University of Minnesota Athletics
Golden Gopher Women's Track Captures Big Ten Title
5/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
The Gophers led the Championships from the very first event on Friday and their lead was never seriously threatened. The Wolverines made a late charge on Sunday scoring 24 points in the 5,000-meter, the second to the last event, but Minnesota equalized the scoring output with nine points in the high jump and six points more in the 200-meter dash.
“I’m very proud of this team,” said Golden Gopher head coach Gary Wilson. “They pulled together and took care of business, feeding off each other’s energy and successes. It’s obviously a team effort when you see scoring coming from all areas of the team.”
Wilson, in his 21st season at Minnesota, finally had the chance to celebrate a Conference championship with his athletes and coaching staff. “The hardest one to get is always that first one,” he added with a smile.
Minnesota’s talented throwing corps got the day started in grand style tallying 17 points. All three Gophers in the discus made the finals. Sophomore Liz Podominick’s first throw of 162-3 stood for second place throughout the competition. Senior Jessica Stephan was eighth after the preliminary throws then improved her placing to third with a throw of 155-8. Sophomore Amanda Solberg added a sixth-place finish with a throw of 147-3.
Over the three-day Championships, the throwers contributed an amazing total of 62 points in four events. Every thrower that competed for the Gophers scored in one of more of the events. Podominick led the way with 18 points, adding eight points for her runner-up performance in the discus to the 10 points she gathered on Saturday for winning the shot put.
Heather Dorniden didn’t come away with a title, but she did contribute two important performances in two demanding races only 50 minutes apart. Dorniden placed third in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4 minutes, 20.42 seconds, a regional qualifier and the second-fastest time in school history.
With little time to recover after the best 1,500 meters the talented rookie had run in her young Gopher career, Dorniden toed the line for the 800-meter run. The race came down to a sprint to the finish, with Dorniden just being edged by Michigan Geena Gall by four-hundredths of a second. Dorniden’s time of 2:02.77 bettered her own school record and would have set a new Big Ten Championship record if not for Gall’s 2:02.73.
Kadian Douglas was the lone Gopher entered in the short sprints. Douglas certainly held up her end of the bargain, placing fifth in the 100-meter dash and third in the 200-meter dash. Douglas clocked a season-best time of 11.75 in the 100 meters, a regional qualifying time. Her 200 was timed at 24.18 seconds, also her fastest time of the season. Douglas was also the anchor of the Gophers’ 4x100-meter relay that placed eighth in a time of 46.86. Sarah Nelson, Katie Grundman and Nicole Carroll joined Douglas on the relay.
Freshman Caitlin Roemhildt matched a career-high clearing 5-8 3/4 to place third. Roehrig added points in her third event, placing sixth at 5-5.
Emily Brown came off her win the 3,000-meter steeplechase on Saturday to post a scoring effort in the 5,000 meters on Sunday. Brown placed eighth in a regional qualifying time of 16:28.24, the fourth-fastest time in school history.
Others scoring for the Gophers were Gina Dare fourth in the 400-meter hurdles (1:02.07), Ayla Mitchell eighth in the 800 meters (2:10.76) and the 4x400-meter relay of Grundman, Dare, Julie Schwengler and Jamie Cheever that placed eighth (3:47.78).
The NCAA Midwest Region Championships on May 26-27 in Austin, Texas, are next on the Gophers’ schedule.
Players Mentioned
