University of Minnesota Athletics
Gopher Men Stay in First, McGinnis Wins Decathlon
5/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
The Golden Gophers’ brightest moment of the second day of the Championships was the performance of senior R.J. McGinnis, who captured the decathlon by just two points over Michigan’s Frank Shotwell. McGinnis needed a gutsy performance in the 1,500-meter run, the decathlon’s 10th and final event, to pull off the victory. McGinnis trailed Shotwell by 23 points going into the 1,500 meters then dug deep to find an extra gear in the race’s last 100 meters. He finished with a time of 4:35.75, beating Shotwell by just over four seconds. The final tally saw McGinnis score 7,381 points to Shotwell’s 7,379.
Jack Szmanda and Joey Schwecke added fourth and fifth-place finishes, respectively. Szmanda tallied a score of 7, 116, while Schwecke scored 7,081.
Minnesota was able to build its lead by having two or more athletes score in an event. The discus is a perfect example. The Gophers went third, fourth and sixth in the final standings. Trey Davis led the way, placing third with a throw of 172-9. Micah Hegerle, who won the hammer title on Friday, was fourth with a toss of 170-1. Tyler Kleinhuizen competed the trio’s scoring by placing sixth in a distance of 164-9.
Oladipo Fagbemi and Addison Demer contributed points in the long jump. Fagbemi placed fifth with a leap of 23-7 1/4. Demer was sixth in 23-5 1/2.
Completing the scoring on Saturday was Matt Fisher in the high jump. Fisher cleared his final bar at 6-11 1/4 .Minnesota has seven athletes qualified for the finals. Three of these Gophers are finalists in the 800-meter run:: Ben Blankenship, Harun Abda and Travis Burkstand. Blankenship will also run the 1,500 meters. Other final qualifiers are John Holton (400-meters),
The Big Ten Championships conclude on Sunday.
