University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Big Ten Indoor Track & Field Championships
Johnson, Wieland Lead Gophers at B1G Meet
2/26/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Day One Results
GENEVA, Ohio (GopherSports.com) - Defending NCAA and Big Ten heptahlon champion Luca Wieland leads the field through four events and senior captain Luke Johnson picked up five points with a fourth-place showing in the shot put as the Gophers opened competition at the 2016 Big Ten Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday at the SPIRE Institute.
The Gophers combined for 9.5 points through the opening day of events with more action scheduled for Saturday.
With only five events scored, the Maroon & Gold were paced by Johnson's performance in the shot put as the senior topped the day out with a toss of 18.64 meters (61-02.00 ft.).
Minnesota also added three points with a sixth-place finish in the distance medley relay. The team of Shane Streich, Jack Wellenstein, Mitch Hechsel and Derek Wiebke clocked a 9:48.87.
Meanwhile, Wieland added 1.5 points in addition to his heptathlon performance, tying for seventh in the long jump with a 7.26 meters (23-10.00 ft.). The junior also paced each of the day's heptathlon events - winning the 60-meter dash (6.85), the long jump (7.14 meters), the shot put (14.47 meters, 47-05.75 ft.) and the high jump (2.07 meters). The final three heptathlon events - the 60-meter hurdles, the pole vault and the 1,000 meters - will be held on Saturday.
The Maroon & Gold also advanced a number of competitors through trials on Friday with Nate Roese (1:16.87) and Mitch Hechsel (1:17.09) advancing in the 600 meters as the second and third-ranked preliminary time after finishing second and first, respectively, in the Big Ten finals last year. Minnesota also saw senior captain and All-American Goaner Deng post the second-fastest qualifying time in the 800 meters at 1:49.26 while Shane Streich qualified with a personal record of 1:49.97. True freshman Jack Wellenstein added a personal record of 47.03 in the 400 meters to qualify for Saturday's finals while Derek Wiebke moved on in the mile run with a time of 4:08.35.
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Players Mentioned
