going to compete. We signed a contract and in the contract that's part of the deal. They'll have all their top athletes. No one gets a bye unless they're injured or we're redshirting them. So it's a huge focus for us. You can't go into a competition like this and not bring your top guns. Just doesn't make any sense. Q. When exactly did kind of this process start talking to Minnesota to set up a dual meet? COACH MICK BYRNE: Probably started about three years ago. I'd say their women were more on board with it. And it took a little while to convince Coach Plaz that this was good but I think he recognizes that this is a trend throughout our sport around the nation. So ultimately at the end of the day once we cleared our schedules a year ago, we realized that this was a great opportunity for both programs. Q. You see it in football, you see it in hockey, you see it across the board with these two schools, what can this rivalry, that you say, grow into between the two track and field programs? COACH MICK BYRNE: It's a border battle. It's everything I think that all those sports that you mentioned have. It's the winner/loser. In our sport that's something new. We travel around the nation looking for fast times, looking for distances and heights. And at the end of the day you come home and say, well, what was that all about? And the kids are so focused on getting, running fast times and throwing distances. Ultimately they're losing what the sport is really about. I keep saying this. When we go to the Big Ten competition, it's not about performances, it's about head‑to‑head competition, beating kids from other schools. And I think we've recognized that in the sport. We've recognized that our meets, our invitational meets are way, way too long, boring. And this type of tight competition, four athletes from each team, I think people can relate to that. It's just on the line, head‑to‑head competition. It's two athletes from each team are going to score. So I think that brings another dimension to it. I mean, our kids are walking in all day today, coach, am I running this weekend, am I jumping this weekend, am I throwing this weekend? They're very excited about it. It brings the aspect, hey, it's not about that distance or height or time, it's about, hey, can you beat someone from Minnesota. And as we go along with this one, next year we hope to add another dual meet. And again it's the trend nationally. Q. I guess what can fans expect to see at the show on Saturday? COACH MICK BYRNE: I think both teams are going to bring a lot of energy.  We have quite a few kids from Minnesota on the team. They have some Wisconsin kids. There's going to be a lot of energy in there from the fans. I mean it's bragging rights. Again we have a trophy. And we're going to keep an up‑to‑date running score of the team competition. So that energy, that passion, not just from the coaches, but also from the athletes. And I think the fans will buy into that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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