University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
South Dakota State Holiday Invite
Gophers Win Seven Titles at SDSU
12/2/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
BROOKINGS, S.D. - The Golden Gophers took home seven individual titles to kick off the 2016-17 track & field season at the SDSU Holiday Open at South Dakota State's Sanford-Jackrabbit Athletic Complex in Brookings, S.D., Friday.
Minnesota won three titles in the field events. Shanique Wright won long jump with an indoor career-best jump of 5.68m (18-07.75), Cami Gilson won the pole vault title at 3.65m (11-11.75), and Sofie Albrechtsen won high jump at 1.65m (5-05.00) while also taking fourth in shot put with a career-best throw of 13.28m (43-07.00).
On the track, the Gophers won four more events. Kimberly Golding led the way in the 60-meter hurdles as Minnesota earned the top three places. Golding won in 8.46 seconds ahead of runner-up Emma Spagnola (8.58) and third-place finisher Rachel Schow (8.83).
Emerald Egwim won the 200-meter dash in an indoor career-best 24.75 seconds, leading six Gophers in the event. Erin Hawkins also ran 24.75 for second place, and Bolade Jinadu posted a career-best time of 25.61 seconds in sixth place as Minnesota's top three.
Minnesota also had the top two 4x400-meter relay teams as Schow, Spagnola, Golding, and Egwim won the event in 3:50.17, and Jinadu, Lindsey Smits, Kat Keller, and Hawkins teamed up for a time of 3:52.29 as runners-up.
Freshman Val Larson won the 600-meter run while competing unattached; she led the way as the four unattached Gopher runners took the top four places. Larson ran 1:34.56, followed by runner-up Sophia Anderson (1:35.18), and Meleah Biermaier (1:35.34) and Erin Huls (1:35.44) rounded out the top four.
Along with her runner-up showing with the 4x400m relay, Smits ran a career-best 59.50 to lead four Gophers in the 400-meter dash, placing sixth overall.
Several Gophers made their debut competing in uniform for the Maroon & Gold in redshirt freshmen Schow, Lexi Kiefer, and Kayla Nelson. Kiefer finished third in pole vault at 3.50m (11-05.75), and Nelson made her official pentathlon debut, scoring 3,283 points with career-best marks in each event to place sixth. Meanwhile, senior transfer Tayler Whittler made her Gopher debut and took third in the 60-meter dash (7.86) and ninth in the 200-meter dash (25.91).
The Gophers' annual intrasuqad meet is set for next Friday, Dec. 9, before the team hosts the Minnesota Open on Saturday, Jan. 14. The Minnesota Open marks the team's first meet of the 2017 calendar year, and action gets underway at 11 a.m. CT at the University of Minnesota Fieldhouse.
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Players Mentioned
