University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Jack Johnson Classic
Gophers Win Eight Titles at Home
1/28/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Jan. 28, 2017
MINNEAPOLIS - The Golden Gopher women's track & field team took home eight event titles on day two of the Jack Johnson Classic at the Minnesota Fieldhouse Saturday.
Tayler Whittler (60m), Kimberly Golding (60m hurdles), Erin Hawkins (200m), Heta Tuuri (high jump), and Nina Horvath (weight throw) won their respective events, and the Gophers also earned three titles with unattached competitors. Titania Markland (800m) and Erin Huls (600m) won their events, and the unattached 4x400-meter relay team of Markland, Val Larson, Huls, and Sophia Anderson ran 3:47.24 for first place.
"It was a good day, a lot of small improvements and then some decent break-throughs for a few people, too," director of women's track & field and cross country Matt Bingle said. "It was good to see some consistency in some areas, too, and I think everybody came out of it healthy, so that was the best thing."
Minnesota swept the short sprints as Whittler won the 60-meter dash in 7.55 seconds, just shy of her season-best mark of 7.54 seconds, and Hawkins defended her 200-meter dash title from a year ago, running 24.87 to take the 2017 crown.
"Erin competed well today," Bingle said. "Coming off an injury, it was good to see her back and have her finish the day healthy. I thought she had a good day."
The 60-meter hurdles race proved exciting for the Gophers once again. Golding defended her title from a year ago in a meet record 8.20 seconds, her best time of the year and just 0.02 off her Minnesota program record (8.18). The Gophers took the top three places as Emma Spagnola was second in 8.35 seconds, and Rachel Schow came in third in a career-best time of 8.64 seconds to move into fourth on Minnesota's all-time list.
"Rachel had a good day," Bingle said. "She had a good race in the 400m with a PR there, too. Kim chipped off a couple hundredths, and Emma had a good day, too, in the 400m. That group works well together and supports each other. It's fun to be around them."
Minnesota went one-two in high jump as Tuuri defended her title from 2016, and Taylor Wiebke finished as runner-up. Both Gophers cleared 1.76m (5-09.25).
The Gophers took the top four places in the weight throw led by Horvath, who recorded a winning throw of 19.42m (63-08.75) to move into sixth in Minnesota history. Angie Guenther (18.54m, 60-10.00), Agnes Esser (18.48m, 60-07.75), and Temi Ogunrinde (17.47m, 57-03.75) rounded out the top four.
Two mid-distance Gophers won titles on the track while racing unattached.
Markland won the 800m in an indoor career-best 2:15.16. University of Minnesota rookies Lindsey Greenlund (2:16.17) and Larson (2:17.47) finished third and fourth, respectively, also racing unattached. Amelia Barczi ran a career-best 2:17.67 in fifth place to lead the Gophers racing in uniform. In total, the Gophers recorded six career-best marks in the 800m.
Huls used a career-best time to win the 600m run as well, crossing the line in 1:33.97. Huls led four unattached Gophers as Meleah Biermaier was second (career-best 1:34.95), Anderson was third (1:36.69), and Jenna Conzemius finished seventh (career-best 1:39.87).
Spagnola led the Gophers in the 400-meter dash, clocking a career-best 56.82 as runner-up in her first open 400m of her collegiate career. Minnesota put five in the top seven in a field of 33 runners as Schow (career-best 56.90), Bolade Jinadu (57.38), Brieasha Hobbs (collegiate-best 57.39), and Kat Keller (57.99) finished fourth through seventh, respectively.
The mile saw the Gophers collect eight career-best times. Rookie Bethany Hasz led the way with a runner-up finish, clocking a time of 4:51.60 in her first collegiate mile race while running unattached. Fellow unattached rookie Abby Kohut-Jackson also earned a top-five finish, running 4:55.97 in her collegiate mile debut. Abby Lange led Minnesota attached runners in a career-best 5:06.59 for 11th place.
Two Gophers ran career-best times in the 5,000-meter run as Carlin Schulz ran 17:42.83 for fifth place and Haley Rasmussen ran 18:12.85 for sixth place. In addition, Megan Flanagan ran a career-best 10:33.62 to place 13th in the 3,000-meter run.
A week after setting the Gophers' program record, Kiley Sabin again led Minnesota in the shot put. Sabin threw 15.43m (50-07.50) as meet runner-up with Shay Nielsen close behind in third place with a career-best mark of 15.17m (49-09.25).
"Shay Nielsen and Nina Horvath both did well today," Bingle said. "The throwers had a really hard week of training, so for them to come out and do some of the things they did today was good. Nina had a nice breakthrough today, and Shay had a little PR to lead that group."
Day one of the Jack Johnson Classic saw the Gophers record a runner-up showing in the pole vault as Cami Gilson cleared her second-best height of the year at 3.96m (12-11.75). The pentathlon also took place Friday evening. Unattached Gopher rookies Hannah Arason (career-best 3,329) and Ashley Ramacher (3,217) finished third and fourth ahead of redshirt freshman Kayla Nelson (3,184).
Up next for Minnesota is the Meyo Invitational hosted by Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., next Friday, Feb. 3 and Saturday, Feb. 4.
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Players Mentioned
