University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Head to UW La Crosse Eagle Open
5/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
| Eagle Open | |||||||||||
| Date | Friday, May 8, 2015 | ||||||||||
| Location | Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex, La Crosse, Wis. | ||||||||||
| Meet Info | Meet Info | Heat Sheets | Schedule | ||||||||||
| Time | 3 p.m. Field events | 4 p.m. Running events | ||||||||||
| Coverage | Results | ||||||||||
May 6, 2015
MINNEAPOLIS -- Many of the Golden Gophers will compete in their final meet of the season while others tune up for the Big Ten Championship as the Minnesota women's track & field team competes at the UW-La Crosse Eagle Open on Friday.
About the Eagle Open
UW-La Crosse will host its annual Eagle Open at 3 p.m. this Friday at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The first events are scheduled to get underway at 3 p.m., beginning with women's high jump, long jump, pole vault and hammer throw. Track events are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. with the preliminary heats of the 100m hurdles and 100m dash.
Last Time Out: Musco Twilight Highlights Three-Meet Week
The Gophers combined for 17 event titles and 45 career-best marks, including unattached competitors, at the Tommie Twilight, Meet of the Un-Saintly and Musco Twilight last week.
The Tommie Twilight saw the Gophers take home seven event titles, including Emma Spagnola winning the 100m hurdles with a career-best time of 13.64 seconds, which ranks second in program history. In addition, Angie Guenther won the discus with a season-best throw of 45.76m (150-01), Rachel Melum finished first in the javelin at 40.15m (131-08), and Devin Stanford finished won the hammer throw at 59.77m (196-01).
Senior Katie Murgic's performance in the pole vault highlighted the Hamline Meet of the Un-Saintly. She moved into sole possession of fourth place among all-time Gopher pole vaulters with a career-best mark of 4.15 meters (13-07.25) to finish as the runner-up behind former Gopher Samantha Sonnenberg, who cleared 4.30m while competing unattached.
At the Musco Twilight hosted by Iowa, the Gophers won six titles, including both the 4x100-meter relay and 4x400-meter relay crowns. The 4x400m team of Jessica Waldvogel, Emerald Egwim, Erin Hawkins and Titania Markland finished in 3:36.89, their best of the season and the second fastest time in program history. Meanwhile, the 4x100m team of Egwim, Spagnola, Waldvogel and Hawkins won in 45.72 seconds.
Minnesota won three titles and earned seven career bests in the throwing events led by Agnes Esser, who had three career-best throws and a first-place finish in the discus. Esser won the discus with a career-best throw of 54.38m (178-05.25) and placed fifth in both the hammer (58.40m, 191-07.50) and the shot put (14.35m, 47-01).
Devin Stanford took home the title in the hammer throw with a career-best throw of 61.82m (202-10.25) to improve her Minnesota program record, and Nicolle Murphy won the javelin with a season-best throw of 50.03m (164-1).
The Gophers also took home the title in the 1,500-meter run as Haley Johnson won in a career-best 4:30.20. Also on the track, Ally McSherry shattered her career best in the 800-meter run with a third-place time of 2:07.42, taking over four seconds off her previous season-best time to move into seventh in program history.
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. 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.
Five Gophers are in the top 10 in the hammer throw led by Devin Stanford in second at 61.82m. Joining Stanford among the league's best are Ke-ke Burks (fifth, 58.62m), Agnes Esser (sixth, 58.40m), Lyndsey Thorpe (eighth, 57.69m) and Angie Guenther (10th, 56.50m). Likewise, Minnesota owns three of the top four places in the javelin: Nicolle Murphy (second, 50.03m), Jess Herauf (third, 47.57m) and Rachel Melum (fourth, 46.68m).
Several other Gopher throwers land among the league's top 10: Stanford (discus, fourth, 54.24m), Esser (discus, third, 54.38m), Burks (discus, seventh, 51.12m) and Kailee Kamps (shot put, 10th, 14.93m). Katie Murgic is fourth in the pole vault at 4.15m, and Heta Tuuri is tied for ninth in high jump (1.73m).
On the track, Kaila Urick is fourth in the 3,000m steeple chase (10:19.48). Erin Hawkins ranks seventh in the 100m (11.63). Two Gophers are among the B1G's top 10 400m runners in Titania Markland (fifth, 53.71) and Emerald Egwim (eighth, 54.18). Emma Spagnola ranks sixth in the 400m hurdles (1:00.31) and 10th in the 100m hurdles (13.64).
Minnesota's 4x100m relay team of Egwim, Markland, Jessica Waldvogel and Hawkins ranks fifth at 45.47, and the same four Gophers combine to make up the Big Ten's fourth-ranked 4x400m relay team at 3:36.89.
USTFCCCA National Rankings Update
No. 1 Arkansas, No. 2 USC, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Texas and No. 5 Kentucky make up the top five teams in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) outdoor track & field rankings this week.
Representing the Big Ten in the top 25 is No. 12 Michigan State, which climbed one spot from last week. Minnesota is No. 56 on the national list and remains fourth in the Midwest region.
Program Records Fall
The Gophers have broken six Minnesota program records this season. The indoor season saw records fall in the 200m (Erin Hawkins, 24.03), 60m hurdles (Kimberly Golding, 8.34), high jump (Heta Tuuri, 1.80m) and pentathlon (Jess Herauf, 4,372 points). Outdoor, the team has broken the hammer throw record (Devin Stanford, 61.82m) and the heptathlon record (Jess Herauf, 5,912 points).
Up Next: Big Ten Championships
Michigan State will host the 2015 Big Ten Men's & Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Ralph Young Field in East Lansing, Mich., on May 15-17.
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Players Mentioned
