University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
NCAA Outdoor West Preliminary
Eight Gophers Advance to NCAA Championship
5/28/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
LAWRENCE, Kan. - Eight Golden Gophers are advancing to the NCAA Championship following the conclusion of the NCAA West Prelim on Saturday at KU's Rock Chalk Park. Agnes Esser and Shanique Wright join Minnesota's five qualifiers from Friday and heptathlon qualifer Jess Lehman in representing the Maroon & Gold in Eugene, Ore.
Minnesota's eight individual qualifiers matches the most in program history as eight Gophers also competed at the 2008 NCAA Championship. Most recently, seven Gophers competed at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship, including three individuals and one relay team.
"I knew our eight qualifiers was close to the most we've ever had," director of women's track & field and cross country Matt Bingle said. "The body of work that we had this year from indoor and outdoor was phenomenal. It's one of the best statistical years ever in terms of top-10 performances and school records, but if we're winning Big Ten titles, that's the way it should be; we should come into this meet and do big things."
Esser (discus) and Wright (triple jump) join Liz Berkholtz (10,000m), Nicolle Murphy (javelin), Kaila Urick (3,000m steeplechase), Lyndsey Thorpe (hammer throw), and Heta Tuuri (high jump) in earning their way to the national championship meet with top-12 finishes in their respective events at the NCAA West Prelim. Meanwhile, Lehman qualified straight to the NCAA meet as the seventh-ranked heptathlete.
Esser finished as runner-up in the discus as the competition concluded Saturday morning. She threw 50.42m (165-5) on her first attempt before crushing Minnesota's program record with a mark of 57.91m (190-0) on her second throw. Esser improved on her career best by over three meters and broke the Gophers' record from 1999 held by Nicole Chimko (55.72m, 182-10). The first two flights were held Friday before lightning caused competition to be suspended for the evening; Angie Guenther ended up placing 25th (49.13m, 161-02).
"What Agnes did today was just unbelievable," Bingle said. "After the year she's had, it's just so well-deserved. She's got heart and guts, and I just couldn't be happier for her."
Wright joins Esser in making her NCAA Championship debut, advancing in the triple jump as a true freshman. Wright recorded a career-best mark of 13.03m (42-09) on her second attempt to move into first place, finishing fourth overall. She is Minnesota's third-ever NCAA triple jump qualifier and the first since Shani Marks was the NCAA runner-up in 2003.
"With Shanique, we could really tell that she's had this coming," Bingle said. "Since the Big Ten meet, she's been feeling better and really popping off the ground. The other cool thing for her today is reaching the world junior qualifying mark, so now she has the opportunity to go there. It was an awesome effort, especially for a freshman to do what she's done. She's just continuing to grow and will keep improving."
Saturday's action also saw Kiley Sabin record a career-best throw of 15.92m (52-02.75) in the shot put to move into fifth among all-time Gophers. After leading through the first two flights, she finished 19th overall in her NCAA West Prelim debut.
"Kiley did a great job coming through and performing well in high pressure," Bingle said. "As a redshirt freshman, she has a great future ahead of her. It's exciting because we have a lot of young talent to be excited about and the future is going to be good if we continue to stay focused."
Emma Spagnola and Kimberly Golding both placed fourth in their respective heats of the 100-meter hurdles as well. Spagnola ran 13.51 seconds for 24th overall, and Golding was 26th in 13.56.
"It was unfortunate for Kim as she was in a qualifying position toward the end of the race," Bingle said. "Her hamstring gave her some trouble today, but she's had a great year and made some huge strides. Hopefully she will be healthy to go to the Jamaican championships.
"Emma also had an awesome year, but she had a bit of a rough weekend. Her heat today had a false start, and I think she had the best start. Then, she missed her start the next time. She's had a great year and developed a lot."
In the final event of the meet, Minnesota ran the 4x400-meter relay without program record-holder Titania Markland due to injury. The Gophers' team of Erin Hawkins, Spagnola, Kat Keller, and Emerald Egwim placed sixth in heat one in 3:37.01, finishing 16th overall. The quartet moved into fourth in program history but missed moving on to the NCAA Championship by less than two seconds.
"The 4x400m relay was tough with not running Titania, but they still ran the fourth-best time in program history," Bingle said. "It has to be next teammate up, and they did the best they could.
"The thing I've told the team is that this meet is hard and we have to continue to get better, but you can't let one meet define that you're super great or super terrible. It's based on the whole season."
The NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship is set for June 8-11 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., hosted by the University of Oregon.
Minnesota's 2016 NCAA Championship Qualifiers
Liz Berkholtz, 10,000m
Agnes Esser, discus
Jess Lehman, heptathlon
Nicolle Murphy, javelin
Lyndsey Thorpe, hammer throw
Heta Tuuri, high jump
Kaila Urick, 3,000m steeplechase
Shanique Wright, triple jump
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Players Mentioned
