University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Ready for NCAA West Prelims
5/24/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Gopher TrackThis Week:
NCAA West Preliminary Round
Thursday-Saturday – May 27-29, 2010
Mike A. Myers Stadium
Austin, Texas
Host: University of Texas
2010 Minnesota Women’s Track & Field Watch List
• Golden Gophers Travel to Texas for NCAA West Preliminary Round - The Minnesota women’s track & field team will have 24 athletes compete this week at the NCAA West Preliminary Round meet in Austin, Texas. The University of Texas plays host to the meet on Thursday-Saturday, May 27-29.
• NCAA Format Change - Instead of holding four regional championships around the nation, the NCAA changed the format for qualifying for the NCAA Championships to a two-meet Preliminary Round format. Texas and North Carolina A&T will host the meets with the top 12 finishers and relays advancing to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., on June 9-12.
• A Record Number of Gophers Compete - Minnesota will be represented by a record 24 athletes at the NCAA Prelims. The Gophers had 23 athletes at the NCAA Midwest Region Championships the last two years.
• Three Gophers Win Big Ten Titles, Team Second - Megan Duwell (10,000 meters), DeAnne Hahn (hammer) and Todea-Kay Willis (long jump) captured Big Ten titles. The Gophers finished second in the team standings.
NCAA Preliminary Round Up Next for Gophers
A contingent of 24 athletes from the Minnesota women’s track & field team travels to Austin, Texas, this weekend (May 27-29) for the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field West Preliminary Round. The University of Texas will host the meet at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
A Different Format for the NCAAs
This is the first season in which the NCAA will host East and West Preliminary Round meets. The East Preliminary Round meet will be held May 27-29 at North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, N.C.
The Gophers will be joined by three other Big Ten teams in the West: Illinois, Iowa and Illinois. The seven remaining BIg Ten teams head to the East Preliminary Round site.
In all individual events, except the heptathon, the top 48 qualifiers receive Preliminary Round bids. The top 24 relays qualify for the Prelims. To advance to the NCAA Championships in Oregon on June 9-12, athletes and relays must finish in the top 12 of the respective Preliminary Rounds.
The top 24 heptathletes on the NCAA descending order list punch their ticket to the NCAA Championships without having to qualify through preliminary rounds.
Watch the Meet Online
The NCAA West Preliminary Round meet will be streamed online all three days at www.ncaa.com/sports/c-otrack/champpage/c-otrack-div1-west-index.html.
A Record Number of Gophers Advance
The 24 Golden Gophers advancing to the 2010 NCAA West Preliminary Round betters the previous mark of 23 athletes that represented Minnesota at the NCAA Midwest Region Championships the past two years.
The breakdown for the Gophers includes 22 athletes competing in individual events and the 4x100-meter relay. Gophers will compete in 13 of the 20 events at the West Preliminary Round meet.
Looking for a Return Trip to the NCAAs
The Golden Gophers have five athletes who will vie for a return trip to the NCAA Championships, topped by All-Americans Alicia Rue, Megan Duwell and Any Laskowske. Rue is a three-time All-American, who tied for third at the 2009 NCAA outdoor meet. Laskowske earned her All-America citation in the 10,000-meter run with a 10th-place finish a year ago. Duwell is a two-time cross country All-American and earned her first track national honor with a fifth-place finish at the 2010 NCAA Indoor Championships. The other Gophers with NCAA track championships experience are Nikki Swenson (800m in 2009) and Elizabeth Yetzer (1,500m in 2009).
Cross Country Success Brings Talent to the Track
Minnesota is one of just two NCAA Division I schools (Illinois the other) to place in the top 12 in the last five NCAA Cross Country Championships. That success is reflected in the Gophers’ lineup for this week’s West Preliminary Round meet. There are seven runners competing who were major contributors to Minnesota’s cross country success and were part of at least one NCAA top-12 finish: Gabriele Anderson (1,500m), Nikki Swenson (1,500m), Elizabeth Yetzer (1,500m), Felicitias Mensing (3,000m steeplechase), Megan Duwell (10,000m), Amy Laskowske (10,000m) and Mallory Van Ness. In fact, every one of those runners listed earned All-Midwest Region honors at least once in their Gopher cross country careers.
Duwell Looks to Continue Sensational Senior Season
Distance runner Megan Duwell has enjoyed quite the senior year competing both in cross country and track. Duwell finished seventh in the 2009 NCAA Cross Country Championships, the highest Gopher finish ever, while covering the 6-kilometer national course in a school-record time of 20:06.9. She then smashed her own school record in earning All-America honors at the 2010 NCAA Indoor Track Championships in the 5,000-meter run (15:59.23). Duwell broke the Gopher outdoor 5,000-meter record (16:04.55) before defending her Big Ten title in the 10,000 meters.
Trio of Golden Gophers Capture Big Ten Titles
Minnesota celebrated three Big Ten individual titles at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships. Megan Duwell defended her crown in the 10,000 meters. DeAnne Hahn’s title in the hammer throw and Todea-Kay Willis’ win in the long jump marked the first titles won in those events by a Golden Gopher.
Anderson Breaks Long-Standing School Record
Gabriele Anderson missed the Big Ten title by a hundreth of a second in the 1,500-meter run but as a consolation, the sixth-year Gopher can now call the school record her own. Anderson posted a time of 4:15.43, a personal-best by over five seconds, to break a 26 year-old Minnesota record held by Jody Eder (4:15.59).
West Preliminary Round - Gophers’ Event Preview
Following is an event-by-event preview for the Gophers at the NCAA West Preliminary Round.
The 100 meters – Kylie Peterson will make her first NCAA appearance in the 100 meters and will anchor the Gophers’ 4x100-meter relay as well. Peterson, a sophomore, is coming off a runner-up finish in the Big Ten Championships. Peterson’s best time of the season is 11.58 seconds, ranked 15th coming into the meet.
The 400 meters – Senior Rikita Butler makes her second trip to NCAA competition in the 400 meters. Her best time of 2010 was 43.76 seconds, but she does have the ability to run faster. She owns the Minnesota record with a time of 53.88 seconds.
The 800 meters – The Gophers have Jamie Dittmar and Alena Brooks in this race. Dittmar is coming of her career-best race, 2:08.72 in placing sixth at the Big Ten meet. Dittmar, a junior, competed in the regional meet in the event last year. Brooks is a true freshman who advanced to the final in the event at the Big Ten Championships. Brooks’ best time is 2:09.39. Gabriele Anderson and Nikki Swenson qualified for the 800 meters but choose to compete in the 1,500 meters.
The 1,500 meters – Minnesota has four entries in the 1,500 meters: sixth-year senior Gabriele Anderson, junior Nikki Swenson, junior Elizabeth Yetzer and redshirt freshman Kathryn Ritter. Anderson will compete in her fourth NCAA regional/preliminary round event. Anderson is seeded fifth in the 1,500 her time of 4:15.23, the Minnesota record she ran in placing second at the Big Ten Championships. Swenson is coming off a personal-best time of 4:21.61 and is seeded 15th. Yetzer advanced to the NCAA Championships at this distance a year ago and was one spot away from making the final. Her top time this year is 4:23.14. Ritter will make her NCAA debut after running 4:28.62 at the Big Ten meet.
The 3,000-meter steeplechase – Senior Felicitias Mensing will compete in the NCAA Prelims for the first time. She was qualified last year for the Midwest Region meet but did not run. Mensing ran a personal-best time of 10:34.62 at the Big Ten Championships.
The 10,000 meters – The Gophers have three runners in the 10K: senior Megan Duwell, junior Amy Laskowske and senior Mallory Van Ness. The trio is coming off a first, second and fourth-place showings at the Big Ten meet. Duwell, a two-time Big Ten champion in the event, had the choice of running either the 5,000 or 10,000-meter distances. She was an NCAA indoor All-American in the 5K this year. Laskowske is a returning All-American in the 10,000 meters but will have to overcome the stress of running the race in the preliminary round to advance to the Championships this season. Laskowske is seeded 14th with a season-best time of 33:59.70. Duwell ran her career-best of 34:02.12 in winning the Big Ten title and is seeded 16th. Van Ness is seeded 20th with her time from Big Tens, 34:45.98.
The 400-meter hurdles – Sophomore Kelly Stalpes makes her second appearance in the NCAA prelim/regional round. She is seeded 19th with a career-best time of 59.60 seconds.
The 4x100-meter relay – The Gophers’ 4x100-meter relay will compete in the prelim/regional round of the NCAAs for the second straight season. Last year, the relay caught fire and ran a time of 45.40, the third-fastest time in Gopher history. Two members of that relay, sophomore Chimerem Okoroji and senior Chioma Omeoga return. Todea-Kay Willis and Kylie Peterson join the fun this season. The foursome has a season-best time of 45.65 seconds.
The Pole Vault – Senior Alicia Rue has struggled during the 2010 outdoor season but she has the potential to sky to the top of the pack with a good meet. Rue is a two-time All-American in the event and set the NCAA Midwest Region record (14-1 3/4) a year ago. She is seeded 15th with a season-best of 13-7 3/4. Samantha Sonnenberg has excelled during her junior season. After earning her first All-America honor at the 2010 NCAA indoor meet, Sonnenberg in ranked 17th with a height of 13-5 1/4. Sophomore Becca Pilkerton has continued to improve and makes her NCAA prelim debut. Pilkerton’s best vault is 12-9 1/2.
The Long Jump – The long jump tandem of redshirt freshman Todea-Kay Willis and sophomore Adrienne Thomas provided some of the best and biggest moments from the Big Ten Championships. Willis sailed to the Conference title with a person-best leap of 20-9 1/4, her first jump of 20 feet and the third longest in Gopher history. She is tied for the No. 14 seed. Thomas also posted a personal best of 19-8 1/4 to place fourth in the Big Ten meet.
The High Jump – Junior Natalie Devine makes her second prelim/regional appearance in the event. Devine’s best height this season is 5-8 1/2.
The Discus – Jessica Cagle is one of two true freshmen (Alena Brooks, 800m) on the Gophers’ NCAA West Preliminary Round roster. Cagle is seeded 16th with a season-best effort of 167-1. Junior Nikki Tzanakis is making her second prelim/regional NCAA appearance in the discus. Her career-best throw of 166-8 is seeded No. 18.
The Hammer – Sophomore DeAnne Hahn, the Big Ten hammer champion, is making her second prelim/regional NCAA appearance in the event. Her best toss is 189-7.
Big Ten Outdoor Track Championships Review, Minnesota Places Second
Sunday, May 16 – Penn State was the favored team. In fact, the Nittany Lions were heavily favored, but they needed a win in the final event of the meet, the 4x400-meter relay, to finally secure the team title. A feisty Minnesota team took Penn State to the limit. The Gophers placed second, 10.5 points (123.0) off of Penn State’s winning total of 133.5.
“We really came together as a team this weekend,” said Minnesota head coach Matt Bingle. “Of course, you want to leave with the team title, but how can you be disappointed when this team put forth great effort and displayed such heart. We led for most of the meet. You have to give credit to Penn State for staying after it.”
The Gophers topped the team standing for most of the meet. Wisconsin jumped up briefly to grab the lead early on Sunday, but Minnesota quickly regained the lead after placing two throwers in the discus.
Sixth-year senior Gabriele Anderson was the Gophers’ standout on Sunday. It took a photo finish to decide the outcome of the 1,500-meter run. Anderson and Illinois’ Angela Bizzarri battled in the final 50 meters. Anderson seemly had edged Bizzarri at the tape but a review proved otherwise. Bizzarri’s time was 4:15.42, while Anderson was clocked at 4:15.43. Nikki Swenson was seventh in 4:21.61.
“I went and looked at the photo from the race,” said Gary Wilson, Gopher distance coach. “I’ve never seen one that close for a 1,500 meters.”
Anderson contributed another gutsy effort in the 800 meters. Running about an hour after the 1,500 meters, she used a push down the homestretch to tab a second-place finish with a season-best time of 2:06.77. Swenson was fifth in a time of 2:08.17, while Jamie Dittmar was sixth in 2:08.72.
Kylie Peterson also tallied a second-place finish sprinting to runner-up honors in the 100-meter dash in a time of 11.74. Adrienne Thomas was eighth in the event in 12.00.
Three Gophers scored in the pole vault. Alicia Rue was third (13-1 1/2), followed by Samantha Sonnenberg in fifth (12-9 1/2) and Becca Pilkerton sixth (12-9 1/2).
Penn State took the lead after the 200 meters. The Gophers needed a big performance in the 5,000 meters but the top Gophers had already run the 10,000 meters in the meet. Megan Duwell battled valiantly placing fifth in the 5,000 meters in a time of 16:27.06. She won the 10K on Friday. Amy Laskowske, who was the 10,000-meters runner-up, finished ninth (16:44.06).
The Gophers trailed Penn State by 5.5 points heading into the 4x400-meter relay. The Nittany Lions ran to the win, while the team of Thomas, Rikita Butler, Alena Brooks and Kelly Stalpes placed fifth in 3:42.55.
Other Gopher placewinners were Stalpes fifth in the 400-meter hurdles (59.65), Nikki Tzanakis sixth in the discus (164-2), Jessica Cagle seventh in the discus (163-1) and Natalie Devine eighth in the high jump (5-8 1/2).
Saturday, May 17 – Redshirt freshman Todea-Kay Willis helped keep the Minnesota women’s track & field team in the lead at the Big Ten Championships by pulling a huge upset victory in the long jump.
Willis came into the meet seeded seventh but sailed to a winning leap of 20-9 1/4 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.
Friday, May 14 – Golden Gopher veteran throws coach Lynne Anderson has seen a lot happen in her Minnesota coaching career. On Friday, however, she enjoyed some long-awaited history. A Golden Gopher – sophomore DeAnne Hahn – captured the program’s first Big Ten crown in the hammer throw.
Hahn, who older brother Damion won three wrestling Big Ten titles as well as a couple NCAA crowns, heaved the hammer a distance of 185 feet, 8 inches to capture the title. She landed her top throw in her second attempt of the preliminary round. Hahn placed third in the event a year ago.
Megan Duwell added some history of her own defending her title in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 34:02.12. The time is her personal best and ranks third in school history. Duwell the ninth Golden Gopher to win back-to-back Big Ten outdoor titles and amazing the first to do so on the track.
Minnesota tallied an impressive 23 points in the 10,000 meters. Amy Laskowske was second in 34:04.29, while Mallory Van Ness finished fourth in 34:45.98, her personal best and the sixth-best time in Gopher history.
Duwell led for virtually the entire race, working with her teammate Laskowske to run strategic and consistent lap times. With four laps remaining, the Gopher duo stretched their lead to a comfortable margin.
The heptathlon contested its first four events on Friday as well. Nikki Schultz is in ninth place after the first day with 2,621 points. Schultz’ best event of the first day was the shot put, where she was seventh with a throw of 36-3.
Gophers Continue Drake Relays Success
Minnesota continued its dominance of the 4x800-meter relay at the Drake Relays cruising to its fourth consecutive title at “America’s Athletic Classic” in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday, April 23 The Golden Gopher foursome of Nikki Swenson, Alena Brooks, Jamie Dittmar and Gabriele Anderson captured the victory in a time of 8 minutes, 33.98 seconds over nine seconds faster than runner-up Nebraska. Swenson and Anderson won their third Drake Relays crown in the event.
Minnesota won its second title of the 2010 Drake Relays on Saturday, April 24, defending its title in the4x1,600-meter relay. The Gopher foursome of Nikki Swenson, Elizabeth Yetzer, Megan Duwell and Gabriele Anderson clocked a Drake Relays record time of 18 minutes, 58.82 seconds. The title is Minnesota’s 22nd at the annual relays dubbed, “America’s Athletic Classic.”
Swenson and Anderson were members of the Gophers’ winning 4x800-meter and 4x1,600-meter relays. Anderson finished her Gopher career with five Drake Relays title. Swenson, a junior, has four. Yetzer added her fourth career Drake Relays title as well.
Duwell Breaks Her Own 5K Record at Sun Angel
Senior Megan Duwell broke her own Minnesota school record in the 5,000-meter run at the Sun Angel Classic on April 10. Duwell placed second overall, the first collegian, clocking a time of 16 minutes, 4.55 seconds, over three seconds faster than her previous record time. Duwell’s time currently ranks 13th in the country.
Alena Brooks Earns Two Silver Medals in Caribbean Games
Minnesota freshman Alena Brooks captured two silver medals representing her homeland of Trinidad & Tobago in the 2010 Carifta Games in George Town, Cayman Islands on April 2-3. Brooks ran a time of 2 minutes, 8.97 seconds to finish second in the 800-meter run. She also anchored the 4x400-meter relay (3:37.32) to a gold medal, making up ground on her leg and nearly catching champion Jamaica at the tape. Brooks also competed in the 400-meter dash, finishing fourth in a time of 54.83 seconds.
Gabe Anderson Granted Sixth Season of Outdoor Track Eligibility
Track/cross country standout Gabriele Anderson was honored with the Richard “Pinky” McNamara Student-Athlete Achievement Award at the recent U of M Scholar-Athlete Awards Ceremony. The award is given to a student-athlete who has inspired all by making an extraordinary effort to succeed despite difficult circumstances, persevering during a time of tremendous adversity and/or overcoming a great challenge.
After helping the Gopher cross country team to back-to-back Big Ten titles, Anderson embarked on her senior track season in 2009 with high expectations. She ran a runner-up finish in the mile helping the Gophers win another Big Ten indoor track team title. Then in April, she was diagnosed with adenoid cystic caranoma (a cancer of the neck). With an uncertain future and knowing of her battle ahead, Anderson decided to run one more race before treatment five days ahead of her. She responded by running a career-best time, the seventh-fastest time in school history, in the 1,500-meter run. Anderson underwent surgery and treatment while her team wore “Gabe” patches on their uniforms. She made a successful petition to the NCAA for a sixth season and will complete her Minnesota track career this outdoor season.
The Golden Gopher Coaching Staff
Matt Bingle is in his fourth season as the Golden Gophers head women’s track & field coach and his eighth overall coaching in the Minnesota program. Bingle is a three-time Big Ten Coach of the Year honoree. Bingle heads an extremely experienced coaching staff that includes assistants Gary Wilson (25th season, third as an assistant coach after 21 years as head coach) and Lynne Anderson (30th season).
