University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
UCLA Legends of Track & Field Invite
Golding Breaks Hurdle Record
4/2/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
April 2, 2016
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Titania Markland won the 800-meter run and Kimberly Golding set a new Minnesota program record in the 100-meter hurdles to lead the Golden Gopher women's track & field team at the UCLA Legends Invitational Saturday.
In total, the Gophers finished the meet with two event titles, as Agnes Esser won the hammer throw on Friday, along with Markland's career-best time of 2:09.84 en route to her 800m crown. Minnesota also collected six runner-up showings and had 13 total top-three finishes.
Golding (13.46 seconds) and Emma Spagnola (13.53) posted the top-two times in Minnesota history in the 100-meter hurdles, placing second and third at the meet. The duo improved on the Gophers' all-time list in their 2016 outdoor debuts. Spagnola also placed third in the 400-meter hurdles, just one second off her personal best in 1:00.91.
Erin Hawkins (100-meter dash, 11.93 seconds) and Emerald Egwim (200-meter dash, 24.37 seconds) both earned runner-up finishes in the sprints, and two more Gophers ran personal bests in the 400-meter dash as Kat Keller placed third in 55.54 seconds and Bolade Jinadu was eighth in 57.09 seconds.
Both relay teams picked up top-three finishes as the Gophers' 4x400-meter relay team of Egwim, Hawkins, Keller, and Markland came in second in 3:40.67, and the 4x100-meter relay team of Hawkins, Spagnola, Golding, and Egwim was third in 45.61.
Minnesota earned three top-five finishes in the discus, led by Esser's second-place throw of 54.35m (178-04). Angie Guenther was fourth (46.74m, 153-04), and Kiley Sabin placed fifth at 45.33m (148-09). Sabin also placed third in the shot put with a career-best throw of 15.32m (50-03.25) to move into eighth in Gophers' history.
Shanique Wright was the runner-up in the triple jump with a leap of 12.41m (40-08.75) to move into a tie for fourth in Minnesota history. She also led the Gophers in the long jump with a collegiate-best jump of 5.73m (18-09.75) for fourth place.
Friday at the Legends Invite, Esser set a career-best throw of 59.55 meters (195-04) to win the hammer throw and move her into fifth in Minnesota history. Behind Esser, Lyndsey Thorpe (57.74m, 189-05) and Guenther (55.19m, 181-01) also earned top-five finishes, placing fourth and fifth, respectively.
Competing without its distance corps, Minnesota placed third in the team standings with 124 points behind host UCLA (173.5 points) and runner-up Kansas State (124.5). Nevada (65) and Cornell (59.5) rounded out the top-five team finishes.
The Gophers are set to compete locally at the Hamline Invitational on Sunday. Action gets underway at 10:30 a.m. CT at HU's Klas Field. Admission is free.
###
Players Mentioned
