Bairu Shatters 10,000 Meter Record

Palo Alto, Calif. - Simon Bairu , a member of the University of Wisconsin men's track and field team, shattered the school record in the 10,000 meters at the Cardinal Invitational on Sunday. The junior from Regina, Sasketchewan, finished eighth overall and second among collegians in 28 minutes, 4.75 seconds.

Bairu's time bested the UW mark of 28:25.18 set by Mark Johnson in 1976 . It is also the second-fastest time ever ran by a Big Ten Conference athlete, ranking only behind Illinois' Craig Virgin's record time of 27:59.43 set in 1976.

Takayuki Matsumiya, running for Konica Minolta, won the race in 27:50.20 while Stanford's Ian Dobson ran the fastest collegiate time this season to finish fifth in 27:59.72.

In the other section of the 10,000 meters, UW senior Tim Keller finished 11th in an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 29:31.46.

Senior Matt Tegenkamp and sophomore Chris Solinsky both picked up NCAA Regional qualifying marks in the 5,000 meters. Tegenkamp finished third overall and was the top collegian in 13:31.98. Solinsky finished sixth overall and was the second collegian in a personal best time of 13:38.92. Nike's Abdi Abdirahman won the race in 13:28.57.

Two of the Badgers' future stars also competed in the 5000 meters. Redshirt freshmen Matt Withrow and Stuart Eagon finished fourth and 19th, respectively. Withrow finished in 13:35.32 while Eagon crossed in 13:53.64. Both times were personal bests.

Junior Ben Gregory also improved his personal best and NCAA Regional qualifying time in the 1500 meters. He finished ninth overall and third among collegiate runners in 3:43.56."

report by University of W.

Congratulations to Simon for breaking a 29 year old record !!!!!!!!!!

It is indeed a history made ! We are proud of you simon !