University of Minnesota Athletics
Bingle Previews 2016 Campaign
1/7/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Jan. 7, 2016
MINNEAPOLIS - The Golden Gopher women's track & field team returns four all-time top-10 performers in the multi events, three of four sprinters from last year's Second Team All-American 4x400-meter relay team, the program's top-two all-time 60-meter hurdlers, the indoor 200-meter program record-holder, the outdoor 400-meter program record-holder, and the indoor high jump program record-holder.
"As a team, our group has high expectations for themselves and wants to do well," director of women's track & field and cross country Matt Bingle said. "We know we have to execute on race day and be ourselves and have fun, do it our way. It will be interesting to see who is going to step up. People have stepped up this fall, but who's going to step up once competition starts is where it counts."
Bingle preview the multi-events, hurdles, jumps, pole vault, and sprints as the Gophers begin the 2016 season.
Multi-Events
Minnesota returns its full lineup from a year ago in the multi-events in redshirt seniors Alex Beckman, Amanda Beckman, and Jess Lehman and redshirt junior Audra Winter. Sofie Albrechtsen further bolsters the multi-events corps, having represented her native Denmark in international competition.
Lehman leads the Gophers' multis as Minnesota's program record-holder in both the pentathlon (4,372 points) and the heptathlon (6,014) after earning All-American honors and Big Ten titles in both events in 2015. Alex Beckman took fourth in the B1G heptathlon last season, and joined Winter and Amanda Beckman to take sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively, in the 2015 B1G pentathlon indoors. All four rank among Minnesota's top-10 all-time multi-event competitors.
"There's a good tradition there, and we've had a lot of success in the multis but every year is a new year," Bingle said. "They have to come ready to continue improving if they want to have the same impact they've had in the past. That's an event where we've improved over the past few years, but we have to continue to rise up."
Hurdles
Kimberly Golding and Emma Spagnola will lead Minnesota's hurdlers. The duo ranks first and second all-time in the 60-meter hurdles indoors, and Spagnola holds the 100-meter hurdle record at 13.58 seconds and ranks seventh in program history in the 400-meter hurdles. Golding took fourth in the B1G 60m hurdles as a junior before red-shirting the outdoor season in 2015. Meanwhile, Spagnola placed fifth in the B1G 400m hurdles as a true freshman last season.
"I'm very excited for both Kim and Emma," Bingle said. "They've both matured well this year. Kim has a full year under her belt now after joining the program last January. They have a big vision, but they have to execute because the Big Ten is tough in the hurdles. They had some really good efforts this fall and they know what they want to do."
Along with Golding and Spagnola, Minnesota returns redshirt freshman Lindsey Smits and adds true freshmen Erin Huls, Mallori Johnson, Rachel Schow, and Ellie Vraa to bolster the hurdles group.
Jumps & Pole Vault
The coaching staff expects returners Heta Tuuri, Jess Lehman, and Alex Beckman and newcomers Sofie Albrechtsen and Taylor Wiebke to be the team's top high jumpers this season.
"We're hoping to have Jess, Alex, and Sofie be able to come back off the multi events and have an impact in the high jump competition, too," Bingle said, as the trio will join high jump specialists Tuuri and Wiebke.
Tuuri broke a decade-old indoor high jump program record last season, clearing 5-10.75 (1.80m). Meanwhile, Lehman cleared 5-9.25 (1.76m) to lead the Gophers during the 2015 outdoor season. Tuuri, Lehman, and Beckman all rank among the program's top-10 all-time high jumpers.
"Heta Tuuri is a year more mature and is ready to do some good things," assistant coach Peter Miller said. "Taylor Wiebke is the state all-time record holder in Minnesota. She is a stud and is going to do well. She'll be consistent day in and day out. Both are really fun kids to coach and they love each other, so that's a fun group and a super healthy atmosphere. Having those two and hopefully a couple of multi-eventers in that event will allow us to pick up a point or two there."
Albrechtsen and Wiebke bring impressive resumes to the Gophers. Albrechtsen has cleared 5-8 multiple times, and Wiebke owns a personal best of 5-11, setting the Minnesota State High School League record at the true team state meet as a junior while competing for Kasson-Mantorville High School.
In the long jump, Bingle looks to Jess Lehman, Emma Spagnola, Kimberly Golding, and Shanique Wright to lead the team. Lehman and Spagnola were the top two long jumpers a year ago as Lehman broke six meters multiple times to move into fifth-place in program history both indoors and outdoors, and Golding will return to an event she competed in during high school.
"Our long jumpers are a group that's unproven at the Big Ten meet, but there's plenty of potential if they can put it all together," Bingle said. "We're excited about Shanique's potential in both the long jump and the triple jump. She's young, so she may be a little up and down. She hasn't been at this level, but she'll prove her way. Emma can take another step from last year in long jump, and we're excited about Jess jumping six meters."
In the pole vault, the Gophers must fill the void left by the graduation of Katie Murgic last spring. Cami Gilson is the team's top returner but will redshirt the indoor season. Fellow returners Allie Funk and Macy Narr join true freshmen Lexi Kiefer, Miranda Severin, and Christina Stathakis to round out the pole vault crew.
Sprints & Relays
The Gophers will be led by returning sprinters Titania Markland, Emerald Egwim, Erin Hawkins, Emma Spagnola, and Kat Keller but are without Jessica Waldvogel, who graduated last spring.
"The sprints are an area where we want to make another step and make a bigger impact at the Big Ten level," Bingle said. "We need to be there in the individual events, not just the relays."
Bingle is impressed with what he has seen out of his top returners so far this year throughout their fall training.
"Every day the upperclassmen have executed and taken on every challenge we've thrown at them," Bingle said. "Emerald's training, execution of workouts, and maturity has been great this fall. Erin has improved a lot technically, which is going to be huge for her, and I'm excited to see how that translates. Kat had a great fall, too. She's a quiet person who's really matured.
"With another year, Titania took another step, too. She trained at a whole other level this fall. Her expectations are high in terms of what she wants to do at the Big Ten level and at the national level. She's another one where if she can get in the zone mentally and stay healthy, she'll blow some people away."
Markland owns Minnesota's outdoor program record in the 400-meter dash at 52.86, and she ranks third in program history indoor in the 600-meter run at 1:29.91. Egwim also ranks among the Gophers' top-10 all-time in the 400m, including clocking a 53.70 to rank fourth in program history outdoors. Meanwhile, Hawkins specializes in the shorter sprints and holds the Gophers' program record in the indoor 200-meter dash at 24.03 seconds. Her personal best is 23.93 outdoors, good for fifth all-time.
Hawkins, Egwim, and Markland return from the Gophers' 4x400m relay team that took 13th at the NCAA Championship, was runner-up in the Big Ten, and set the outdoor program record at 3:32.68 a year ago. Bingle expects Keller, Spagnola, or freshman Sophia Anderson to fill the fourth spot, nothing high expectations once again for both the 4x400m relay and the distance medley relay teams.
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Players Mentioned
