University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Travel to Big Ten Meet at Iowa
5/12/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Gopher Track This Week:
Big Ten Track & Field Championships
Friday-Sunday – May 13-15, 2011
Francis X. Cretzmeyer Track
Hosted by Iowa – Iowa City Iowa
Gophers Travel to the Big Ten Championships
The Minnesota women’s track & field team begins the championship portion of their outdoor season as the Golden Gophers head to the Big Ten Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Iowa City, Iowa. Iowa plays host to the 29th annual outdoor track championships at the Frances X. Cretzmeyer Track. Action gets underway on Friday, May 13, at 12:15 p.m. CT with the heptathlon 100-meter hurdles. Competition runs through Sunday, May 15.
Follow the Gophers on Gophersports.com, Facebook
Minnesota track & field fans will be able to follow the Gophers at the Big Ten Championships via gophersports.com, Facebook and Twitter. For those who are looking for an interactive means of following the Gopher tracksters, the live blog on gophersports.com is your best bet. Facebook and Twitter will also be loaded with tidbits from the Championships. Whether you are at the Big Ten meet or on your computer at home, we hope you enjoy this personalized coverage of the Championships.
Big Ten Network Covers Track Championships
The Big Ten Network will televise the Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships on a tape-delayed basis on May 22 at 12 p.m. (CT). The BTN broadcast team of Tom Werme, Craig Virgin, Rebecca Haarlow and Kara Lentz will call the action.
Minnesota History at the Big Ten Outdoor Meet
Minnesota has captured one Big Ten outdoor track title (2006) and has finished among the top four in nine of the last 12 seasons. The Gophers finished second a year ago. The Gophers have won three Big Ten titles at the indoor track championships (2007, 2008, 2009).
Willis, Hahn are Defending Champions
Todea-Kay Willis and DeAnne Hahn will look to defend their Big Ten titles this weekend. Willis won the long jump in 2010 with a leap of 20-9 1/4. Hahn won the hammer with a toss of 185-5.
Events to Watch for the Gophers
The following events are important in the Gophers’ hopes to contend for the Big Ten title.
The sprints – Alena Brooks is seeded first in the 400-meter dash with her Minnesota record time of 53.55 seconds. Brooks will carry a heavy load at the Big Tens for the Gophers as she could run the 400 and 800, as well as the relays. Chimerem Okoroji has enjoyed a great junior season and comes into the 100 meters ranked fourth.
The 400-meter hurdles – Minnesota has two hurdlers who could figure into the Big Ten scoring in Sharyn Dahl and Kelly Stalpes. Dahl is seeded fourth in the event.
The 800 meters – This event has traditionally been a strong for the Gophers and senior Nikki Swenson takes her turn at the front of the pack. She is seeded fifth. Brooks is ranked seventh in this event.
The 1,500 meters – Senior Elizabeth Yetzer is the Gophers’ top performer in the 1,500 meters. Yetzer is seeded third in the event with a season-best time of 4:20.39.
Long Distance – The long distance events will see a changing of the guard in 2011. Megan Duwell dominated the 10,000 meters the past two seasons with Amy Laskowske placing second in both 2009 and 2010. With those All-Americans gone, the Gophers will look to another All-American, cross country honoree Stephanie Price, to lead the Gophers in both the 5,000 and 10,000-meter races. Missa Varpness, a redshirt freshman who captured All-Region cross country accord last fall, is another Gopher to watch.
The Pole Vault – Samantha Sonnenberg matched the Minnesota and Big Ten records in her last competition and enters the meet as the premiere vaulter in the Big Ten field. She won the Big Ten indoor title and is a two-time All-American. Junior Becca Pilkerton adds the potential for a second scorer in this event.
The Long Jump – Sophomore Todea-Kay Willis is the defending champion in this event. She owns the top leap in the Big Ten this season, and Minnesota history, of 21-1 1/2. Adrienne Thomas could score as well, giving the Gophers a chance at some big points in this event.
The Throws – In addition to Hahn in the hammer, the Gophers expect to score solid points in the discus with Nikki Tzanakis and in the javelin with Emily Betz. Hahn comes into her hammer title defense seeded sixth with a top throw of 181-6. Tzanakis is seeded first in the discus, and ranks sixth nationally, with a throw of 180-1. Betz is seeded sixth in javelin with a top effort of 142-8. Another thrower to watch is true freshman Kim Hovey, who will compete in both the shot put and discus.
Yetzer Accomplished Something Even Heather Dorniden Didn’t
Heather Dorniden is the most decorated Golden Gopher women’s track athlete in Minnesota history, but senior Elizabeth Yetzer accomplished something even Dorniden didn’t in her track career. Yetzer anchored the Gophers’ 4x1,600-meter relay to victory at the 2011 Drake Relays to claim her fourth career title in the same event and becoming the first Gopher to accomplish that feat. Dorniden finished her Gopher career with a Minnesota-best six Drake Relays crowns. Yetzer finished her career with five.
Winning Big Ten Titles are Just a Hahn Family Trait
Junior DeAnne Hahn added another Big Ten championships to the Hahn family trophy case when she won the hammer throw in 2010. Older brother Damion was a three-time Big Ten wrestling champion from 2002-04. Damion was also a three-time All-American and a two-time NCAA champion. DeAnne also placed third in both the shot put (46-6) and hammer (176-6) as a true freshman in the 2009 Big Ten Championships.
Sonnenberg Captures Second Career All-America Honor
Minnesota senior Samantha Sonnenberg captured her second career All-America honor placing seventh in the pole vault at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in College Station, Texas, on March 12. Sonnenberg matched a season-best height clearing the bar at 13 feet, 11 1/4 inches.
Sonnenberg struggled early needing clearing the opening height of 13-1 1/2 on her third attempt. She cleared the next three heights, including her final bar, on her second attempt. Sonnenberg had three attempts at her career-best height of 14-1 1/4, the height she cleared in placing seventh at last year’s NCAA meet. Arkansas junior Tina Sutej won the national title with a height of 14-7 1/4.
Sonnenberg was the only Gopher competing at the NCAA Championships. Minnesota finished with two team points.
Big Ten indoor Championships Review
The Minnesota women’s track & field team finished third at the Big Ten Indoor Track & Field Championships in West Lafayette, Ind. The Gophers scored 73 points to finish behind Ohio State (122.50) and Penn State (86).
“We would have needed to have almost a perfect meet to get second place in this meet,” said Golden Gopher head coach Matt Bingle. “We left a lot of points at home due to injury, but the athletes at the meet gave us whatever they had and you can’t ask for more. It was a tight race from third to 10th and we just kept clawing away and fought hard. I’m happy with where we are. We’ll get back to work, hopefully get healthy, and give it a good run in the outdoor championships.”
The Gophers top event on Sunday was the mile where a pair of seniors, Nikki Swenson and Elizabeth Yetzer, collected top-five finishes. Swenson finished third with a time of 4 minutes, 43.66 seconds, while Yetzer placed fifth in 4:44.57. The duo was also part of the Gophers’ second-place distance medley relay on Saturday.
Sophomore Alena Brooks scored in two events on Sunday, competing in a very difficult 400 meters / 600 meters double. Brooks finished third in the 400 with a time of 55.04 seconds and 40 minutes later ran in the 600-meters final finishing eighth in 1:34.52.
Stephanie Price added another third-place finish on the Big Ten’s second day in the 5,000-meter run. She clocked a time of 16:31.88, the fourth-fastest time in school history.
Junior Chimerem Okoroji enjoyed an outstanding championship meet clocking a pair of career bests in the 60-meter dash. After running a time of 7.45 seconds in the prelims, Okoroji finished fourth with a time of 7.43 seconds, the second-fastest time in Gopher history.
Senior Jamie Dittmar contributed a fifth-place finish in the 800 meters with a time of 2:11.42.
Closing out the scoring for the Gophers was Todea-Kay Willis with a seventh-place finish in the triple jump with a leap of 39-7 1/4. The mark ranks eighth in school history.
Day One
Minnesota senior Samantha Sonnenberg captured the title in the pole vault to highlight the Golden Gophers’ performance in the first day of the 2011 Big Ten Women’s Indoor Track & Field Championships in West Lafayette, Ind. The Gophers are in second place in the team standings after six events scored with 39 points.
Sonnenberg cleared 13 feet, 7 1/4 inches to win her first career Big Ten crown. She was the Big Ten indoor runner-up in each of the last two indoor Championships. Sonnenberg also extends Minnesota’s streak of winning the event to four straight years. Junior Becca Pilkerton added a third-place finish with a height of 13-3 1/2.
Junior Todea-Day Willis contributed a second-place finish in the long jump with a career-best leap of 20-3. The jump is the second-longest in school history and just two inches off the Gopher record. Willis won the long jump title at last year’s outdoor Big Ten Championships.
The Gophers scored two runners in the 3,000-meter run. Sophomore Stephanie Price finished third in a time of 9 minutes, 25.62 seconds. Missa Varpness was eighth in 9:38.96.
Minnesota concluded the first day with a runner-up showing in the distance medley relay. The squad of Nikki Swenson, Nyoka Giles, Kathryn Ritter and Elizabeth Yetzer posted a time of 11:21.61.
Four Track Women Among Top Five Student Athletes
Each year, Minnesota Athletics recognizes the 10 student-athletes with the highest cumulative grade point averages with the Top Five Award (five men, five women). The Gopher women’s track team impressively claimed four of those five spots awarded. Top Five Award recipients were Becca Gusmer, Amy Kubat, Chimerem Okoroji and Kathryn Ritter.
Women’s Track Team Wins Community Service Award
The Golden Gopher women’s track team was honored with the Community Service Award at the annual Golden Goldy’s Awards Banquet. Community service hours are recorded by personal submission or student-athletes who volunteer through team or department organized events from April 15, 2010-April 10, 2011. The women’s track team record 3,394 hours, averaging 32.02 hours per student-athlete.
Graduating Gophers
Eleven (11) Gophers will graduate in May of 2011 - Ashley Deisting, Jamie Dittmar, Katie Dyson, Katie Salvatore, Annie Spieth, Lyndie Bosshart, Natalie Devine, Bianca Dougan, Brooke Robertson, Krista Skoglund and Samantha Sonnenberg.
The Golden Gopher Coaching Staff
Matt Bingle is in his fifth season as the Golden Gophers head women’s track & field coach and his ninth 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 (26th season, third as an assistant coach after 21 years as head coach)and Lynne Anderson (31st season).
Players Mentioned
