University of Minnesota Athletics
WOMEN'S TRACK TEAM PREPARES FOR NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
5/22/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
The Gophers have the week off to prepare for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Wednesday-Saturday, May 30-June 2 in Eugene, Ore.
Review: 2001 Big Ten Championships
The Minnesota women's track and field team scored 101.25 points to place third behind Purdue and Indiana at the 2001 Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships last weekend in Bloomington, Ind. The Gophers had one Big Ten champion, one school record and two new NCAA provisional qualifiers.
Shani Marks, a graduate from Apple Valley, Minn., was the only Big Ten women's champion for the Gophers. Marks won the triple jump competition with a leap of 41-feet, 7-inches. The jump, a personal best for the sophomore, places her second on the school's career performers list. Marks also finished third in the 400-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 59.67 seconds.
Minnesota throwers continued to lead the team by placing in all the throwing events. Aubrey Schmitt (Hastings, Minn./Hastings) placed second in the discus (174-feet, 8-inches) and shot put (50-10 3/4), as well as third in the hammer throw (183-2). Schmitt has provisionally qualified in the shot put and hammer throw and automatically qualified in the discus. Senior Brenda Meyer (Watetown, Wis./Watertown) placed second in the hammer throw with a provisionally qualifying, personal- best throw of 186-feet, 10-inches. Meyer also placed sixth in the discus, tossing 161-feet, 11-inches. Junior Linda Lindqvist (Aland, Finland/Vora Idrottsgymnasium), in her first appearance of the season, threw a provisional qualifying throw of 159-feet, 9-inches in the javelin to place third. Lindqvist is ranked 12th nationally in the javelin.
Leading the distance runners was senior Corinne Nimtz (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie), who placed second in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 35:00.16, a provisional qualifying mark. Victoria Moses (New Brighton, Minn./Irondale) also racked up two points for Minnesota in the events by finishing seventh, running 36:24.97. Distance newcomer Darja Vasiljeva (Jelgava, Latvia/Jelgava Secondary No.5) placed fifth in the 1,500-meter run with a personal-best time of 4:34.44. Nimtz and Elaine Eggleston (Roseville, Minn./Roseville Area) placed sixth and seventh, respectively, in the 5,000-meter run. Eggleston also placed sixth in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:52.10, and newcomer Saree Zweifel (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) finished seventh in the heptathlon with a point total of 3654.
The 4x100-meter relay squad of Amber Day, Shannaine Osbourne (Bronx, N.Y/Mount Vernon), Jessica Shuster (Minneapolis, Minn./ Minneapolis Washburn) and Marks set a school record with an eighth place time of 46.18 seconds. Shuster also finished third in the 800- meter run with a personal-best time of 2 minutes, 9.34 seconds. Finishing fourth was the 4x400-meter relay squad of Day, Marks, Rachael Schutz (Hastings, Minn./Hastings) and Shuster with a time of 3:43.20, the third-best performance in school history.
Sophomore Erica Findlay (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) scored five points in the pole vault with a fourth place vault of 12-feet, 2- inches. Monica Stearns (Wadena, Minn./North St. Paul) tied for eighth in the event with a vault of 11-2.
NCAA Championships: Qualifiers
The athletes selected to the 2001 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be announced on Thursday, May 24. Senior Aubrey Schmitt is the Gopher's only automatic qualifier with a throw of 179- feet, 5-inches in the discus. Schmitt is currently ranked in the top twenty in the shot put and hammer throw. Junior Linda Lindqvist is provisionally qualified in the javelin with a throw of 159-feet, 9- inches. Lindqvist is currently ranked twelfth and expected to compete at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., on Wednesday-Saturday, May 30-June 2. Senior Corinne Nimtz is on the borderline of those to compete in the 10,000-meter run. Nimtz is currently ranked 26th in the nation.
Next Up
The Gophers travel to Eugene, Oregon to compete at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday-Sunday, May 30-June 2.
Players Mentioned
