University of Minnesota Athletics
Blankenship Punches Ticket to Olympic Final
8/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
RIO DE JANIERO (GopherSports.com) -- Make it two University of Minnesota men's track & field and cross country alums competing for Olympic medals on Saturday.
Ben Blankenship cruised to the 1,500 meter final with a fourth-place finish in his semfinal heat on Thursday evening at Olympic Stadium. The Stillwater, Minn., native ran a 3:39.99 in the competition and joins former Minnesota teammate Hassan Mead, who earned a berth in the 5,000 meter finals.
Both Blankenship and Mead are making their Olympic debuts for the U.S., and both will run in their respective finals on Saturday night. Blankenship kicks things off at 7:00 p.m. CT while Mead follows at 7:30.
A four-time All-American and three-time All-Big Ten honoree for the Gophers, Blankenship won three individual conference crowns while helping the program to five total Big Ten titles. He still holds the school record for the indoor mile (3:57.87), the indoor 3,000 meters (7:52.52) and the outdoor 1,500 meters (3:39.77). Blankenship anchored the U.S. distance medley relay squad to a new world record (9:15.50) at the 2015 IAAF/BTC World Relays and set a new course record (3:55.8) to win the 2016 Medtronic TC One Mile earlier this year.
An eight-time All-American and a nine-time Big Ten champion for the Gophers, Mead still owns Minnesota records in the outdoor 10,000 meters (28:12.74), the outdoor 5,000 meters (13:28.45), the indoor 5,000 meters (13:33.42) and the 8,000 meters in cross country (23:29). Mead made his international debut for Team USA at the 2015 IIAF World Championships in Beijing, China - finishing 15th in the 10,000 meters.
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