University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Northwest Open
Gophers Pick Up 14 Titles in Opener
1/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Link: Full 2015 Northwest Open Results
MINNEAPOLIS (Gophersports.com) - The University of Minnesota track & field program dominated its season opener at the Northwest Open on Saturday to the tune of 14 individual titles including a pair of titles from Brad Neumann.
"We had a lot of guys come out and give us great efforts for the first meet of the season and hopefully, that will set the tone for the entire season," Minnesota Director of Men's Track & Field and Cross Country Steve Plasencia said. "We've got a big dual coming up next at Wisconsin, and I know our guys are really looking forward to competing in the Border Battle."
A native of Peshtigo, Wis., Neumann set a new lifetime best of 6.84 seconds to win the 60-meter dash finals and then followed up the performance with a second win in the 200 meters, crossing the finish line in 21.87 seconds.
Meanwhile, Mitch Hechsel of Apple Valley, Minn., set a new Northwest Open record to win the 600 meters, clocking a time of 1:18.73. Minnesota finished 1-2-3 in the race with Bradley Johnson (1:19.98) and Jeffrey Cottrell (1:20.66) following Hechsel.
The Gophers dominated in several other races on Saturday afternoon as the team kicked off the 117th campaign of track & field competition at the University of Minnesota.
Nate Roese (48.47) and Rashawn Fountain (49.06) finished first and second, respectively, in the 400 meters while Derek Wiebke (1:53.33), Tony Joyer (1:55.35) and Michael Bolland (2:00.88) were the top three finishers in the 800 meters. Matt Welch (4:10.44) and Aaron Bartnik (4:11.30) finished first and second, respectively, in the one mile while senior captain Blayne Dulian was one of two team leaders to pick up a title on Saturday - finishing the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:27.16. Fellow senior captain Justin Barber also picked up a win in the weight throw with a toss of 19.59 meters (64-03.25 ft.).
Minnesota also picked up the top three finishers in the 60-meter hurdles with Ben Holcomb (8.34) besting teammates Jamie Crum (8.60) and Nick Bachinski (8.85). Bachinski, meanwhile, would pick up the high jump title at 2.05 meters (6-08.75 ft.) - one of four Gophers to pace the event.
Luca Wieland led the long jump competition, clearing 7.15 meters (23-05.50 ft.) while Jordan Charles cleared 13.78 meters (45-02.50 ft.) to win the triple jump.
Luke Johnson won the shot put at 17.32 meters (56.10.00 ft.), besting teammate Mark Jennings at 17.07 meters (56-00.00 ft.)while the 4x400 meter relay team of Nate Roese, Bradley Johnson, Rashawn Fountain and Mitch Hechsel paced a 1-2-3 Gophers finish with a time of 3:18.03.
Players Mentioned
