University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Sixth at NCAAs, Blankenship 3K Runner-Up
3/13/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
The Minnesota men’s track & field team received All-America performances from every athlete as the Golden Gophers compiled 27 points to finish in a tie (Indiana) for sixth place in the 2011 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in College Station, Texas. The Gophers, the three-time defending Big Ten champion, were ranked No. 18 entering the Championships but enjoyed a spectacular overall performance matching the highest indoor NCAA finish in school history.
“What an outstanding weekend,” said Golden Gopher head coach Steve Plasencia. “You come into these national meets hoping your guys perform well. Our team did more than perform well, they excelled, and I’m so happy for them all. What a great accomplishment for our program to place sixth and have every one of the guys earn All-America honors.”
The Gophers received a big lift from Ben Blankenship, who ran to a national runner-up finish in the 3,000-meter run. Blankenship clocked a time of 8 minutes, 4.65 seconds to place second. The Gopher senior led several laps in the middle of the race, a race in which the pace was far from consistent. Blankenship retook the lead as the race entered the bell lap. Stanford’s Elliott Heath used a strong final lap to overtake Blankenship on the final turn and win in 8:03.71.
“I felt great after the DMR (he ran the 1,600 leg in a blistering time of 3:54.61 on Friday night),” said Blankenship. “Coming into the 3K, you know all these guys are great runners. All I tried to do was stay out of traffic and trouble and be in a position to give it all at the end. It’s a great feeling too to have the team finish so well.”
Harun Abda added a fifth-place finish in the 800 meters running a time of 1:49.51. Abda positioned himself on the outside shoulder of Connecticut’s Michael Rutt for the first three laps of the race. The final lap was an all-out sprint. Alabama senior Fred Samoei caught Rutt at the tape winning in 1:48.33 by four hundreds of a second.
Both Blankenship and Abda collected two All-America honors at the NCAA meet. The duo was also half of the Gophers’ distance medley relay that placed third on Friday.
Micah Hegerle earned All-America honors with an eighth-place finish in the weight throw assuring the entire Gopher NCAA lineup would come home with national accolades. Hegerle, the Big Ten champion in the event, tossed the 35-pound weight a distance of 67 feet, 9 3/4 inches. This was Hegerle’s NCAA Championships debut.
Minnesota celebrated its second consecutive top-8 finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The Gophers finish matches the best NCAA Indoor Championships showing in school history, matching Roy Griak’s 1993 squad’s sixth-place finish at the national indoor meet.
Florida repeated as the team champion with 52 points, followed by Texas A&M (40), BYU (34), LSU (31) and Florida State (30).
2011 Minnesota All-Americans
Ben Blankenship – national runner-up 3,000 meters
Ben Peterson – national runner-up pole vault
Distance Medley Relay (Nick Hutton, Abda, Travis Burkstrand, Blankenship) – third place
Harun Abda – 800m fifth place
Micah Hegerle – weight throw eighth place
“What an outstanding weekend,” said Golden Gopher head coach Steve Plasencia. “You come into these national meets hoping your guys perform well. Our team did more than perform well, they excelled, and I’m so happy for them all. What a great accomplishment for our program to place sixth and have every one of the guys earn All-America honors.”
The Gophers received a big lift from Ben Blankenship, who ran to a national runner-up finish in the 3,000-meter run. Blankenship clocked a time of 8 minutes, 4.65 seconds to place second. The Gopher senior led several laps in the middle of the race, a race in which the pace was far from consistent. Blankenship retook the lead as the race entered the bell lap. Stanford’s Elliott Heath used a strong final lap to overtake Blankenship on the final turn and win in 8:03.71.
“I felt great after the DMR (he ran the 1,600 leg in a blistering time of 3:54.61 on Friday night),” said Blankenship. “Coming into the 3K, you know all these guys are great runners. All I tried to do was stay out of traffic and trouble and be in a position to give it all at the end. It’s a great feeling too to have the team finish so well.”
Harun Abda added a fifth-place finish in the 800 meters running a time of 1:49.51. Abda positioned himself on the outside shoulder of Connecticut’s Michael Rutt for the first three laps of the race. The final lap was an all-out sprint. Alabama senior Fred Samoei caught Rutt at the tape winning in 1:48.33 by four hundreds of a second.
Both Blankenship and Abda collected two All-America honors at the NCAA meet. The duo was also half of the Gophers’ distance medley relay that placed third on Friday.
Micah Hegerle earned All-America honors with an eighth-place finish in the weight throw assuring the entire Gopher NCAA lineup would come home with national accolades. Hegerle, the Big Ten champion in the event, tossed the 35-pound weight a distance of 67 feet, 9 3/4 inches. This was Hegerle’s NCAA Championships debut.
Minnesota celebrated its second consecutive top-8 finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The Gophers finish matches the best NCAA Indoor Championships showing in school history, matching Roy Griak’s 1993 squad’s sixth-place finish at the national indoor meet.
Florida repeated as the team champion with 52 points, followed by Texas A&M (40), BYU (34), LSU (31) and Florida State (30).
2011 Minnesota All-Americans
Ben Blankenship – national runner-up 3,000 meters
Ben Peterson – national runner-up pole vault
Distance Medley Relay (Nick Hutton, Abda, Travis Burkstrand, Blankenship) – third place
Harun Abda – 800m fifth place
Micah Hegerle – weight throw eighth place
Players Mentioned
MD
/ Men's Track & Field
MD
/ Men's Track & Field
DIS
/ Men's Track & Field
THR
/ Men's Track & Field
MD
/ Men's Track & Field
PV
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