University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Jack Johnson Classic
Gophers Earn Five Titles on Jack Johnson Day Two
1/30/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Jan. 30, 2016
MINNEAPOLIS &dnash; The Golden Gopher women's track & field team took home five event titles on day two of the Jack Johnson Classic as Titania Markland, Kimberly Golding, Lyndsey Thorpe, and Heta Tuuri won their respective events and the Gophers won the 4x400-meter relay at the Minnesota Fieldhouse.
Markland clocked an indoor career-best time of 54.62 seconds to win the 400-meter dash and move into fourth among Gophers all-time. She also holds Minnesota's outdoor program record in the 400m at 52.86 seconds. Emerald Egwim earned a top-three finish at the meet as well, posting a time of 55.53 for third place.
Golding took home the 60-meter hurdles title in 8.32 seconds, improving on the Minnesota program record she already held (8.34 seconds) and setting a new Jack Johnson Classic meet record. Emma Spagnola was the 60m hurdles runner-up in 8.45 seconds, just 0.04 seconds off her career best.
Thorpe won the weight throw with a throw of 19.26m (63-02.25), winning her second weight throw title of the season. Meanwhile, Ke-ke Burks placed fourth with a career-best throw of 18.98m (62-03.25) to move into seventh all-time. Thorpe (third, 19.72m), Agnes Esser (fifth, 19.25m), Burks (seventh, 18.98m), Angie Guenther (ninth, 17.90m), and Allie Heifort (10th, 17.64m) have all made moves on Minnesota's all-time top-10 list with marks set this season.
Also in the field events, Tuuri won her second high jump crown of the season. She cleared 1.78m (5-10) to place first while Taylor Wiebke was third at 1.75m (5-08.75).
The 4x400-meter relay team of Erin Hawkins, Egwim, Kat Keller, and Markland ran a season-best 3:42.57 to win the event and set a new Jack Johnson Classic meet record. In total, Minnesota ran five 4x400m relay teams, and the team of Sophia Anderson, Bolade Jinadu, Erin Huls, and Lindsey Smits took fifth in 3:51.48 in a field of 27 teams.
In addition to taking home five event titles, the Gophers had several other notable performances on day two of the Jack Johnson Classic.
Shanique Wright recorded a collegiate-best leap of 12.55m (41-02.25) as the runner-up in the triple jump, moving into fifth among all-time Gopher jumpers.
The Gophers set nine personal best marks in the mile, led by Jamie Piepenburg placing sixth in the championship section (4:59.07) and Tess Wasowicz winning the unseeded section (5:05.95).
Minnesota saw similar success in the 600-meter run where the Gophers picked up seven career-best times. Kate Shelerud (1:35.05), Anderson (1:35.30) and Paige Peschel (1:37.31) all set personal bests in the championship section, placing third, fourth, and sixth, respectively.
Bailey Ness and Tamara Gorman recorded career-best times in the 3,000-meter run as Ness was eighth in 10:00.42 and Gorman was ninth in 10:05.06.
Other highlights in the unseeded races included Taylor Mikkalson running her first collegiate 800-meter run and winning in 2:15.95 and Jinadu finishing as runner-up in the 400-meter dash in a career-best 57.87 seconds.
The Gophers added their five titles from Saturday to two event crowns from day one of the Jack Johnson Classic as Hawkins won the 200-meter dash in 24.77 seconds and Golding won the long jump (5.79m, 19-00) on Friday.
Minnesota's pentathlets also turned in strong performances on day one of the meet. The Gophers earned four top-seven finishes in the pentathlon with all four performances landing on the program's all-time top-10 list. Alex Beckman scored 3,749 to place fourth and move into third all-time. Sofie Albrechtsen made her collegiate pentathlon debut with 3,747 points for fifth place and fourth all-time, and Audra Winter was close behind with 3,728 points for sixth at the meet and fifth all-time. Amanda Beckman scored 3,624 points for seventh and now ranks 10th all-time as well.
Minnesota travels to the Meyo Invitational hosted by Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., next weekend.
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