University of Minnesota Athletics
Gopher Men's Track Heads to Big Ten Championships
5/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Golden Gopher Track Action This Week
Big Ten Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships
Friday-Sunday, May 11-13, 2007
Nittany Lion Track
Host - Penn State State College, Pa.
2007 Minnesota Men’s Outdoor T&F Watch List
Minnesota Men’s Track Team Competes at Big Ten Championships - The Minnesota men’s track & field team travels to State College, Pa., to compete in the 2007 Big Ten Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships this Friday-Sunday, May 11-13. Minnesota placed second a year ago.
Gophers Raise the Bar in the Big Ten High Jump - Minnesota leapers have captured the Big Ten high jump title in seven of the last 10 outdoor championships, including the last three straight.
Derek Gearman Ready For Busy Weekend - Defending long jump champion Derek Gearman will also compete in the high jump and triple jump this weekend. Gearman will have the challenge of competing in the long jump and high jump at the same time on Saturday.
Aaron Buzard Chases 400-Meter Double - Senior Aaron Buzard hopes to capture the indoor/outdoor double in the 400 meters. If successful, Buzard would win his first outdoor individual title of his career and become just the second Golden Gopher to win the 400 meters at the Big Ten indoor and outdoor meets in the same season.
Adam Schnaible, Aaron Studt Lead Throwers - Senior Adam Schnaible and true freshman Aaron Studt are both seeded among the top five in their respective throwing events heading into the Big Ten Championships.
Gophers’ Midwest Region Tally - Minnesota currently has 10 athletes and a relay who have qualified to compete in the NCAA Midwest Region Championships, May 25-26, in Des Moines, Iowa.
Gophers Travel to Big Ten Championships
The Minnesota men’s track & field team travels to State College, Pa., to compete in the 2007 Big Ten Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The three-day event kicks off on Friday, May 11, at 12 noon (11 a.m. CT) with the running for the decathlon 100-meter dash and is concluded on Sunday, May 13, at 3:45 p.m. (2:45 p.m. CT) with the men’s 4x400-meter relay.
Big Ten Championships History
Minnesota has won four men’s titles in its history (1949, 68, 98, 99, 03) and none in more dominating fashion than in 2003 when the Golden Gopher compiled a score of 168.5 points on its home track.
Minnesota and Wisconsin have combined to win the last 12 championships. The last team other than the Gophers or Badgers to capture a league title was Illinois in 1994. Wisconsin has won the last three titles.
Michigan has won the most men’s team titles with 30, but has not captured a crown since 1983.
High Jump Dominance in Big Ten Competition
Perhaps the strongest event year-in and year-out for the Golden Gophers at the Big Ten Championships in the past decade has been the high jump. Minnesota leapers have won outdoor titles in each of the last three years and in seven of last 10 Championships. Graduated Kevin Netzer owns three of those crowns (2002, 04, 06). Senior Derek Gearman is Minnesota’s top competitor in the high jump this season, seeded second coming into the Big Ten Championships with a height of 7-0 1/2.
Gearman a Prime-Time Performer at Big Ten Meet
Gopher senior Derek Gearman will once again compete in three events at the Big Ten Championships this weekend: the high jump, the long jump and the triple jump. Gearman impressively tallied 22 points in the events a year ago, winning the long jump, placing second in the high jump and adding a fifth-place showing in the triple jump. This season, Gearman owns the top seed (24-9) heading into the defense of his long jump title. He is also ranked second in the high jump (7-0 1/2) and fourth in the triple jump (51-0). To make things even more interesting, Gearman will compete in the long jump and high jump at the same time on Saturday.
For the Gophers, It’s All About the Team at Big Tens
Senior Aaron Buzard is a perfect example of taking one for the team. Throughout the Gopher career, Buzard has extended himself to the extreme at Big Ten Championships, possibly sacrificing individual glory for team points. The Gopher team co-captain has a list of runner-up finishes to show for it. Buzard will run as many as four events this weekend, initially entered in the 200 meters, the 400 meters and as a member of both Minnesota’s 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays. The only outdoor Big Ten title Buzard does own is a championship captured in the 4x400-meter relay in 2004.
Buzard Looking For Season Sweep in 400 Meters
Aaron Buzard captured his first individual BIg Ten title winning the 400 meters earlier this season at the indoor championships. The only Gopher to record the indoor/outdoor double in the 400 meters was Mitch Potter in 2003.
A Healthy Schnaible Ready To Make This Championships a Good One
Adam Schnaible was enjoying his best season as a Gopher a year ago, before a pulled chest muscle ended his junior season prematurely. Schnaible’s senior season has been an up-and-down ride, but the Gopher team co-captain is ready to make a big impact at the Big Ten Championships this weekend. Schnaible will compete in the hammer, where he is seeded third (197-7), and in the shot put, seeded fourth (58-7 1/4).
Kabia Can No Longer Hide After All-America Performance Indoors
Sophomore sprinter Ibrahim Kabia burst on the national scene with a fifth-place finish in the 60-meter dash at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships. Kabia finished third in the Big Ten indoor meet in the event. Now at the longer 100-meter distance where he is seeded second (10.47) for the Big Tens, Kabia hopes to make a big splash in the championship portion of the Gophers’ outdoor season. He will likely also compete in the 200 meters and the 4x100-meter relay.
Big Expectations For the Big Rookie
True freshman Aaron Studt kicked off his rookie season with the Gophers by tossing a freshman school record in the shot put (58-11 1/4). That throw has Studt ranked third coming into the Big Ten Championships. Minnesota’s last true freshman to place at the Big Ten meet was Karl Erickson, who place sixth in 2002. Studt will also compete in the discus.
Antonio Vega Notches Provisional Time at Stanford
Golden Gopher distance runner Antonio Vega clocked an NCAA Championships provisional qualifying time of 29 minutes, 4.13 seconds in the 10,000-meter run at Stanford’s Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational (April 29). Vega’s time, which placed the Minnesota senior sixth in Section 2 of the event, was the eighth fastest in school history.
Two events, the 10,000 meters and the decathlon, qualify athletes for the NCAA Championships using automatic and provisional standards instead of competing for a national berth at a region championship.
Puhl Shows Continued Improvement in the Steeplechase
Ben Puhl ran his first sub-9 minute steeplechase and bettered his regional qualifying mark by posting a time of 8:59.19 in the 3,000-meter event at the Cardinal Invitational. Puhl is seeded third in the Big Ten and ranked 10th in the Midwest Region in the event.
Merkey, Takamura Honored With Top Five Awards
Junior pole vaulter Matt Merkey and sophomore distance runner Seijen Takamura were honored with Top Five Awards at the annual Scholar-Athlete Awards Ceremony on April 3. The Top-Five Award recipients own the best cumulative grade point averages among Minnesota’s male student-athletes. Merkey, an accounting and finance major, is a two-year winner of the award. Takamura is majoring in French studies.
Head Coach Phil Lundin
Golden Gopher head men’s track & field coach Phil Lundin is in his 12th season at Minnesota. Lundin has guided the Gophers to four Big Ten titles and four top-10 NCAA Championships finishes. He is a three-time Big Ten Coach of the Year honoree and was named the 2002 United States Track Coaches Association National Coach of the Year.
2007 Team Captains
The Golden Gopher team captains for the 2007 season are Aaron Buzard, Derek Gearman, Chris Hudspith and Antonio Vega.
Players Mentioned
