University of Minnesota Athletics
Track Hosts Minnesota Open on Friday
5/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Gopher Track This Week:
Minnesota Open
Friday
May 8, 2009
Hosted by Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minn.
Gophers Close Regular Season at Home
The Minnesota women’s track & field team will host the Minnesota Open on Friday, May 8, in the Golden Gophers’ final meet of the regular season. Field events get underway at 2 p.m. with events on the track beginning at 4 p.m. While most of the Gophers’ top runners will not compete in the meet, Minnesota’s top field event athletes will be in action.
Gophers’ List of NCAA Qualifiers Stands at 24
The newest additions to Minnesota’s impressive list of NCAA Midwest Region Championships qualifiers are freshman Kylie Peterson in the 100 meters, senior Laura Massey in the pole vault and sophomore Nikki Tzanakis in the discus. The 2009 total of 24 is the largest number of individuals Minnesota has ever qualified for the regional meet.
Gophers Ranked No. 20
The Golden Gophers were ranked No. 20 in the May 5 USTFCCCA National Poll. Texas A&M held down the number-one ranking followed by Florida State and LSU. Two other Big Ten schools are ranked: Michigan at No. 9 and Penn State at No. 21.
Senior Salute
Minnesota celebrated its senior recognition at the Parents’ Day Meet during the indoor season, but Friday’s Minnesota Open will be the last home competition for 20 Golden Gopher seniors: Ladia Albertson-Junkans, Gabriele Anderson, Danie Ashford, Katelyn Barylak, Maggie Bobbin, Claire Bootsma, Nicole Carroll, Jamie Cheever, Ariella DePrenger-Gottfried, Heather Dorniden, Jessica Gabriel, Christin Kingsley, Laura Massey, Abbey O’Connell, Liz Roehrig, Caitlin Roemhidlt, Kari Schmidt, Julie Schwengler, Amanda Solberg and Carie Steil.
What to Watch at the Minnesota Open
Though most of the Gophers’ top runners are idle this weekend to prepare for the BIg Ten Championships, there still will be plenty of action at the Minnesota Open. Pretty much every field event will be a battle of some talented Gophers squaring off against each other. The pole vault will feature three Gophers competing who have qualified for regionals in Alicia Rue, Samantha Sonnenberg and Laura Massey. The discus also has three Gophers competing who headed to the Midwest Region meet: Nikki Tzanakis, Amanda Solberg and Hannah Studt. Liz Roehrig, the nation’s leader in the heptathlon will be competing in the shot put and javelin. Likely the highlight of the events on the track for the Gophers will be the 400-meter hurdles where seemingly a battle for a Big Ten roster spot is at stake.
Gophers Win Community Service Award
The Golden Gopher women’s track team sets several goals each season. Obviously success in their endeavors athletically and academically is at the top of the list but so is being productive in the area of community service. This Minnesota team, the largest in the nation numbering around 100 student-athletes each season, is a sterling example of what working toward a common goal can accomplish. For the second straight year, the women’s track was honored with a Community Service Award at the recent Golden Goldies Awards Banquet.
This Gopher team combined to volunteer over 1,500 hours or approximately 15 hours of community service for each student-athlete on the team. Among the list of organizations for which the Gophers volunteered in the last year were Special Olympics, Feed Our Starving Children, Big Brothers and Sisters, Blair Tree of Hope as well as several hours volunteering for something has simple but meaningful as reading to children.
“Every year this is one of the goals for our team to win this award,” said Golden Gopher head coach Matt Bingle. “I am very proud of our women for their commitment to the community and the impact that they have on others. This is one of the best awards that our team will win this year.”
With a team the size of this women’s track squad, coaches have relied on the student-athletes to play a big role in not only deciding where aim their volunteer efforts but to coordinate those efforts overall. Junior Alicia Rue, an All-American pole vaulter, is the volunteerism coordinator for the Gophers this year.
"This award is something Coach Bingle wants us to strive for each year," said Rue. "The team put in a lot of hours volunteering out in the community. For me, volunteering is a way to help the community itself, and to continually but the Universities Athletic Department in a good light. In just a few short hours, we are able to put a smile on some child's face, sign an autograph, teach our sport, play games, encourage kids to be drug free and continue their education. Volunteering is a way to better the community and youth that will become our future...it is a way for us to have an impact on someone else, and directly see that impact. Its a great feeling."
What a wonderful tribute to this group of Golden Gophers to be honored with a Community Service Award in each of the last two years. In addition to those Community Service Award, these Gophers have also captured four Big Ten titles (two in cross country and two in indoor track), earned five top-20 NCAA finishes and most impressively continued to maintain a cumulative team grade point average hovering around 3.4.
The Gophers will chase the third jewel of the Big Ten unofficial “triple crown” on May 15-17, when they compete in the Big Ten Championships in Columbus, Ohio. Minnesota won the first two jewels of the 2008-09 academic year by capturing the cross country title last fall and the indoor track crown earlier this spring.
Duwell Honored at Golden Goldies
Megan Duwell earned the Female Breakthrough Performance Award at the Golden Goldies Awards Banquet. After being the cross country team’s No. 6 finisher as a sophomore, Duwell became one of the team’s best runners in the 2008 season. Duwell earned her first career All-America honors when she went from finishing 142nd at the NCAA meet in 2007 to 32nd overall in just one year. A first-team All-Big Ten honoree, the West Bend, Wis., native was the team’s co-most valuable player. She finished fourth overall at both the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Midwest Region Championships last fall. Duwell also advanced to her first NCAA Midwest Region Championships during the 2008 outdoor track season and competed in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Dorni Pretty Good in the Classroom as Well
Heather Dorniden has collected a lot of honors on the track, but the senior kinesiology major is top notch in the classroom as well. Dorniden carries a 3.9 grade point average and is a two-time recipient of the Minnesota Top-Five Award, honoring student-athletes with the highest cumulative GPAs. She received the prestigious 2009 President’s Student Leadership & Service Award and earned an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Dorniden was an ESPN the Magazine All-America Second Team honoree in 2008.
The Golden Gopher Coaching Staff
Matt Bingle is in his third season as the Golden Gophers head women’s track & field coach and his eighth overall coaching in the Minnesota program. Bingle is a three-time Big Ten Coach of the Year honoree. Bingle heads an extremely experienced coaching staff that includes assistants Gary Wilson (24th season, third as an assistant coach after 21 years as head coach) and Lynne Anderson (29th season).
Players Mentioned
