University of Minnesota Athletics
Distance Gophers Ready for Track
1/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
MINNEAPOLIS - After placing 18th in the nation at the NCAA Cross Country Championship last fall, the Gopher distance runners are ready to take on the track. Head coach Sarah Hopkins assesses the leadership, goals, and expectations, and the top Gophers at each distance as the team officially kicks off the 2016 season at the Minnesota Open this Saturday.
Hopkins expects fifth-year seniors Kaila Urick, Liz Berkholtz, Stacey Swatek, and Ally McSherry to lead the distance group. Urick is a track captain for the Gophers this spring, and Berkholtz served as a cross country captain during the fall.
"Liz was great captain for us in the fall, and she's made some great strides leadership-wise," Hopkins said. "Kaila is doing a great job, and Stacey and Ally are two who are very passionate about track and are already leaders in our 800-meter group. Taylor Mikkalson's always a great person and a great leader, so there's a lot of leadership in our upper-class group."
Four returning distance Gophers qualified for the NCAA West Prelim a year ago in McSherry (800m), Berkholtz (5,000m), Urick (3,000m steeplechase), and Mikkalson (3,000m steeplechase). Urick and Berkholtz led the distance corps at the Big Ten Championship with Urick placing fourth in the 3,000m steeplechase and Berkholtz taking eighth in the 10,000m.
"The distance group wants to help the team anyway we can," Hopkins said. "We know what it's going to take at the Big Ten level. I think the 'C' level goal will be to score at the Big Ten meet in every distance event. Obviously, above and beyond that, putting people in the top three or four would be wonderful.
"Outdoors, we have some more confidence with the steeplechase and the 10K, events where historically we've had more success. The goals get a little loftier once we get outdoors, but I think indoors, we want to put good kids on the line in every event that have a chance to go in there and compete hard and score."
Mid-Distance: 800-Meters
The Gophers' 800-meter group split their fall training between cross country and also some speed work on the track under the guidance of director of track & field and cross country Matt Bingle. Hopkins expects Ally McSherry and Stacey Swatek to lead the group.
"We're really excited about where that group is at right now," Hopkins said. "They had some good progress last year. Swatek ran 2:10 last year. There's really some good mojo going on in that group right now. They are on pace to take a good step from last year."
McSherry returned to the program last year after three years away from the sport. She ran career-best times in the 800m (2:07.42) and 1,500m (4:32.09), competed at the Big Ten Championship and NCAA West Prelim, and ended the year ranked seventh among all-time Gopher 800m runners.
"Ally will probably lead the group again," Hopkins said. "Last year was her first season back with us, so just having more races under her belt will be really helpful.
"Stacey did a great job for us in cross country and was on our Big Ten team. She's just in a completely different place coming out of the fall than she ever has been. Fitness and confidence-wise, she's just jacked up and ready to go. So, I think those two will be the ring leaders."
Hopkins also expects Tess Wasowicz and Kate Shelerud to take another step forward, along with Paige Peschel and Anne Haakenstad.
Mid-Distance: Mile
The mile is one of the deeper events for the distance Gophers, led by Kaila Urick, Haley Johnson, Madeline Strandemo, and Taylor Mikkalson. All four had strong fall cross country seasons and will be expected to lead the charge.
Urick was the top Gopher miler a year ago, running 4:45.28 indoors and 4:25.03 in the 1,500-meter run outdoors. Johnson was right there running 4:49.65 indoors as well.
"The mile is an event we knew coming out of last year we had some good depth, more than we've ever had in recent memory," Hopkins said. "I think Urick and Johnson can be in that low 4:40 world, so we expect to have those two leading the charge in the mile.
"Then you've got Madeline Strandemo, who just broke 5:00 last year, but in the fall was a completely different athlete. Putting her with those two from a training and confidence standpoint, she's going to make some big leaps. Taylor Mikkalson is another one who can get pulled along and run with that top group. She just ran 4:57 in her mile time trial at the end of cross country, which is a PR from last year."
The 800m runners will also bolster the mile group. Swatek and McSherry both ran career-best times in both the mile indoors and 1,500m outdoors last season.
"Swat and Ally will probably come up and run a few mile races for training purposes to kind of see where they are at," Hopkins said. "Tess is going to focus on the 800m and the mile as well. She's one we're hoping is healthy and in a different place than she has been in the past. It will be fun to see what she is capable of."
Long-Distance: 3,000m, 5,000m & 10,000m
After leading Minnesota all cross country season, Liz Berkholtz is the top long distance runner for the Gophers on the track. Berkholtz placed 44th at the NCAA Cross Country Championship and 11th at the Big Ten Championship last fall, and she already ranks among the top-10 all-time Gophers on the track in the 5,000-meter run and the 10,000-meter run.
"I'm excited to see what Liz can do in both the 3K and the 5K indoors and then moving into the 10K outdoors," Hopkins said. "I think she's ready. Last year, she was hurt going into indoor, so we had a weird year last year with her just because we were always trying to make up time."
Despite battling injury, Berkholtz was Minnesota's top runner at the 3,000m, 5,000m, and 10,000m a year ago. She ran her outdoor 5,000m career best to move into seventh all-time, clocking a 16:26.17 at the 2015 Drake Relays.
Behind Berkholtz, a group of underclassmen is ready to prove themselves, including redshirt freshmen Tamara Gorman, Patty O'Brien, Bailey Ness, and Courtney Alama.
"I think that younger group is really chopping at the bit to make that next leap," Hopkins said. "There's a lot of depth there, and I think having someone like Liz to key off is going to be really important for them. They can take advantage of her leadership and her savvy and learn from it because next year it's going to be on them."
Hopkins also mentioned the range for Urick, Johnson, and Strandemo as others who have the potential to run the 5,000m, and definitely the 3,000m throughout the season. Danielle Anderson is another longer distance runner who Hopkins hopes they can keep healthy this year. Anderson ran the 5,000m at the indoor B1G meet a year ago and earned All-Midwest Region honors during the 2014 cross country season but has battled injuries.
"This group has a few more question marks because a lot of them were redshirted last year were redshirted," Hopkins explained. "Danielle is definitely coming around and will be a 10K or 5K type of person long term. She's going to be a wildcard who can be a Big Ten scorer in one of those two events and as long as we can keep her healthy."
3,000-Meter Steeplechase
Kaila Urick is Minnesota's top returner in the 3,000-meter steeplechase after placing fourth in the Big Ten last year with a career-best 10:18.45 to rank fifth in program history. Taylor Mikkalson (10:30.64), Jamie Piepenburg (10:42.06), and Madeline Strandemo (10:46.28) also return after running career bests a year ago.
"Steeple is a fun event and we've got some good depth there," Hopkins said. "I think we could have three or four kids at Big Ten caliber. This year, it'll be a matter of developing the younger kids, too. It's a pretty senior-driven group in terms of graduating people. Hopefully we'll begin to develop some younger kids at this event, which is one that nobody does in high school really. For right now for this year, we feel confident that we can make some splashes at the Big Ten and NCAA levels."
For the distance Gophers, the cross country season creates momentum going into indoor track season, but outdoor track season also helps build confidence and springboards runners into a strong summer and fall. In this way, Hopkins uses the track season to groom the underclassmen for cross country.
"Obviously we're really focused on track and we want to do well, but what we do next fall starts building now, too," Hopkins said. "A lot of times you see people gain a ton of confidence on the track because everybody splits up by their events. Scoring in the Big Ten is never easy, but on the track it's different than being top-10 at a cross country meet where everyone is on the line together. You can build momentum during track season in a different way that then leads us into the fall."
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