University of Minnesota Athletics
Men's Track Ready for NCAA Championships
6/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Gopher Track This Week:
NCAA Track & Field Championships
Wednesday-Saturday
June 10-13, 2009
John McDonnell Field
Hosted by the University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, Ark.
2009 Minnesota Men’s Track & Field Watch List
Golden Gophers Send Six to NCAA Championships - The Minnesota men’s track & field team will be represented by six athletes at this week’s NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. June 10-13, in Fayetteville, Ark.
Poised for a Solid Showing - Minnesota tied for 14th at the NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this season. All-America performances by Aaron Studt, Hassan Mead and Chris Rombough compiled 15 points. That talented trio is joined by R.J. McGinnis, Matt Fisher and Ben Blankenship giving the Golden Gophers a group capable of posting another solid NCAA team finish.
Sights Set on the Top Prize - Sophomore Hassan Mead is undefeated in the outdoor season with 5,000-meter titles at the Big Ten and NCAA Midwest Region Championships among his victories. Mead owns the second-fastest time in the nation heading to the NCAA meet.
Gophers Capture Big Ten Sweep - The Golden Gophers used plenty of team depth to win the 2009 Big Ten Outdoor team title and complete the indoor/outdoor sweep of Conference titles. Hassan Mead won two events and garnered Track Athlete of the Year honors. Aaron Studt won the shot put and Field Event Athlete of the Year accord.
Gophers Ready for NCAA Championships
The Minnesota men’s track & field team will send six athletes to compete in the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, June 10-13, in Fayetteville, Ark. The University of Arkansas plays host to the event at John McDonnell Field.
2009 NCAA Championships Competitors
Name Event Top Mark/Time Event (Date) NCAA Rank
Ben Blankenship (So., Stillwater, Minn.) 1,500m 3;45.73 Sun Angel Classic (4/11) 24
Matt Fisher (Jr., Green Bay, Wis.) High jump 7-4 1.2 (2.25m) Tiger Classic (4/4) t-1
R.J. McGinnis (Jr.,  Burnsville, Minn.) Decathlon 7,626 points Drake Relays (4/22-23) 6
Hassan Mead (So., Minneapolis, Minn.) 5,000m 13:28.45 Payton Jordan Inv. (5/2) 2
Chris Rombough (Jr., Fremont, Wis.) 5,000m 13:54.37 Payton Jordan Inv. (5/2) 15
Aaron Studt (Jr., Ripon, Wis.) Shot Put 61-11 1/2 (18.88m) Sun Angel Classic (4/11) 9
Television Coverage of the NCAA Meet
CBS will televise two hours of the final day of the NCAA Outdoor Championships live on Saturday, June 13, from 12-2 p.m. (CT). For Comcast customers with a sport tier, CBS College Sports Network (previously CSTV) will broadcast the Championships for three hours from 6-9 p.m. on Friday, June 12. When CBS is not broadcasting from the Championships, fans can check out live video streaming on NCAA.com and ArkansasRazorbacks.com.
NCAA Championships History
Florida State is the three-time defending team champion, having captured its first NCAA outdoor track title in 2006, then repeating the last two seasons. Minnesota won its only national team title in 1948. The Gophers’ top national finish in recent history was ninth in 1997 and 2003. The last top-20 finish at the outdoor NCAA meet was a tie for 15th in 2004. Minnesota sent five athletes to the Championships in 2008, and scored three points.
If the NCAA Indoor Finish Means Anything...
Minnesota had three athletes - Aaron Studt, Hassan Mead and Chris Rombough - earn All-America honors and combine for 15 points to tie for 14th place overall in the team standings at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships. With Studt, Mead and Rombough among the Gopher contingent at the outdoor meet, Minnesota seems poised to earn its second top-20 finish of the season.
Experience Key in Gopher Contingent
Five of six Gophers headed for the NCAAs have made at least one previous track championships appearance. Add cross country into the picture and that average improves to 100 percent with that important experience on their resumes. Chris Rombough is the most veteran of the group having participated in four NCAA Cross Country and three NCAA Track Championships. Rombough is the first three-time cross country All-American in Minnesota history.
Mead Ends Brilliant Sophomore Campaign at NCAAs
The 2008-09 year has been Golden Gopher sophomore Hassan Mead’s personal highlight reel. The distance standout won every race up to the NCAA Championships during the cross country season, including medalist performances in the Big Ten and Midwest Region Championships. Mead went on to earn All-America honors in cross country with a 31st-place finish in perhaps the one race he struggled in all season. He once again gathered steam as the indoor track season came around. Mead won Big Ten titles in the 3,000 meters and the 5,000 meters and raced to his second All-America award of 2008-09 by placing fourth in the 5,000 meters at the NCAA indoor meet. This outdoor season Mead has not lost a race. He was part of the Drake Relays’ champion 4x1,600-meter relay, then won his section of the 5,000 meters at the talent-laden Stanford Payton Jordan Invitational. Mead was once again a double Big Ten champion, winning the 5,000 meters and the 10,000 meters as the Conference’s Track Athlete of the Year. Mead is the first Gopher to win five individual Big Ten titles over the course of a school year. He continued his unblemished outdoor mark by winning the 5,000 meters at the NCAA Midwest Region Championships two weeks ago.
Fisher Enters NCAA in Four-Way Tie for Top Seed
Junior Matt Fisher’s leap of 7-4 1/2, cleared at the Tiger Classic on April 4, remains the top height cleared in the nation this season. Fisher was the first to clear that bar, but the height has now been matched by three others leapers. Fisher placed second in the Big Ten Championships clearing a height of 7-2 1/4 and third at the Midwest Region Championships with a clearance of 7-1. The Big Ten indoor champ may be looking for a little redemption at the NCAA outdoor meet after he no-heighted in his NCAA Championships’ debut during the indoor season.
Mead, Rombough Have a Chance to Set Some History
Hassan Mead (fourth) and Chris Rombough (seventh) both earned All-America honors in the 5,000 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this season. WIth both entered in the event at the outdoor national meet, some history could be made. A Gopher distance runner has never earned All-America honors in the same event, indoor and outdoor, in the same season. The only athlete to come close was Garry Bjorklund who captured All-America honors in two different distance events, the 2-mile indoor and the 3-mile outdoor, during the 1970 season. The indoor/outdoor feat has been accomplished in other events. The most recent was in 2006, when Karl Erickson and Aaron Buzzard were indoor and outdoor All-Americans in the shot put and 400 meter, respectively.
Studt Makes Return Trip to Outdoor NCAA Meet
Aaron Studt will make his second appearance in the shot put at the NCAA Outdoor Championships looking to repeat his success from the 2009 indoor national meet where the Gopher junior was the NCAA runner-up. Studt’s second-place effort of 63-6 1/4 is his longest, indoor or outdoor, of his career. Studt captured the indoor and outdoor Big Ten title in the event.
McGinnis Makes Strides in the Decathlon
R.J. McGinnis has improved his career-best score in the decathlon by over 300 points this season and is prepared to take on the nation’s best in the 10-event test of everything from speed and strength to endurance and heart. McGinnis captured the Drake Relay decathlon crown with a career-best tally of 7,626 points, the third-best score in school history and the sixth-best in the nation coming into the NCAA meet. He captured the Big Ten decathlon title despite clearing just one height in the pole vault to lose a sizable lead.
High jump is McGinnis’ most improved event. He improved his best by three inches, mostly by changing his jumping technique to the traditional Fosbury Flop from the scissor-kick technique he used in past seasons.
Blankenship Makes NCAA Track Championships Debut
Sophomore Ben Blankenship is the only Golden Gopher making his first trip to an NCAA track championships. Blankenship will compete in the 1,500-meter run, earning an automatic berth with a runner-up finish at the NCAA Midwest Region Championships. Blankenship will be able to draw on his NCAA Cross Country Championships’ experience from last fall. He was the Gophers’ number-three runner on the squad that finished 15th overall. Blankenship also earned cross country all-region honors in his first season at Minnesota after spending one season at Mississippi State.
Gophers Capture Big Ten Indoor/Outdoor Sweep
Minnesota captured a sweep of the Big Ten indoor and outdoor track & field titles for the first time since 1998. The Golden Gophers won the titles in dominating fashion. The Gophers collected a 42-point margin of victory in the indoor meet and a 27-point victory margin in the outdoor championships. The indoor crown was the second in Minnesota history and first since 1998. The outdoor victory was the Gophers’ sixth overall and first since 2003.
Gophers Win With Talent and Depth
Minnesota crowned two individual Big Ten champions in Hassan Mead (5,000 meters and 10,000 meters) and Aaron Studt in the shot put. To tally their impressive team victory, Minnesota scored points in 17 of 21 events with the big hitters coming in the 5,000 meters (21), 10,000 meters (16) and decathlon (17). A great sign for upcoming years for the Gophers - the Minnesota senior class contributed just 28 of the 130 points scored.
Mead a Double Big Ten Titlist
Sophomore Hassan Mead just keeps piling up the awards and accolades. Mead won the 5,000 meters and the 10,000 meters at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships to become the first Golden Gophers to win two individual events at the Conference meet since Ron Backes accomplished the feat in the shot put and discus in 1986. Mead also defended his title in the 5,00 meters. The last time a Gopher won back-to-back Big Ten titles was Travis Brandstatter in the decathlon in 2004 and 2005.
Gophers Sweep Major Big Ten Awards for Outdoor Season
Minnesota’s Hassan Mead and Aaron Studt swept the Big Ten Conference’s Athlete of the Year awards, while Golden Gopher head coach Steve Plasencia was named the Big Ten Outdoor Track Coach of the Year. Mead and Studt were also named the Track Athlete of the Championships and the Field Event Athlete of the Championships, respectively.
Mead, a sophomore from Minneapolis, earned the Big Ten Track Athlete of the Year honor after capturing the double victory in the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter races at the Big Ten Championships last weekend. Mead heads into NCAA action ranked third in the 5,000 meter (13:28.45) in the nation. He has enjoyed an amazing sophomore season overall, winning the Big Ten individual cross country title and Big Ten Cross Country Runner of the Year accord last fall. Mead also won two events, the 3,000 and 5,000 meters, at the Big Ten Indoor Track Championships. He has already gathered All-America honors in cross country and indoor track this year.
Studt, a junior from Ripon, Wis., was named the Big Ten Field Athlete of the Year as the most dominating thrower in the Big Ten this season. Studt added the outdoor Big Ten shot put title to his win in the indoor season. He owns the eighth-best throw in the nation (61-11 /12) this season as the NCAA postseason rolls around. Studt was the national runner-up in the shot at the NCAA Indoor Championships earlier this spring.
Plasencia guided his Golden Gopher charges to their first Big Ten outdoor team titles since 2003. He was also honored as the Big Ten Indoor Track Coach of the Year.
The Big Ten officially announced its honor squads for the 2009 outdoor season. As Big Ten champions, Mead and Studt were named to the All-Big Ten First Team. Conference runners-up were accorded All-Second Team honors. Matt Fisher (high jump), Ibrahim Kabia (100 meters) and R.J. McGinnis (decathlon) were honored on the All-Big Ten Second Team.
Golden Gopher senior Ben Puhl was named as Minnesota’s recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. Awardwinners are student-athletes who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, they must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.
Nine Gophers Earn Diploma This Spring
Nine Golden Gophers earned their degrees this spring: Andy Bastian (kinesology), Raymond Blackledge (architecture), Rick Furseth (finance), Justin Grunewald (biochemistry), Sayfe Jassim (microbiology), Ibrahim Kabia (psychology), and Walter Langkau (biology), Jerry Netland (communications studies) and Luke Silovich (kinesiology).
Men’s Track Honored at Golden Goldies
The men’s track team was honored as Minnesota’s Male Team of the Year at the Golden Goldies Awards Banquet. During the indoor season, the Gophers won their first Big Ten indoor title since 1998 and the second in school history. Under the guidance of head coach Steve Plasencia, the Gophers captured individual Big Ten titles in five events and scored points in 16 of the 18 events overall. Minnesota’s 42-point win was the largest margin of victory since 2004 and the fourth largest over the past 20 years. At the NCAA Indoor Championships, Minnesota finished 14th overall at the NCAA Indoor Championships and garnered three All-America honors.
Minnesota Wins Big Ten Indoor Team Title
The Golden Gophers won five individual titles to win the 2009 Big Ten Indoor title and put an end to the eight-year dominance of the Wisconsin Badgers. Minnesota cruised to the title with 135.0 points, 42 ahead of second-place Michigan (93.0). The Gophers’ margin of victory is the largest since 2004 and the fourth largest over the last 20 years. Minnesota received Big Ten champion performances from Hassan Mead (3,000m, 5,000m), Matt Fisher (high jump), Aaron Studt (shot put) and R.J. McGinnis (pentathlon).
Plasencia Leads Charges as Head Coach
Minnesota’s Steve Plasencia is in his first season as the Golden Gopher head coach for track & field, but he is far from being a rookie. Plasencia has served the Gophers’ head men’s cross country coach for 13 season and added the title of head track coach in June of 2008. Plasencia is just the fourth Minnesota head track coach since 1937.
The 2009 Team Captains
The Golden Gopher team captains for the 2009 season are Ibrahim Kabia, Walter Langkau, and Hans Storvick.
