University of Minnesota Athletics
Gopher Women Throwers 2012 Indoor Preview
1/9/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Jan. 9, 2012
This year's group of throwers for the University of Minnesota women's track & field team is hungry to show how much they have improved this past off-season. Coming off a little setback from last year's Big Ten championships, the group is ready to show their competiveness against opponents.
Long time throwing coaching Lynne Anderson is excited to see what this group has to offer for the 2012 season.
"We have 11 throwers this season and this group's goal in the offseason was to improve on their technique, make the travel team which in the Big Ten is very hard to do especially with the shot and weight throw," Anderson said. "All of them have made the same commitment at the beginning of last fall and that was to come to practice every day with a positive attitude and at every practice their job is to come ready to work."
Led by senior DeAnne Hahn in the weight throw, the Gophers have a young group that will look to help score big points in the conference. Hahn, who ranks fourth all-time in Minnesota history for the weight throw (62-1 feet); will be looking to keep that pace going in quest for a trip to the NCAA championships.
The Big Ten is known for having some very talented throwers in the weight throw completion. At last year's NCAA finals, four throwers were from the Big Ten Conference.
Other key names to look out for are junior Jeri Johnson-Chambers and redshirt freshman Christina DeLakis. Coach Anderson said both have significant improvement in the offseason and the intrasquad clearly proved that. Johnson-Chambers threw the weight throw 54-10 ½ feet, which was a personal best. DeLakis tossed the shot put 46 ½ feet
"Tina (DeLakis) and Jeri (Johnson-Chambers) have worked hard all season with our strength and conditioning program and we hope their work will pay off for them," Anderson said.
As a group Anderson says there are some very special things about this group that she is excited about.
"They are very competitive group every day, rather it is in the weight room or in the field," Anderson said. "What is so special about them is they always have each other's back and collectively they are a unit. We have lot of upperclassmen and that helps keep the group positive."
Other names to watch out for are juniors Emily Betz, Caty Dongoske and Amy Kubat.
Keep an eye out for this talented group of throwers that the Golden Gophers have lined up for this season.
Players Mentioned
