University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Name 2017 Captains
11/7/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota women's track & field team has selected its 2016-17 team captains. The seven Gophers who will lead the defending Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field co-champions are Cami Gilson, Kimberly Golding, Angie Guenther, Erin Hawkins, Titania Markland, Nicolle Murphy, and Madeline Strandemo.
Markland and Murphy return to the Gophers' leadership group after serving as captains last season while Strandemo is currently a co-captain for Minnesota's cross country team this fall. The remaining four Gophers enter their first seasons as captains.
"They all have great hearts, they want to do well, and they want to treat people the right way," director of women's track & field and cross country Matt Bingle said. "They all have their own strengths, and everybody brings something to the table. Some of them are new captains, so they're learning but some of them have been through it. As with every year, it's a learning process to figure out how to work with the team. We've had our team retreat and some team activities. They're getting in the groove and working on team bonding as we go this fall."
The group combines to hold three indoor program records and three outdoor program records in the 60m hurdles (Golding), 100m hurdles (Golding), indoor 200m dash (Hawkins), outdoor 400m dash (Markland), and both the indoor and outdoor 4x400m relays (Hawkins, Markland). In total, these seven Gophers are listed among Minnesota's all-time top-10 list 19 times indoors and 26 times outdoors.
They have also accumulated significant awards in their Gophers careers so far. Markland (1st, 600m; 2nd 600m, 2nd 4x400m), Murphy (1st javelin; 2nd javelin; 2nd javelin), Hawkins (2nd 4x400m), and Strandemo (2nd, 3,000m steeplechase) have earned eight All-Big Ten awards with first-place and runner-up conference finishes. The group has earned a total of 25 top-five Big Ten Conference Championship finishes while combining to make 25 indoor appearances and 32 outdoor appearances at the B1G Championships.
In their first three years with the program, these seven Gophers have qualified for the NCAA West Prelim 19 times and made five appearances at the NCAA Championships, earning four All-American awards. The group has collected nine USTFCCCA All-Academic awards and 11 Academic All-Big Ten awards as well.
Minnesota kicks off the 2016-17 track & field season in January.
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Players Mentioned
