University of Minnesota Athletics
Karl Erickson Advances to Shot Put Final at NCAAs
6/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Erickson landed a throw of 62-0 1/4 in his first attempt, improved on his second throw, then passed on his third attempt knowing he had already safely advanced to the final field of 12.
“I wanted to save as much energy as I could heading into tomorrow’s (Friday) discus final,” said Erickson of passing on his final throw. “It’s nice to have these qualifying rounds over with. Now I can focus on trials and finals the next two days.”
Erickson has already earned five All-America honors in his Minnesota career tying Ron Backes (shot put 1984-86) as the most decorated Golden Gopher in individual events. The discus final gets underway at 6:15 p.m. (8:15 p.m. CT) tomorrow.
Senior Trent Riter competed in the 800-meter semifinal in the final race of his Gopher career. Riter, running in his third NCAA Outdoor Championships in the event, posted a time of 1 minute, 48.83 seconds to finish 13th overall.
The Gophers’ 4x400-meter relay ran a season-best time of 3:07.38 in the prelims to finish 15th. The foursome of Adewole Adebayo, Jason Erickson, Aaron Buzard and Walter Langkau clocked the eighth-fastest time in school history. Buzard has run the anchor leg of the relay throughout the season, but Gopher coach Phil Lundin decided to switch Buzard and Langkau in the lineup in order to save his prize 400-meter runner’s legs for Friday’s 400-meter semifinal.
Kevin Netzer will compete in the high jump final, joining Erickson (discus) in events to watch on the NCAA Championships’ third day on Friday. Midwest Region champion Derek Gearman begins his NCAA Championships competition in the triple jump qualifying round.
Players Mentioned
