University of Minnesota Athletics
Dorniden Advances, Roehrig in Second in Hept
6/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Golden Gopher senior Heather Dorniden earned her way into the elite field of the 800-meter run final with a solid semifinal performance on Thursday at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. Another Minnesota standout, senior Liz Roehrig is in second place after the first day of the heptathlon.
Dorniden needed every split second of her fastest time of the season to advance as one of nine finalists from a semifinal field that included three other national champions in addition to herself. The eight-time Gopher All-American clocked a time of 2:03.77, finishing fourth her semifinal heat. Big Ten champion Geena Gall clocked the top semifinal time of 2:02.28. The last finalist clocked a time of 2:03.89. The final is wide open.
Dorniden will compete in the final on Saturday at 12:28 p.m. in final of a live national CBS Television audience.
Roehrig scored a career-best first-day total of 3,651 points and will enter the second day of competition just 12 points out of first place. USC’s Nia Ali leads the heptathlon with 3,663 points.
The Gopher fifth-year senior opened the competition with her second-best career time in the 100-meter hurdles in a heptathlon with a time of 14.13 seconds. In the field of 27 heptathletes, Roehrig’s score of 960 points was 16th.
Roehrig jumped up to fourth by clearing 5-11 1/4 in the high jump to score 991 points. She was one of only two athletes to clear the height, the other being Jasmine Cotton from Cincinnati (currently in fifth with 1,950 points). Roehrig took three attempts at a school record height of 6-0 1/4.
Roehrig climbed a few spots up the heptathlon leaderboard in the shot put. She landed a throw of 43-7 1/4 to move into second place with 2,698 points after three events. Roehrig remained in second place after the 200 meters, the final heptathlon event of the day, clocking a time of 24.29 seconds to score 953 points.
The heptathlon concludes with the long jump, javelin and 800 meters on Friday. Roehrig placed second in the event at last year’s NCAA Championships.
Amy Laskowske ran to a 10th-place finish in the 10,000-meter run to complete the day’s competition for the Gopher women. Laskowske clocked a time of 34:24.11 in her first NCAA race.
It’s too bad the NCAA won’t allow a baker’s dozen in the final of the 1,500 meters because Elizabeth Yetzer ran the race of her life, cutting over six seconds off her career fastest time, only to be the first one on the out list of the final. Yetzer, who entered the meet seeded 25th of 26 runners, clocked a time of 4:18.11, good for third on the Gophers’ all-time top-10 list.
Yetzer ran in the first heat and finished seventh. The top three finishers from each of the three heats earned automatic qualifiers to the final. The field is then completed by adding in the athletes with the next three fastest times. Those three athletes were the runners to finish fourth, fifth and sixth ahead of Yetzer.
In addition to the completion of the heptathlon, Friday’s action will feature Golden Gopher pole vaulter Alicia Rue competing in the final of the pole vault at 7 p.m.
CBS College Sports Network will televise the NCAA Championships on Friday from 6-9 p.m. CBS will televise live from the meet from 12 noon to 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Dorniden needed every split second of her fastest time of the season to advance as one of nine finalists from a semifinal field that included three other national champions in addition to herself. The eight-time Gopher All-American clocked a time of 2:03.77, finishing fourth her semifinal heat. Big Ten champion Geena Gall clocked the top semifinal time of 2:02.28. The last finalist clocked a time of 2:03.89. The final is wide open.
Dorniden will compete in the final on Saturday at 12:28 p.m. in final of a live national CBS Television audience.
Roehrig scored a career-best first-day total of 3,651 points and will enter the second day of competition just 12 points out of first place. USC’s Nia Ali leads the heptathlon with 3,663 points.
The Gopher fifth-year senior opened the competition with her second-best career time in the 100-meter hurdles in a heptathlon with a time of 14.13 seconds. In the field of 27 heptathletes, Roehrig’s score of 960 points was 16th.
Roehrig jumped up to fourth by clearing 5-11 1/4 in the high jump to score 991 points. She was one of only two athletes to clear the height, the other being Jasmine Cotton from Cincinnati (currently in fifth with 1,950 points). Roehrig took three attempts at a school record height of 6-0 1/4.
Roehrig climbed a few spots up the heptathlon leaderboard in the shot put. She landed a throw of 43-7 1/4 to move into second place with 2,698 points after three events. Roehrig remained in second place after the 200 meters, the final heptathlon event of the day, clocking a time of 24.29 seconds to score 953 points.
The heptathlon concludes with the long jump, javelin and 800 meters on Friday. Roehrig placed second in the event at last year’s NCAA Championships.
Amy Laskowske ran to a 10th-place finish in the 10,000-meter run to complete the day’s competition for the Gopher women. Laskowske clocked a time of 34:24.11 in her first NCAA race.
It’s too bad the NCAA won’t allow a baker’s dozen in the final of the 1,500 meters because Elizabeth Yetzer ran the race of her life, cutting over six seconds off her career fastest time, only to be the first one on the out list of the final. Yetzer, who entered the meet seeded 25th of 26 runners, clocked a time of 4:18.11, good for third on the Gophers’ all-time top-10 list.
Yetzer ran in the first heat and finished seventh. The top three finishers from each of the three heats earned automatic qualifiers to the final. The field is then completed by adding in the athletes with the next three fastest times. Those three athletes were the runners to finish fourth, fifth and sixth ahead of Yetzer.
In addition to the completion of the heptathlon, Friday’s action will feature Golden Gopher pole vaulter Alicia Rue competing in the final of the pole vault at 7 p.m.
CBS College Sports Network will televise the NCAA Championships on Friday from 6-9 p.m. CBS will televise live from the meet from 12 noon to 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Track & Field
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/ Women's Track & FieldME
/ Women's Track & FieldPV
/ Women's Track & Field
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