University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers to Split Team for Four Meets
4/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
| Hamline Twilight | |||||||||||
| Date | Wednesday, April 22 | ||||||||||
| Location | Hamline University (St. Paul, Minn.)Â | ||||||||||
| Meet Info | Live Results | ||||||||||
| Drake Relays | |||||||||||
| Date | Wednesday-Sunday, April 22-26 | ||||||||||
| Location | Drake University (Des Moines, Iowa) | ||||||||||
| Meet Info | Meet Central | Live Results | ||||||||||
| Triton Invitational | |||||||||||
| Date | Friday-Saturday, April 24-25 | ||||||||||
| Location | UC San Diego (San Diego, Calif.) | ||||||||||
| Meet Info | Schedule | Entries | Live Results | ||||||||||
| Janis Rider Invitational | |||||||||||
| Date | Saturday, April 25 | ||||||||||
| Location | Macalester College (St. Paul, Minn.) | ||||||||||
| Meet Info | Heat Sheets/Live Results | ||||||||||
April 21, 2015
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Gopher women's track & field team is set to compete at four meets this week, beginning with the mid-week Hamline Twilight on Wednesday. This weekend, Minnesota will be split at the Drake Relays, UC San Diego Triton Invitational and Macalester's Janis Rider Invitational.
About the 2015 Hamline Twilight
The Hamline Twilight is set to begin at 4 p.m. CT Wednesday evening at Hamline's Klas Field.
About the 2015 Drake Relays
The 2015 Drake Relays are set to run Wednesday through Sunday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.
The Gophers competing include Lauren Domski (800m), Liz Berkholtz (5,000m), Becca Dyson (5,000m), Megan Bailey (10,000m), Kaila Urick (3,000m steeple chase), Madeline Strandemo (3,000m steeple chase), Kate Bucknam (3,000m steeple chase), Taylor Mikkalson (3,000m steeple chase) and Jamie Piepenburg (3,000m steeple chase). Minnesota will also run the 4x800m relay, 4x1600m relay and distance medley relay.
About the 2015 Triton Invitational
UC San Diego is set to hose the 2015 Triton Invitational this Friday and Saturday at Triton Stadium. Action gets underway at 12 p.m. CT Friday with the women's hammer throw. The women's discus and pole vault are also scheduled for Friday. Saturday's women's events begin with the javelin and the 4x100m relay both at 1 p.m. CT.
About the 2015 Janis Rider Invitational
Macalester College will host the 2015 Janis Rider Invitational on Saturday, beginning with the javelin and hammer throw at 9 a.m. CT. The first event on the track is the 10,000m run scheduled for 10 a.m.
Last Time Out: Holst Invitational, Virginia Challenge
The four Gopher heptathletes competed at the Virginia Challenge last weekend, led by Jess Herauf's Minnesota program record score of 5,912 points behind six personal best marks to win the event. Herauf improved upon the previous Minnesota record of 5,892 points held by Liz Roehrig since 2009. She bettered her own career-best score by over 400 points (5,490).
Fellow Gopher heptathletes Alex Beckman (5,062 points) and Amanda Beckman (4,879 points) also earned career-best scores. Alex Beckman placed sixth and ranks fifth in Minnesota history, and Amanda Beckman finished ninth and moved into 10th among all-time Gophers.
Minnesota also competed at the Holst Invitational hosted by Concordia-St. Paul last weekend. The Gophers recorded 14 career-best marks and Taylor Mikkalson (1,500m), Kate Shelerud (400m) and Heta Tuuri (high jump) won titles to lead the way.
Gophers vs. the Big Ten
Jess Herauf leads the Big Ten and ranks seventh in the NCAA in the heptathlon after her Minnesota program-record performance of 5,912 points at the Virginia Challenge. She also ranks second in the conference in the javelin at 47.57m. Fellow Gophers Alex Beckman (third, 5,062), Amanda Beckman (fourth, 4,879) and Audra Winter (fifth, 4,812) are also among the Big Ten's best in the heptathlon.
Devin Stanford is second in the Big Ten in the hammer throw with a mark of 61.76m, and she ranks fifth in the discus (51.50m). Several other Gopher throwers land among the league's top 10: Agnes Esser (discus, third, 53.66m), Nicolle Murphy (javelin, fourth, 45.83m), Lyndsey Thorpe (hammer, 56.28m, seventh), Ke-ke Burks (discus seventh, 50.17m) and Rachel Melum (javelin, seventh, 44.90m). Katie Murgic is fourth in the pole vault at 4.10m as well.
On the track, Erin Hawkins ranks sixth in the 100m (11.67) and 10th in the 200m (23.93). Two Gophers are among the B1G's top 10 400m runners in Titania Markland (fourth, 53.71) and Emerald Egwim (seventh, 54.18). Emma Spagnola ranks sixth in the Big Ten in the 400m hurdles (1:00.31) and eighth in the 100m hurdles (13.66), and Kaila Urick is ninth in the 3,000m steeple chase (10:33.41).
Minnesota's 4x100m relay team of Emerald Egwim, Titania Markland, Jessica Waldvogel and Erin Hawkins ranks fourth at 45.47, and the same four Gophers combine to make up the Big Ten's sixth-ranked 4x400m relay team at 3:38.95.
USTFCCCA National Rankings Update
The top three teams maintained their positions at the top of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) outdoor track & field rankings this week as No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 2 Florida and No. 3 Texas remain atop the standings. New No. 4 USC climbed three places into the top five this week, and No. 5 Arkansas dropped one place from last week.
Representing the Big Ten in the top 25 is No. 14 Michigan State, who climbed four positions from last week. Michigan dropped out of the top 25 this week. Meanwhile, Minnesota sits at No. 54 in the nation and sixth in the Midwest Region.
Head Coach Matt Bingle on the Week Ahead
Gopher Sports: What does the week ahead look like for the team?
Bingle: This week, we have Hamline on Wednesday, then the distance runners at Drake, sprints, jumps and throws at San Diego, and a group at Macalester this weekend. It's kind of a split group this weekend, but we're looking for everybody to take another step. Then we'll come back together at Iowa next week.
At Drake, we're running the 4x800m relay, 4x1600m relay and DMR and a few individual events. There's going to be a lot going on. We're excited to see them go in there and compete after having a weekend off. They've been training well.
For San Diego, most of the athletes competing had a weekend off last week. The multis won't be competing this weekend. We had a really good week of training last week, high intensity. I'm excited to see if we can take another step from Arkansas to San Diego. It looks like a good situation with good weather. It's always a great throws meet, so we're excited about that as well.
GS: What was last weekend like for the heptathletes at the Virginia Challenge?
Bingle: The whole group did a really good job. They all had good performances for this time of year. As a group, I was happy with their efforts. Individually, Jess obviously had a good day breaking the school record. We agreed that there is plenty of work to be done, and we're excited about moving forward. We have to recover this week and get back to work next week. Qualifies for the USA Championships, breaks the school record, it will get her into the NCAA Championships, so those are exciting things for her.
Last weekend put the whole heptathlon group in a good position for the Big Ten meet and the end of the season. They all walked away confident. We have to do a good job of managing things moving forward. It was exciting for Alex to PR and for Amanda to make the top-10 list. Audra is in a good spot, too. It was a fun weekend. They did what they're supposed to do.
Up Next: Three-Meet Week
Next week is another three-meet week for the Gophers. St. Thomas will host the Tommie Twilight next Wednesday, April 29, followed by the Hamline Meet of the Un-Saintly and Iowa's Musco Twilight next weekend.
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Players Mentioned
