University of Minnesota Athletics
Hegerle, Peterson Win Big Ten Titles
5/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Minnesota captured twoevent titles in the first day of the 2010 Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind. Micah Hegerle captured the win in the hammer throw, while Ben Peterson completed an indoor-outdoor title sweep by winning the pole vault.
Hegerle, a redshirt freshmen, landed his best throw -208 feet, 3 inches – in his third attempt of prelims and the mark held. Hegerle’s winning throw was nearly eight feet farther than the second-place effort. Hegerle, who will compete in the discus on Saturday, is the second Gopher to capture a Big Ten title in the hammer.
Peterson enjoyed a career day in winning his first Big Ten outdoor title, but overall his third Conference pole vault crown. The Gopher junior cleared a personal-best height of 17-8 1/2 to capture Minnesota’s eighth pole vault title but first since 1997 (Vesa Rantanen). Peterson passed until the height of 16-8 3/4, then soared over the bar in his first try and again at 17-0 3/4. He cleared 17-4 1/2 and 17-8 1/2 on his second attempt at each height.
Brock Spandl added a third-place finish in the pole vault, clearing a season-best height of 17-0 3/4.
Day one of the decathlon turned into an interesting battle between two Gophers – R.J. McGinnis and Joey Schwecke. Between the two, the lead changed hands four times over the five events with McGinnis, an indoor heptathlon All-American, grabbing the day one lead with 3,908 points. Schwecke is only 15 points behind McGinnis with a total of 3,893. Jack Szmanda is sixth with 3,751 points.
Schwecke owns the lead through the first two events, first running a career-best time of 10.93 seconds in the 100-meter dash and then landing a season-best long jump of 23-2 1/4.
McGinnis took the lead for the first time by topping the field in the shot put with a throw of 47-4 1/4. Schwecke cleared 6-6 in the high jump to recapture the lead after four events before McGinnis’ time of 50.83 seconds in 400 meters edged him back in front of his Gopher teammate. Schwecke ran a time of 51.47 in the race.
The second day of the decathlon begins with the 110-meter high hurdles at 9:30 p.m.
Chris Rombough placed second in the 10,000-meter run in the final event of the first day of the Championships. Rombough clocked a career-best time of 29:10.67.
After three events scored, Minnesota is in first place with 34 points. Wisconsin, thanks to 17 points in the 10,000 meters, is second with 19 points.
“You always like to start the meet winning a few titles,” said Gopher head coach Steve Plasencia. “We knew the first day was a strong one for us and we had to do well. Hopefully we can keep it going.”
Players Mentioned
