University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Lead After Day Two at Big Tens
5/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Minnesota will take a 26-point lead into the third and final day of the 2009 Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The Golden Gophers were paced by runner-up finishes by Matt Fisher in the high jump and R.J. McGinnis in the decathlon, but overall Minnesota’s team depth is making the difference.
The Gophers have 67 team points after seven events scored. Indiana is second with 41 points. In addition to advancing seven runners to finals on the track, Minnesota will rely on its power and depth in the field events, especially the shot put and pole vault.
The decathletes of McGinnis, Joey Schwecke and Garrett Wankel combined for 17 points. McGinnis finished with 7,330 points for second place. McGinnis led for most of the competition but fell out of top spot after struggling in the pole vault clearing just 12-7 1/2 in the eighth event of the decathlon. Ohio State senior Patrick Woods took advantage scoring big points with a 14-7 1/4 vault to take the lead.
McGinnis made up some ground in the javelin with a throw of 146-7 and by running a 1,500-meters time of 4:34.10, 12 seconds faster than Woods, but the deficit was too large to overcome. Woods scored 4,405 to better McGinnis by 75 points.
Schwecke scored an NCAA Championships provisional qualifying tally of 7,014, his career best and the seventh-highest score in Gopher history. The Gopher sophomore handled the challenge of competing in the pole vault for the decathlon and the open long jump competition at the same time. He was successful on both fronts, clearing a best vault of 13-11 1/4 and adding a sixth-place showing in the long jump with a leap of 23-2.
Wankel also accumulated a career-best score of 6,798 points, good for ninth all-time in Gopher history, to add a sixth-place finish. He held his position with solid outings in the pole vault (13-11 1/4) and javelin (154-4).
Fisher finished as the Big Ten runner-up in the high jump, matching the winning height of 7-2 1/4, but losing the tie-breaker on the number of missed attempts. The Gopher junior had two near-misses at 7-3 1/4 but come up empty.
Senior Ben Puhl chipped in a third-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, running a season-best time of 9:01.70. He improves on his eighth-place showing in the event a year ago.
Closing out the second-day scoring for the Gophers was Matt Clauer, who was sixth in the high jump clearing 6-10 3/4, Addison Demer, who finished seventh in the long jump with a leap of 23-0 1/2, and Jerry Netland, who was eighth in the discus with a throw of 164-7.
Ibrahim Kabia tops the list of Gophers that earned spots in Sunday’s finals. Kabia, the defending 100-meter champion, ran a time of 10.59 seconds to earn a final berth and a chance to repeat in his best event. Kabia also ran a career-best time of 21.33 seconds in the 200 meters to advance to that final.
Sophomore Ben Blankenship, running in his first Big Ten Outdoor Championships after transferring to Minnesota from Mississippi State, ran the top qualifying time in the 1,500 meters of 3:50.66. He will be joined in the final by freshman Andy Richardson to ran a time of 3:52.42 in prelims.
Other Gophers advancing to Sunday’s finals are Joe McFarland in the 800 meters (1:50.53), Sean Duling in the 110-meter high hurdles (14.68) and Mike Linnemann in the 400-meter hurdles (53.73).
The Gophers have 67 team points after seven events scored. Indiana is second with 41 points. In addition to advancing seven runners to finals on the track, Minnesota will rely on its power and depth in the field events, especially the shot put and pole vault.
The decathletes of McGinnis, Joey Schwecke and Garrett Wankel combined for 17 points. McGinnis finished with 7,330 points for second place. McGinnis led for most of the competition but fell out of top spot after struggling in the pole vault clearing just 12-7 1/2 in the eighth event of the decathlon. Ohio State senior Patrick Woods took advantage scoring big points with a 14-7 1/4 vault to take the lead.
McGinnis made up some ground in the javelin with a throw of 146-7 and by running a 1,500-meters time of 4:34.10, 12 seconds faster than Woods, but the deficit was too large to overcome. Woods scored 4,405 to better McGinnis by 75 points.
Schwecke scored an NCAA Championships provisional qualifying tally of 7,014, his career best and the seventh-highest score in Gopher history. The Gopher sophomore handled the challenge of competing in the pole vault for the decathlon and the open long jump competition at the same time. He was successful on both fronts, clearing a best vault of 13-11 1/4 and adding a sixth-place showing in the long jump with a leap of 23-2.
Wankel also accumulated a career-best score of 6,798 points, good for ninth all-time in Gopher history, to add a sixth-place finish. He held his position with solid outings in the pole vault (13-11 1/4) and javelin (154-4).
Fisher finished as the Big Ten runner-up in the high jump, matching the winning height of 7-2 1/4, but losing the tie-breaker on the number of missed attempts. The Gopher junior had two near-misses at 7-3 1/4 but come up empty.
Senior Ben Puhl chipped in a third-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, running a season-best time of 9:01.70. He improves on his eighth-place showing in the event a year ago.
Closing out the second-day scoring for the Gophers was Matt Clauer, who was sixth in the high jump clearing 6-10 3/4, Addison Demer, who finished seventh in the long jump with a leap of 23-0 1/2, and Jerry Netland, who was eighth in the discus with a throw of 164-7.
Ibrahim Kabia tops the list of Gophers that earned spots in Sunday’s finals. Kabia, the defending 100-meter champion, ran a time of 10.59 seconds to earn a final berth and a chance to repeat in his best event. Kabia also ran a career-best time of 21.33 seconds in the 200 meters to advance to that final.
Sophomore Ben Blankenship, running in his first Big Ten Outdoor Championships after transferring to Minnesota from Mississippi State, ran the top qualifying time in the 1,500 meters of 3:50.66. He will be joined in the final by freshman Andy Richardson to ran a time of 3:52.42 in prelims.
Other Gophers advancing to Sunday’s finals are Joe McFarland in the 800 meters (1:50.53), Sean Duling in the 110-meter high hurdles (14.68) and Mike Linnemann in the 400-meter hurdles (53.73).
Players Mentioned
MD
/ Men's Track & Field
HJ
/ Men's Track & Field
JU
/ Men's Track & Field
HUR
/ Men's Track & Field
HJ
/ Men's Track & FieldSPR
/ Men's Track & FieldHUR
/ Men's Track & Field
DIS
/ Men's Track & FieldJS
/ Men's Track & FieldTHR
/ Men's Track & FieldDIS
/ Men's Track & Field
MD
/ Men's Track & Field
JU
/ Men's Track & FieldME
/ Men's Track & FieldCHS Home Grown Gophers: Emmett Gerres
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