University of Minnesota Athletics
Wieland Breaks School Record in Opener
12/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Results
BROOKINGS, S.D. (GopherSports.com) - All-American senior Luca Wieland led all seven events in the heptathlon over the weekend at the SDSU Holiday Open and Multi to set a new University of Minnesota record in the event.
A native of Saarbrucken, Germany, Wieland opened the season with 6,089 points at the two-day competition, besting his own school record of 6,070 points to win the 2015 National Championship on March 13-14, 2015 in Fayetteville, Ark.
"This is a great start to the season for Luca, and it's what we've come to expect from him week-in and week-out," Minnesota Director of Men's Track & Field and Cross Country Steve Plasencia said. "It doesn't matter if it's the first meet of the season or the NCAA championships, Luca is going to push himself to be the absolute best no matter what."
Closing out the competition on Saturday, Wieland paced the field in three events - leading the 60-meter hurdles (8.23), the pole vault (4.80 meters, 15-09.00 ft.) and the 1,000 meters (2:46.39). He also led the field in four events on Friday -- the 60 meters (6.92), the long jump (7.46 meters, 24-05.75 ft.), the shot put (14.83 meters, 48-08.00 ft.) and the high jump (2.10 meters, 6-10.75 ft.).
Wieland now owns the top three heptathlon scores in program history - originally hitting 5,787 points to win the 2015 Big Ten heptathlon title (breaking a 17-year old school record) before upping his record to 6,070 points to win the 2015 NCAA title - the 13th individual national championship in program history.
Additionally, Mac Riedy picked up his first career win for the Gophers in the weight throw on Friday, hitting 20.11 meters, 65-11.75 ft.
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Players Mentioned
