University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers in First, Mead and Studt Win Titles
3/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Aaron Studt and Hassan Mead captured event titles to propel Minnesota into the day-one lead at the 2009 Big Ten Men’s Indoor Track & Field Championships in University Park, Pa., on Saturday. The Golden Gophers compiled 47 points with eight-time defending champion Wisconsin in second with 36 points.
“There is certainly more parity in the Big Ten this year than there has been for the last several,” said Golden Gopher head coach Steve Plasencia. “It was a fun day to be a Gopher today. We had a great first day and hope we can carry this momentum into tomorrow.”
Studt, a junior from Ripon, Wis., won the shot put with a career-best throw of 62 feet, 11 1/4 inches, the third best mark in school history. Studt took the lead in the event on his third throw of prelims and built on his advantage, landing the winning throw on his sixth and final attempt. Minnesota throwers have captured the title in this event 12 times. Studt is the first since Karl Erickson grabbed gold in 2006.
Minneapolis native Mead captured the Big Ten crown in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8 minutes, 2.61 seconds, adding this title to the individual cross country honor he won last fall. Mead passed Wisconsin’s Craig Miller with 120 meters left in the race, then held on to take the title. Gopher teammate Chris Rombough finished third in 8:06.24.
“The race went out a bit slow until Chris (Rombough) quickened the pace and took the lead with about 1,000 meters to go,” said Plasencia. “Miller passed Chris at the 400-meter mark, but we could see the Hassan (Mead) would run him down. Hassan just had a look on his face that said he wasn’t going to be denied.”
With 2008 Big Ten champion Ben Peterson out with an injury, junior Joe Plencner provided a big lift with a runner-up finish in the pole vault. Plencner cleared a career-best height of 17-4 1/2, matching the sixth-highest vault in school history and recording an NCAA provisional qualifying standard. Brock Spandl finished in a tie for fifth place with a height of 16-8 3/4.
“Joe really stepped up for us with Ben out and really performed well scoring some very important points,” added Plasencia.
The Gophers received a runner-up performance from their distance medley relay of Ben Blankenship, Mike Linnemann, Hans Storvick and Andy Richardson which clocked a time of 9:46.97. Three members of the relay (Blankenship, Storvick and Richardson) advanced to finals in individual events as well.
Minnesota managed to collect points in all five of the events that were scored on the meet’s first day. Addison Demer added the long jump to the list with a seventh-place finish with a career-best leap of 23-0 1/2.
The Gophers are in excellent position in one of their strongest events, the heptathlon, heading into the event’s conclusion on Sunday. Joey Schwecke enjoyed career-bests in two events (shot put, 42-6; and high jump, 6-7) on his way to tallying a leading total of 3,128 points after four events in the heptathlon. R.J. McGinnis is in second place with 3,080 points, despite a terrible day in the high jump. Spandl is in fifth place with 2,828 points, but should move up since the second day features his strongest event, the pole vault. The heptathletes will also run the 60-meter high hurdles and the 1,000-meter run on Sunday.
Minnesota has six athletes qualified for finals on the track on Sunday. Ibrahim Kabia advanced in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.74 seconds, but despite running a career-best time of 21.65 (No. 5 in Gopher history) missed out on the 200-meter final field.
The Gophers will have two runners in the 800-meter run final as Storvick (1:50.30) and Richardson (1:50.78) advanced. Storvick’s time is the third-fastest in school history. Logan Stroman ran the fifth-fastest time in school history, 1:18.43, to advance in the 600-meter dash. Blankenship ran the fastest prelim time in the mile, 4:06.50, to move on to Sunday’s final in the mile run.
Completing Minnesota’s finalists is redshirt freshman Sean Duling, who advanced in the 60-meter high hurdles with a time of 8.11 seconds, the eight-best time is Gopher history.
The Big Ten Championships conclude on Sunday with the 4x400-meter relay scheduled for 2:25 p.m. CT.
“There is certainly more parity in the Big Ten this year than there has been for the last several,” said Golden Gopher head coach Steve Plasencia. “It was a fun day to be a Gopher today. We had a great first day and hope we can carry this momentum into tomorrow.”
Studt, a junior from Ripon, Wis., won the shot put with a career-best throw of 62 feet, 11 1/4 inches, the third best mark in school history. Studt took the lead in the event on his third throw of prelims and built on his advantage, landing the winning throw on his sixth and final attempt. Minnesota throwers have captured the title in this event 12 times. Studt is the first since Karl Erickson grabbed gold in 2006.
Minneapolis native Mead captured the Big Ten crown in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8 minutes, 2.61 seconds, adding this title to the individual cross country honor he won last fall. Mead passed Wisconsin’s Craig Miller with 120 meters left in the race, then held on to take the title. Gopher teammate Chris Rombough finished third in 8:06.24.
“The race went out a bit slow until Chris (Rombough) quickened the pace and took the lead with about 1,000 meters to go,” said Plasencia. “Miller passed Chris at the 400-meter mark, but we could see the Hassan (Mead) would run him down. Hassan just had a look on his face that said he wasn’t going to be denied.”
With 2008 Big Ten champion Ben Peterson out with an injury, junior Joe Plencner provided a big lift with a runner-up finish in the pole vault. Plencner cleared a career-best height of 17-4 1/2, matching the sixth-highest vault in school history and recording an NCAA provisional qualifying standard. Brock Spandl finished in a tie for fifth place with a height of 16-8 3/4.
“Joe really stepped up for us with Ben out and really performed well scoring some very important points,” added Plasencia.
The Gophers received a runner-up performance from their distance medley relay of Ben Blankenship, Mike Linnemann, Hans Storvick and Andy Richardson which clocked a time of 9:46.97. Three members of the relay (Blankenship, Storvick and Richardson) advanced to finals in individual events as well.
Minnesota managed to collect points in all five of the events that were scored on the meet’s first day. Addison Demer added the long jump to the list with a seventh-place finish with a career-best leap of 23-0 1/2.
The Gophers are in excellent position in one of their strongest events, the heptathlon, heading into the event’s conclusion on Sunday. Joey Schwecke enjoyed career-bests in two events (shot put, 42-6; and high jump, 6-7) on his way to tallying a leading total of 3,128 points after four events in the heptathlon. R.J. McGinnis is in second place with 3,080 points, despite a terrible day in the high jump. Spandl is in fifth place with 2,828 points, but should move up since the second day features his strongest event, the pole vault. The heptathletes will also run the 60-meter high hurdles and the 1,000-meter run on Sunday.
Minnesota has six athletes qualified for finals on the track on Sunday. Ibrahim Kabia advanced in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.74 seconds, but despite running a career-best time of 21.65 (No. 5 in Gopher history) missed out on the 200-meter final field.
The Gophers will have two runners in the 800-meter run final as Storvick (1:50.30) and Richardson (1:50.78) advanced. Storvick’s time is the third-fastest in school history. Logan Stroman ran the fifth-fastest time in school history, 1:18.43, to advance in the 600-meter dash. Blankenship ran the fastest prelim time in the mile, 4:06.50, to move on to Sunday’s final in the mile run.
Completing Minnesota’s finalists is redshirt freshman Sean Duling, who advanced in the 60-meter high hurdles with a time of 8.11 seconds, the eight-best time is Gopher history.
The Big Ten Championships conclude on Sunday with the 4x400-meter relay scheduled for 2:25 p.m. CT.
Players Mentioned
MD
/ Men's Track & Field
JU
/ Men's Track & Field
HUR
/ Men's Track & Field
SPR
/ Men's Track & FieldHUR
/ Men's Track & FieldJS
/ Men's Track & Field
DIS
/ Men's Track & Field
PV
/ Men's Track & FieldPV
/ Men's Track & Field
MD
/ Men's Track & Field
DIS
/ Men's Track & Field
JU
/ Men's Track & Field
PV
/ Men's Track & FieldMD
/ Men's Track & FieldMD
/ Men's Track & Field
THR
/ Men's Track & FieldTrack & Field Season Hype
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