REMINDERS 

Fill out all of your forms! New and returning cows need to fill out new forms for the 2017-2018 school year. Our website has a wonderful step by step process to getting everything you need to do done. Click here to get all your things done! Also if you have not yet joined our Facebook group, Herd Finder, or email list please do so as well as you don’t want to miss any cow-tastic updates! Links to join these are also found on the website on the link above! If you have any questions about forms that need to be filled out please reach out to any of the officers and they will be glad to assist you.

Pay your dues. Don’t be that cow who tires to slide by without paying. We will catch you. Our dues go to helping reduce the meet fees as well as towards other club necessities. Each semester is $30. Remember, if you don’t pay your dues you can’t sign up for meets and that will make us all sad, so please pay. If you have questions about paying meet fees or dues contact Izak Oltman (ioltman@wisc.edu).

Women's team jackets

With the help of the VHH Grant (and a lot of hard work put in by Jing and Lauren), the Wisconsin Track Club was able to purchase a set of women's jackets for the team to loan out each year. If you are a female and do not yet have a jacket please contact Megan Buechel (buechel2@wisc.edu) to get one!

A few notes about the jackets:
1. These are not yours to keep: each season/semester you will have to "renew" the jacket.
2. If you are selected to get a jacket: you will have to put down a $45 security deposit. When you return the jacket you can get your money back.
3. If you put down the deposit and don't return the jacket, a hold will be put on your student center account and you will be unable to graduate. SO RETURN THE JACKET

Summer Track Series

Now that summer is finally here, it’s time for the annual WTC Summer Track Series. The summer track series is a set of meets that WTC puts on throughout the course of the summer for the Madison community to compete in. There is no age minimum or maximum for these meets so they are great for the whole family. In years past the meets have been held at McClimon track, however due to the track being resurfaced it will be held at local high school tracks instead. On June 15th and June 22nd the meet will be held at Oregon High School, and then on June 28th it will be at Mt. Horeb high school, and finally on July 13th it will be held at Verona high school. WTC has been putting on these meets for over 20 years so come out to see what fun it is! To sign up to volunteer click here, else for more information about participating click here!

Female: Estrella Tesch

Estrella has been a great new addition to WTC this season. Estrella competes in the long jump, high jump, 200, 400, and 800 and she is great at all of them! This past month Estrella competed at La Crosse in both the long jump and the 200. It is also worth noting that she got 5th in both the long and high jump at NIRCA Nationals! Great season Estrella!

Clues: 

Across
4. Ice cream was invented by this group of people over 3000 years ago
5. Babcock's top selling milk variety
6. What city established the first dairy school?
7. The most popular cheese worldwide
8. Cows have 32 of these
Down
1. Milk is 87% composed of this
2. Wisconsin has 1,200 licensed these
3. Produces more cheese than anywhere else in the world
4. Wisconsin has 144 of these

Luke Kubasta: The Arboretum 

My favorite trails in Madison are in the southern unit of the Arb, past the Beltline. You enter anywhere in Curtis Prairie (near the visitor center) and make your way towards Leopold Pines, which has several really nice trails through it. To get into the southern unit, you have to go through a pitch-dark tunnel beneath the highway. The Evjue Pines area is beautiful, and it almost feels like you are deep in a forest in the Pacific Northwest instead of in the middle of the city of Madison. My tip is to try to get lost on the trails and not set out a particular route to follow! The first time I 'discovered' this area, I followed some random guy on a whim and found the tunnel, having no idea where it went or how much forest was beyond it, and it was one of my favorite runs ever. It's a great addition to an Arb loop long run or as a standalone trail run (bike to the visitor center and start your run there).

Link to a really cool map 

Zoe Panos 

The outdoor track!

Stephanie Rink 

“The Chief Route” Running down Park street until you hook up with the Wingra Creek path and then take that to Olin park and come back into campus via John Nolan

WTC will be well represented by jumpers at nationals on both the men and women’s side. Coming off a first place finish in both men’s and women’s triple jump relay at Club Relays. There is a lot of depth in all the jumps which should lead to a strong showing for the cows. In the long jump we have Nia Cayenne, Natalie Tufvesson, Estrella Tesch, Kate  Abbott, Jordyn Riemer, Tim Mollman, Hunter Cummings, Max Ritzow, Karl Tremmel, Will Jordan, Brandon Clarke, Andrew Hoffmann, Bryan Watson, Colton Davis, Michael Fink, and Peter Van Beek. In the high jump; Sara Kaiser,  Karli Fink, Estrella Tesch, Nancy Vo, Hunter Cummings, Will Jordan, Brandon Clarke, Andrew Hoffmann, Colton Davis, and Peter Van Beek. And in the triple jump; Nia Cayenne, Natalie Tufvesson, Kate Abbott, Hunter Cummings, Will Jordan, Bryan Watson, Josh Stephani, and Peter Van Beek.

The male sprinters are also very ready to go for the National meet. From the words of Coach Karl Tremmel, "This year’s male sprinters and throwers represent the largest group to travel to NIRCA Nats in recent years, and they have their eyes set on improving both individual results and the team’s 2nd place finish last year. The team of Will Jordan, Max Ritzow, Brandon Clarke and Peter Van Beek will again represent the WTC in the 4x100. Max and Peter join Tim Mollman and Karl Tremmel in one of the club’s three competitive 4x400s. Al McKenna, Colton Davis and Hunter Cummings are joined by our president Kevin Boyle for this year’s Hurdle squad. With 21 entries in jumping events and 8 in throwing events, the Cows look like strong contenders in every single event for this year’s NIRCA Nationals meet."

Female: Sara Kaiser

Sara Kaiser has been an active member of WTC having competed in 6 of the 7 races we have had this year so far. She most recently had a great day at the Pointer final qualifier running in the 800 and the 1600.

Meet Recaps 

UW Parkside

To kick off the month of February the Cows traveled to UW Parkside for the UW Parkside Classic Meet. There was a strong showing on both sides as we had 6 lady cows and 10 male cows representing WTC. The lady cows were led by Kate Abbott who took 7th in the 400 meter dash in a time of 1:09.23 followed by Jordyn Riemer who placed 8th. Kayla Bauhs and Zoe Panos also scored for the cows taking 8th in the 600 meter run in a time of 1:49.83, and 7th in the mile with a time of 5:34 respectively. Lastly, but certainly not least Karli Fink took 7th in the high jump with a jump of 1.3 meters.

On the men’s side Evan Routhier led the cows by placing 3rd in the 600 meter run with a time of 1:27, and winning the men’s mile in a speedy time of 4:22.48. Following him in the mile were Evan G. Kohl (4:27.66) and Izak Oltman (4:40.36) coming in 4th and 9th respectively. In the 800 we also had Nolan Ferlic (2:01.30) and Nathan Orf (2:01.55) scoring by coming in 3rd and 4th. Luke Kubasta braved the 25 laps and came in 4th for the 5000 meter run with a time of 15:52.63. Leading the male sprinters was Raymond Cisneros placing 16th in the 200 meter dash.

Link to full results

Stevens Point

The next meet on the Cow’s schedule was the Big Dawg Invitational held at UW Steven’s Point. The cows brought 7 lady cows as well as 24 male cows to take on the field. Madi Pape lead the cows with her 2nd place finish in both the 800 meter run and the mile with times of 2:19.87 and 5:28. Following her in 4th place was Hanna Docter  in the 800 with a time of 2:20.04, and in the mile Zoe Panos with a time of 5:31. Hanna also had a strong showing in the 200 by coming in 10th place with a time of 27.78.

On the men’s side we had a strong showing on both the sprinter and field teams. Leading off in the 60 meter dash the cows were well represented with Peter Van Beek, Max Ritzow, and Will Jordan coming in 7th, 8th and 9th. In the 60 meter high hurdles Hunter Cummings paced the cows coming in 4th with a time of 8.84. Hunter also snagged 4th place in the men’s triple jump with a jump of 12.5 meters. Later the 200 meter dash Peter came in 2nd followed by Max in 6th place with times of 23.20 and 23.55. In the 400 meter dash Tyler Steffensen (53.59) and Jared Neumann (54.66) came in 6th and 7th also scoring for the cows. Leading the men’s distance squad was Andrew Schilling who placed 2nd in the mile with a rapid time of 4:22. Michael Fink lead the WTC throwers by throwing the shot put 13.23 meters which was good for 7th place.

Link to full results

Racing Against the Dream—the Career of a Former Olympian 

Written by Sam Marz

The Beijing sun beat down upon the runners as they waited for the gun to fire. Seven women from countries across the globe stood before a crowded stadium to run the first heat of the 800 meter dash in the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Poised on the line, representing Australia in the Olympics for her first and last time, was Madeleine Pape.

“It was surreal,” Pape said. “It was hot, so hot...The noise was like nothing I’d ever really experienced before…Unfortunately, the 800 was kind of a short race. I wish I’d had more time out there.”

The gun would soon signal the start of Pape’s race, but she began chasing her Olympic dream years before making the trip to Beijing National Stadium.

Pape, now a fifth year Ph.D student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, quickly found her niche in running at a young age.

“I always knew that running was my strength,” Pape said. “Saw myself as a runner. I would like to compete against the boys and play around and stuff like that.”

In early 2008, Pape qualified for the Beijing Olympics during the Sydney Athletics Grand Prix with a personal best of 1:59.92, the only time she broke two minutes in the 800.

“I spent weeks just visualizing the race, and visualizing running a 1:59,” she said. “I even had a sign up on my bedroom wall with 1:59 in big bold numbers.”

The race came together like “magic.”

“Perfect conditions. Perfect pacing throughout the race,” she said.

Intense training and stress filled the months ahead of Beijing. Pape underperformed in her races in Europe, and she struggled with a running injury.

“It was really hard to be away from home and try to hold everything together, like get the treatment you need, get the food you need, be able to relax, not get too stressed,” Pape said.

The day before her heat, Pape’s parents visited her in the Olympic Village.

“As soon as I saw them, I burst into tears, and they were like, ‘What’s wrong? Oh my God!’” Pape said. “The tension wa
s so high, like so much was riding on it.”

The next morning, Pape joined her fellow 800 runners at the start. Then the gun went off.

 

“It happened so fast,” Pape said. “We started out really slow, and really picked up in the second lap, and it was just like a sprint, a sprint finish in the end.” 

Pape crossed the line with a time of 2:03.09. She placed sixth out of seven runners in her heat, failing to qualify for the semi-finals.

“Initially, I was extremely disappointed, and I really felt like I’d let my family down, and my coach down, and my team down,” she said.

She continued to race competitively after Beijing and expected to compete in the 2012 Summer Olympics. An injury in 2010 stopped her from getting there.

“I had a coach who was training me very hard, doing a lot of track work, a lot of high-intensity work,” Pape said. “I ended up damaging my achilles — my achilles insertion.”

Pape underwent surgeries to fix the insertion, but the damage was done.

“Turns out that achilles insertions don’t take too kindly to that kind of intervention,” she said. “It never really healed from it.”

She stopped running for four years because of the injury, but reconnected with the sport through her research at UW-Madison and her involvement with clubs on campus.

A Ph.D candidate in Sociology at UW-Madison, Pape came to the United States intending to specialize in environmental sociology. After taking classes on feminist theory and gender verification in sport, she switched to sociology of gender.

“It was a moment where the earth moved, kind of thing,” she said.

Pape became an advocate for athletes with hyperandrogenism—elevated levels of testosterone—coming to the defense of Olympic athletes Caster Semenya and Dutee Chand.

“It’s turned out to be a really nice fit with my life,” she said. “It kind of brings together my new life now in sociology with my old life as an athlete, and gives me a unique perspective as well, in both of those fields.”

In 2014, Pape joined the Wisconsin Track Club as a runner and a mid-distance coach.

“We didn’t find her. She found us,” said Sandy Gregorich, the women's long-distance coach. “We really did have this empty spot in the middle with middle distance.”

Pape works with Gregorich and the athletes to give them workouts and advice.

“She always makes sure that everyone’s trying their best, but isn’t hurting, and is also very encouraging all the time,” said Stephanie Rink, a runner on the club team.

Pape competes in track and cross country meets with the club. While her professional career ended early, she now views her experience at the Olympics positively.

“I learned that I need to be able to relax, not be so uptight about getting everything perfect, and accept that no one’s coming to the line in the best shape of their life,” said Pape. “You also need to be able to just make space for yourself to appreciate it, and just enjoy it, and be in the moment and be happy when these kinds of amazing things happen in your life.”

Cow Trivia 

How well do you think your fellow cows know cows? Random cows were asked some cow trivia to see who really knows the most about our infamous mascot. The questions they were all asked were:

1.How much saliva do cows produce on a regular basis?

2.How fast can a cow run?

3.How many stomachs do cows have?

4.How far can cows smell (hint the unit is in miles)?

5.Can you name 3 breeds of cows?

Introducing the February Cows of the Month