University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Remain in First, Willis Wins Long Jump
5/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Willis came into the meet seeded seventh but sailed to a winning leap of 20 feet, 9 1/4 inches on her second attempt of the prelims. The leap was her career-best by over a foot and marked the third-best jump in Gopher history. Willis is the first Gopher to win a Big Ten long jump title.
Ironically, Willis’ winning effort came after teammate Adrienne Thomas captured the lead on her second jump of prelims with a leap of 19-8 1/4, her personal best and fifth in school history. Willis launched her historic jump five leaps later. Willis also might have been inspired to seek a little redemption after she and teammate Chioma Omeoga were unable to connect on the third handoff of the Gophers’ 4x100-meter relay.
Emily Betz aided the Minnesota effort on Saturday by taking third in the javelin with a throw of 131-10. The remaining points came from a seventh-place finish by Felicitias Mensing, who ran a season-best time of 10:34.62 for the fourth-best time in Gopher history.
The Gophers have a total of 56 points after seven scored events. Wisconsin is second with 52, followed by Indiana in third with 41. Pre-Championships favorite Penn State is fifth with just 24 points after seven events but has 11 athletes in finals on Sunday. Minnesota has nine athletes qualified for finals.
“We have put ourselves in a good position heading into the final day of the Championships,” said Golden Gopher head coach Matt Bingle. “We didn’t’ start the day off well with that 4x100, but the long jump points from Todea-Kay and Adrienne were huge.”
The major of those Gopher finalists are in the 800 and 1,500-meter races where Minnesota has six runners vying for scoring positions. Gabriele Anderson and Nikki Swenson are among the finalists in both races. The Gophers qualified all four of its competitors in the 800 meters as Jamie Dittmar and Alena Brooks advanced out of the prelims.
Thomas and Kylie Peterson will give the Gophers a one-two punch in the 100-meter dash. The remaining Gopher to make Sunday’s final was Kelly Stalpes in the 400-meter hurdles.
Players Mentioned
