University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Iowa State Classic
Markland Breaks 400m Record at ISU Classic
2/13/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Feb. 13, 2016
AMES, Iowa - Titania Markland set a new Minnesota women's track & field indoor program record in the 400-meter dash to lead the Golden Gophers on day two of the Iowa State Classic on Saturday.
Markland clocked an indoor career-best time of 54.34 seconds, finishing just 0.01 seconds ahead of the previous program record held by Rikita Butler at 54.35 since 2010. Markland finished second at the meet to BYU's Shea Collinsworth at 53.72.
"I'm excited for Titania breaking the school record in the 400m," director of women's track & field and cross country Matt Bingle said. "Overall, I feel like the team is in a good spot, and we're doing the right things.
"We're excited here to see what happens in a couple weeks. We have some work to do before then and will fine tune some things, but we're in a good spot and feel good about who we are as a team."
All six Gophers in the 400m dash clocked career-best times as Emerald Egwim also moved up Minnesota's all-time ranks with a personal-best 54.56 for third at the meet and fifth in Gopher history. Kat Keller (55.98), Sophia Anderson (56.86), Bolade Jinadu (57.22), and Erin Huls (58.30) all ran career-best times as well.
Minnesota's 4x400-meter relay team of Keller, Egwim, Erin Hawkins, and Markland finished second in a season-best 3:42.17 as well. The Gophers ran three 4x400m teams with Anderson, Jinadu, Huls, and Stacey Swatek placing ninth in 3:47.48, and the team of Paige Peschel, Rebecca Wesley, Tess Wasowicz, and Taylor Mikkalson running 4:01.48.
Two Gophers ran career-best times in the 800-meter run. Swatek led the Gophers in 2:12.01, followed by Kate Shelerud (2:13.80), Peschel (career-best 2:14.64), and Wesley (career-best 2:15.14).
A pair of Minnesota runners also clocked career-best times in the mile. Haley Johnson (4:46.91) and Kaila Urick (4:49.19) led the Gophers with season-best times finishing in 10th and 13th-place, respectively, while Mikkalson (4:52.13) and Wasowicz (5:00.81) earned personal-best times.
Hawkins picked up a sixth-place finish in the 60-meter dash in a season-best 7.591 seconds a day after also placing sixth in the 200-meter dash in a season-best 24.44 seconds.
Day one at the Iowa State Classic saw Sofie Albrechtsen win the high jump at 1.76 meters (5-09.25) while Liz Berkholtz ran the second-fastest 3,000m run in Gophers' history, clocking a personal best 9:19.79. Madeline Strandemo also moved into fourth among all-time Gophers with a career-best of 9:21.81, and Emma Spagnola's career-best time of 24.48 in the 200m moved her into ninth in Gophers' history.
"I'm happy with what we saw from the milers and 3K runners this weekend, too," Bingle said. "They did a good job and took another step forward. Obviously the 3K was a pretty special race for Liz and Maddie, and they did a great job there. It was fun to watch."
The Gophers return to the Minnesota Fieldhouse next weekend for their final home meet of the season, hosting the Parents Day Invite on Saturday, Feb. 20, before traveling to the Big Ten Championship Feb. 26-27.
Minnesota will honor its 18 seniors at the Parents Day Invite: distance runners Liz Berkholtz, Melissa Cabak, Caitlin Dillon, Haley Johnson, Ally McSherry, Taylor Mikkalson, Jamie Piepenburg, Kate Shelerud, Stacey Swatek, Kaila Urick, and Rebecca Wesley; multi-event athletes Alex Beckman, Amanda Beckman, Jess Lehman, and Audra Winter; long jumper Kelly Flynn; and throwers Ke-ke Burks and Lyndsey Thorpe.
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