University of Minnesota Athletics
NCAA Midwest Region Track Live Updates
5/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
The 2009 NCAA Midwest Regional Championships kicks off today at John Jacobs Field at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. The meet will begin under clear sunny skies and a light breeze from the southeast. Temperatures are expected to reach into the upper 80s this afternoon.
The goal of every student-athlete competing in the regional meet is to secure an NCAA Championships for the national meet set for June 10-13, in Fayetteville, Ark. The top five finishers at the Midwest Region meet will earn automatic berths into the NCAA field. Nineteen (19) events will be contested for both men and women. The 10,000 meters and the decathlon for the men and heptathlon for the women qualify athletes directly to the NCAA Championships.
Ten events will hold trials and finals today: women's hammer, men's shot put, women's long jump, men's javelin, women's pole vault, men's high jump, men's long jump, women's discus, and the 5,000 meters for both the men and women. The men's 5K is the last event of the day, set to start at 9 p.m.
11:44 a.m.
One of five Minnesota freshmen competing, DeAnne Hahn, was the first Golden Gopher in action today competing in the women’s hammer throw. Hahn landed her top throw in her first attempt 165 feet, 7 inches. The effort, however, was not far enough to move on to finals. The Gopher rookie finishes her freshman season ranked sixth on the Gophers’ all-time list in the hammer with a season-best throw of 181-0. Hahn will compete again tomorrow in the shot put.
Big Ten shot put champion Aaron Stud, and teammates Trey Davis and Tyler Kleinhuizen,t are the first Gophers to compete for the men’s team. The shot put begins at 12:15 p.m. Studt owns the second-best throw in the Midwest Region (eighth in the nation) coming into the meet at 61-11 1/2. Check out today Star Tribune for a great article on the Gopher junior All-American.
2:37 p.m.
Minnesota has its first NCAA Championships qualifier from the Midwest Region meet as Aaron Studt finished second in the shot put with a throw of 60-3 1/4. Studt, the Big Ten indoor and outdoor champion in the event marked his top throws in his very first attempt of prelims (60-2) and his sixth and final throw of the final. Studt will make this second trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. He finished second at this year’s NCAA indoor meet. Tomorrow, Studt will compete in the hammer throw.
The Gophers had two other competitors in the shot put. Trey Davis finished 10th with a throw of 55-3 1/2 (just 3 1/2 inches off his career best) and Tyler Kleinhauizen, who finished 16th with a throw of 52-0 1/2. Davis will compete in his second event of this regional meet, the discus, tomorrow afternoon.
Christin Kingsley was unable to advance out of the prelims in the long jump. Kingsley’s best jump on the day was 18-10. Kingsley ends her Gopher career ranked second in school history in the event with a jump of 21-0. She landed that jump at the NCAA regional meet in 2008. It was perhaps the shortest standing school record in Gopher history. A matter of jumps later, teammate Liz Roehirg soared 21-0 1/4 to notch what is still the school record today.
Did you know...Despite not owning the Gopher school record in the long jump, Christin Kingsley owns seven of the top 10 individual long jump distances in Minnesota history.
4:05 p.m.
The Gophers’ 4x100-meter relay of Chimerem Okoroji, Nyoka Giles, Chioma Omeoga and Adrienne Thomas qualified for Sunday’s final with a time of 45.86 seconds. The time is the second-fastest relay time this season for the Minnesota foursome. Omeoga is the veteran on the relay, running with three true freshmen.
The first event for the Gopher men on the track is the 1,500 meters at 4:20 p.m. Competing for the Gophers in the event are Ben Blankenship and Andy Richardson. Richardson is the Gophers’ only true freshman on the regional roster. Blankenship is coming off an impressive Big Ten Championships outing where he finished fourth in the 1,500 meters and the 5,000 meters.
7:30 p.m.
When action gets going on the track, things happen quickly. Check back later tonight for more video highlights from today’s meet.
Minnesota collected a pair of finals qualifiers in the men’s 1,500-meter run. Ben Blankenship finished second in his heat with a season-best time of 3:45.14. True freshman Andy Richardson, the Gophers’ only true-blue rookie on their regional roster, also advanced with a time of 3:46.07.
The women’s 1,500-meters will just run as a final on Sunday. Minnesota has Elizabeth Yetzer and Ladia Albertson-Junkans in that race.
Matt Fisher earned an automatic qualifier in the high jump with a third place finish. Fisher cleared 7-1 to advance to his first outdoor NCAA Championships. Kansas State’s Scott Sellers won the regional crown and matched Fisher’s nation-leading height of 7-4 1/2. Gopher freshman Matt Clauer competed in the event but did not make the first height of the competition of 6-8 3/4.
Coming off a school-record performance in the 400 meters at the Big Ten meet, junior Rikita Butler drew a tough lane lane 7 and failed to advance to the final in the event. Butler finished third in her heat with a time of 54.90 seconds.
Senior Ibrahim Kabia saw in collegiate career come to a close when he did not make the final field in the 100-meter dash despite running a season-best time of 10.37. The top eight times advance, Kabia was ninth. A Gopher team captain, Kabia finishes his career as the Minnesota recordholder in the 100 meters (10.29).
8 p.m.
The top performance of the Midwest Region for the Gophers so far was turned in by junior Alicia Rue, who won the pole vault with a new Midwest Region Championships record height of 14-1 3/4. Rue missed only one attempt before she cleared the winning height and defended her regional crown in the event. The Gopher All-American took three attempts 14-5 1/4, a height that would match the nation’s top mark as well as set a new Minnesota record. Rue will make her third NCAA outdoor nationals appearance.
Senior Laura Massey added a sixth-place finish in the pole vault with a season-best height of 12-10. Samantha Sonnenberg tied for 11th with a height of 12-6.
Always a marquee event for the Gopher women the 800 meters found four Minnesota runners vying for a spot in Saturday’s final. Two-time defending Heather Dorniden clocked the fastest time of the prelims, 2:06.77, to easy advance. Nikki Swenson also qualified for the final with a time of 2:08.11 after placing third in her heat. Jamie Dittmar posted a time of 2:10.67, while Julie Schwengler was timed at 2:13.33.
Did you know... Minnesota’s associate athletics director Marc Ryan is a member of the NCAA committee for the sport of track & field. Ryan ran the coaches’ meeting last night and it was reported to be completed efficiently and on time.
8:30 p.m.
The 200-meter dash prelims are just finishing up with the 5,000-meter run on deck as the final event of the first day of the Midwest Region Championships.
Unfortunately for the Gopher women, their top 5,000-meter runner, Megan Duwell, is done for the season with a foot injury. She would have definitely been in the hunt for an NCAA bid in the event if healthy.
9:45 p.m.
Hassan Mead captured the Midwest Region title in the 5,000-meter run, pacing himself much like he did in the Big Ten 5,000 meters. Mead took the lead with 300 meters to go to win with a time of 14:02.25. He held of New Mexico’s Jacob Kirwa to win his first regional crown. Chris Rombough hung with the lead pack until falling back with 800 meters to go, finishing 12th with a time of 14:14.33.
