University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Minnesota Open
Gophers Win Seven Titles at Minnesota Open
1/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Jan. 16, 2016
MINNEAPOLIS - The Golden Gopher women's track & field team won seven event titles as the team hosted the season-opening Minnesota Open at the University of Minnesota Fieldhouse on Saturday.
"It was good to be back in a competitive atmosphere, and we had some good opening marks and good PRs by a number of people," director of women's track & field and cross country Matt Bingle said. "Obviously, there's a lot of work to do but the goal was to take care of things mentally, warm up and cool down right, and come out of the meet healthy, which I think we did."
The Gophers won four titles on the track and added three in the field events, including Lyndsey Thorpe's win in the weight throw.
Thorpe led eight Gophers in the top eight finishers and recorded a career-best throw of 19.72 meters (64-08.50) to move into third in program history. Three other Gophers moved among Minnesota's all-time ranks: Agnes Esser placed second and moved into seventh all-time (18.46m, 60-06.75), Allie Heifort placed third and moved into eighth all-time (17.64m, 57-10.50), and Angie Guenther placed fourth and now ranks 10th all-time (17.51m, 57-05.50). In total, eight Gophers recorded personal bests in the weight throw.
"The weight throw was good, a nice opener for them, especially knowing they're only going to get better," Bingle said. "I know they still have a lot to work on. They were feeding off each other, which was great. Week by week, they just have to continue improving."
Minnesota also won the shot put and the high jump in the field events. Kiley Sabin recorded a career-best throw of 14.98m (49-01.75) to lead the Gophers in the shot put, and Heta Tuuri defended her title from last year's Minnesota Open in the high jump by clearing 1.79m (5-10.50).
On the track, the Gophers won titles in the 200-meter dash (Emerald Egwim), mile (Liz Berkholtz), 60-meter hurdles (Emma Spagnola), and the 4x400-meter relay (3:53.74).
Egwim ran a career-best 25.05 seconds to win the 200m dash, leading four Gophers in the top four. Kat Keller took second in 25.41 seconds, while Sophia Anderson took third running unattached (25.83 seconds) and Bolade Jinadu was fourth in 25.99 seconds.
Minnesota also took the top four places in the mile, led by Berkholtz's career-best 4:59.80. Stacey Swatek was second in 5:01.03, followed by Taylor Mikkalson in third (5:02.07) and Tess Wasowicz in fourth (5:15.50).
Spagnola joined Tuuri in defending her title from a year ago, clocking a Minnesota Open meet record of 8.54 seconds to win the 60-meter hurdles.
Other top finishes on the track included Kate Shelerud leading the Gophers in the 800-meter run, placing third in an indoor career-best 2:17.78. The top attached Gopher in the 3,000-meter run was Emily Castanias in fifth place (10:23.75). Madeline Strandemo finished as the runner-up in the 5,000-meter run (17:02.30), leading seven Gophers in the top eight finishers.
Several other Gophers competed unattached at the meet as well, led by Kelsey Sather placing first in the 600-meter run (1:45.15). Erin Huls took second in the 400-meter dash (60.22), and Lexi Kiefer was second in the pole vault (3.58m, 11-09). Meanwhile, Shanique Wright won the triple jump (11.81m, 38-09) and finished second in the long jump (5.35m, 17-06.75) while competing unattached. In the 3,000-meter run, Emily Betz took third in 10:17.27 and Abby Kargol was fourth in 10:23.42.
"Today was a good start," Bingle said. "Now we're just moving on and looking forward to the dual meet. We want to take care of business with that. It's an important part of our season."
The Gophers host Wisconsin in the second annual Minnesota-Wisconsin Dual at the University of Minnesota Fieldhouse next Saturday. FloTrack will provide live coverage beginning at 12:45 p.m. Advance tickets are on sale now at MyGopherSports.com, and a gold out is planned for the meet where attendees will receive a free gold t-shirt while supplies last.
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Players Mentioned
