University of Minnesota Athletics
Blankenship, Rombough Advance to NCAAs
5/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Ben Blankenship broke the Minnesota school record and earned an NCAA Championships berth in the 1,500-meter run to highlight the third and final day of the NCAA West Preliminary Round meet in Austin, Texas. Chris Rombough also will return to the NCAAs in the 5,000 meters.
Blankenship ran a time of 3 minutes, 39.77 seconds breaking the 14 year-old Gopher record held by Paul Michalek (3:39.94). The Gopher junior from Stillwater, Minn., ran in the first heat of two quarterfinals where eight runners bettered Texas' Mike A. Myers Stadium record. Blankenship collected an NCAA automatic qualifier with his fifth-place showing the race. He will make his second trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Rombough, a senior from Fremont, Wis., earned his way into his third NCAA Outdoor Championships field in the 5,000 meters. Rombough placed 11th in the his heat clocking a time of 14:08.95. Mike Torchia also compete in the 5,000 meters running a time of 14:44.51, 16th in his heat and 33rd overall.
The Gophers' 4x400-meter relay of John Holton, Logan Stroman, David Pachuta and Harun Abda placed sixth in their heat and 18th overall in a season-best time of 3:08.59.
Minnesota had three throwers compete in the discus. Micah Hegerle placed 25th with a throw of 167-0, one centimeter farther than teammate Tyler Kleinhuizen in 26th. Trey Davis landed a throw of 158-11 for 37th place.
The Gophers also had two triple jumpers compete. Oladipo finished 30th with a leap of 49-5, while Raymond Blackledge was 34th with an effort of 48-4.
Minnesota will have four Gophers compete in the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., on June 9-12: R.J. McGinnis (decathlon), Matt Fisher (high jump), Ben Blankenship (1,500m) and Chris Rombough (5,000m).
Players Mentioned
