University of Minnesota Athletics
Mead, Mege Win Titles, Gophers in First Place
5/14/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Mead made a successful return to the outdoor championships after 15 months of battling health issues and picked up right where he left off. Mead won his second 10,000-meter run crown clocking a career-best time of 29 minutes, 4.79 seconds.
Mead and teammate Mike Torchia ran with three Wisconsin Badgers throughout the duration of the race. Mead dashed to the lead with 600 meters left in the race and crossed the finish line with a triumphant raising of his arms, a deserving celebration after the junior needed to overcome first an Achilles tendon injury and then a collapsed lung to once again taste the sweetness of victory.
“I feel good. They (Badgers) are strong guys, All-Americans,” said Mead. “I saved enough where that last 600 I knew I had to go hard. I was determined to close hard.”
Torchia finished fifth in a time of 29:18.52. Mead felt the impact of his teammate in the lead pack.
“Three laps to go and he was right there on my shoulder,” said Mead. “He gave me a high five from behind. Having him up there, that got my legs going, the excitement going. There were two of us, three of them (Wisconsin) and it was like we just need to get these points. It was absolutely exciting.”
Pieter Gagnon added important points with a seventh-place showing in a time of 29:42.27.
Minnesota got things started with an impressive 1-2 finish in the hammer throw. Quentin Mege, a sophomore from France, heaved the hammer a personal-best of 207 feet, 8 inches to win the title. Micah Hegerle, who won the Big Ten title as a freshman last year, was second with a throw of 207-1.
“It’s great and I got a PR too so that’s awesome,” said Mege. “Today with the weather, we couldn’t be sure of anything, it was good to get a good toss early.”
Weather caused havoc with the pole vault competition. Wind and rain caused a delay and the field was never able to conquer the element as the winning vault was only 16-6 3/4. Senior Ben Peterson was hampered by a left ankle sprain suffered at the Drake Relays two weeks ago and could only manage clearing a height of 16-2 3/4, finishing in a tie for seventh place.
In the decathlon, Joey Schwecke leads after the first day’s events with 3,807 points. He led from the get-go, clocking a time of 11.01 in the 100 meters before topping the field with a leap of 22-8 in the long jump. Schwecke finished the day by landing a throw of 42-4 1/4 in the shot put, clearing 6-5 1/2 in the high jump and running a time of 52.12 in the 400 meters.
Brock Spandl is in third place in the decathlon with 3,657 points. He tied a career-best in the high jump clearing a height of 6-6 3/4. Kenny Schofield is in sixth with 3,571 points, while Jack Szmanda is in ninth place with 3,456 points.
The decathlon continued on Saturday with the 110-meter hurdles starting at 9:30 a.m.
Players Mentioned
