University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota in First After Day One of Big Ten Championships
2/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
In the finals contested on day one, freshman Karl Erickson, got Minnesota off to a good start placing fourth in the shot put, scoring the Gophers first points of the championships. His throw of 60- 7 placed him broke his own school record set earlier this season. He also bettered his NCAA provisional mark. The shot put was won by Nedzad Mulabegovic, a freshman from Purdue who earned the NCAA automatic qualifying standard with his toss of 63-3 1/2 feet.
Minnesota's big scoring event of the day was the long jump in which all four Gopher entrants qualified for the finals and earned the team fourteen points. Freshman Andrew Newman was the highest Minnesota finisher as he jumped a career-best 24-0 3/4, placing fourth. He was followed by freshman Thomas Flensborg-Madsen (23-8 1/4), freshman Steffen Landgraf (23- 7 1/4) and sophomore Omar Clemmons (23-5 1/2). Taking first place was Indiana freshman UnRico Lloyd, who jumped 24 feet 8 1/2 inches.
Will McComb grabbed third in the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:12.85. The race was won by Wisconsin freshman Matt Tegenkamp who ran an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 8:07.93.
To close the first day of competition, Michigan won the Distance Medley Relay (9:49.64), Wisconsin grabbed second place (9:52.97) and Minnesota's team of Toby Henkels, Bob Quade, Ryan Ford and Andrew McKessock took third (9:53.94).
After the first day of competition in the heptathlon, Minnesota holds four of the top six places. Senior Lyndon McDowell leads the way with 3,330 points. He is followed by freshman Jason Swenson (3,168), defending champion Paul Terek of Michigan State (3,137) and senior Jesse Madsen (3,076). Minnesota freshman Travis Brandstatter stands in sixth place with 2,915 points.
The Gophers also enjoyed success in the middle distance events as they advanced three runners to the finals in the 400, 800 and mile. They also qualified two in both the 200 and 600 meters.
In the 400 meters, Minnesota recorded the three fastest times going into the finals. Mitch Potter led all qualifiers with a time of 47.82 seconds followed by junior Andy Wohlin (48.03) and sophomore Mikael Jakobsson (48.04).
The 800-meter finals will feature three Golden Gopher runners. Freshmen Trent Riter and Ryan Ford, along with Henkels, junior All-American in the event, all advanced. Riter ran the second-fastest qualifying time (1:52.74).
In the mile, three Minnesota runners qualified for Sunday's finals led by sophomore Neil Hansen who ran the second-fastest qualifying time (4:10.89). Also advancing were sophomore Martin Robeck (4:11.51) and McKessock (4:13.47).
The 200 and 600-meter finals tomorrow will have two Gophers vying for the title in each event. In the 200 meters, Potter and Jakobsson, who both also qualified in the 400 meters, will run for the title. In the 600, senior Bob Quade recorded the second-fastest qualifying time (1:19.67) and sophomore Adam Steele was the third fastest (1:20.01).
Day two of the meet resumes tomorrow with the heptathlon 60-meter hurdles at 9 a.m.
Team Scores after 4 events 1. Minnesota 31 2. Purdue 27 3. Wisconsin 26 4. Indiana 25 5. Michigan 12 6. Illinois 11 6. Ohio State 11 8. Iowa 7 9. Michigan State 5 10. Penn State 1