University of Minnesota Athletics
Todea-Kay Willis Earns NCAA Champ. Berth
5/27/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Willis will make her NCAA Championships debut at the national meet hosted by Drake in Des Moines, Iowa, on June 8-11.
The Gophers also had four runners advance out of the first round of their respective events and into the national quarterfinal. Elizabeth Yetzer topped the list by winning her heat of the 1,500-meter run in a time of 4 minutes, 22.31 seconds, the second-fastest time of the first round. Nikki Swenson grabbed one of the automatic qualifying spot granted to the top-five finishers in each heat clocking a time of 4:23.55. The 1,500-meter quarterfinal will be contested on Saturday with 12 finalists determined to compete in the NCAA Championships.
Minnesota earned its first quarterfinal qualifier in the very first event on the track on Thursday. Sharyn Dahl picked up an automatic qualifier by placing third in her heat of the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 59.32 seconds. Kelly Stalpes was 28th with a time of 1:00.67.
Alena Brook added her name to the list of quarterfinalists in the 400-meter dash running a time of 54.41 seconds. She finished third in her heat to pick of the automatic qualifier.
Finishing one place and three-hundreds (.03) of a second from advancing to the quarterfinal in the 100-meter dash was Chimerem Okoroji. Okoroji finished fourth in her heat with a time of 11.78 seconds.
Despite seeing her season come to a close, javelin thrower Emily Betz concluded her NCAA West Prelim experience by landing a career-best effort of 143-9. That distance ranks Betz No. 10 in Gopher history in the event. She finished 27th overall.
The last event of the day was the 10,000-meter run. Stephanie Price finished 20th with a time of 34:14.07.
Players Mentioned
