University of Minnesota Athletics
Three-Meet Week Ahead for Gophers
2/7/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
| Iowa State Classic | |||||||||||
| Date | Friday-Saturday, Feb. 10-11, 2017 | ||||||||||
| Location | Lied Recreation Athletic Center, Ames, Iowa | ||||||||||
| Meet Info | Meet Info | Schedule | Accepted Entries | Heat Sheets | ||||||||||
| Time | Friday 11 a.m. CT | Saturday 12 p.m. CT | ||||||||||
| Coverage | FloTrack (FloPro) | Live Results | @GopherWCCTF | #Gophers | #ISUClassic | ||||||||||
| Music City Classic | |||||||||||
| Date | Friday-Saturday, Feb. 10-11, 2017 | ||||||||||
| Location | Vanderbilt Student Rec Center, Nashville, Tenn. | ||||||||||
| Meet Info | Meet Info | Schedule | Start Lists | ||||||||||
| Time | Friday 4 p.m. CT | Saturday 10 a.m. CT | ||||||||||
| Coverage | Live Results | @GopherWCCTF | #Gophers | ||||||||||
| UST Showcase | |||||||||||
| Date | Friday, Feb. 10, 2017 | ||||||||||
| Location | St. Thomas Fieldhouse, St. Paul, Minn. | ||||||||||
| Meet Info | Schedule & Heat Sheets | ||||||||||
| Time | 3 p.m. CT | ||||||||||
| Coverage | Live Results | @GopherWCCTF | #Gophers | ||||||||||
Feb. 7, 2017
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Gophers will split the squad at three meets this weekend with Maroon & Gold representatives headed to the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa, and the Music City Challenge hosted by Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn., Friday and Saturday, along with a group competing locally at the UST Showcase at the University of St. Thomas on Friday.
About the Iowa State Classic
Action is set to begin at 11 a.m. CT Friday and 12 p.m. CT Saturday at the ISU Classic at Iowa State's Lied Recreation Athletic Center. FloTrack will provide a live stream of the meet for FloPro subscribers. The majority of the Gophers distance runners are headed to Ames, Iowa, along with the team's pole vaulters.
About the Music City Challenge
Vanderbilt is set to host the Music City Challenge this Friday and Saturday. Action is set to begin with men's and women's high jump and women's weight throw at 4 p.m. CT Friday. Friday's running events begin with the women's 200-meter dash at 5 p.m. Competition continues Saturday with the unseeded sections of the women's 3,000-meter run kicking things off at 10 a.m. CT. Most of the Gophers sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers, and throwers are set to compete at Vanderbilt.
About the UST Showcase
The UST Showcase is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. CT Friday at the St. Thomas Fieldhouse in St. Paul, Minn. The Gophers will face competition from St. Thomas, Concordia U-St. Paul, St. Olaf, UW-Eau Claire, UW-Stout, Macalester, St. Catherine, Wartburg, Minnesota Duluth, Bethel, Hamline, UW-Superior, and Bethany Lutheran.
Last Time Out: Strandemo Leads Gophers at Notre Dame
Madeline Strandemo ran the second-fastest mile in program history to lead the University of Minnesota women's track & field team at Notre Dame's Meyo Invitational. Strandemo clocked a career-best time of 4:38.88 to finish eighth at the meet and move into second in Gophers' history. She improved on her previous PR by three and a half seconds (4:42.24, which ranked sixth in program history), and was just 0.08 seconds off Minnesota's program record held by Heather Dorniden at 4:38.80 since 2009. Over the two-day meet, the Gophers saw consistency and subtle improvements with 10 top-10 finishes and 13 career-best marks.
USTFCCCA Releases Week Three National Rankings
The nation's top five teams remain unchanged in this week's national poll as No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Arkansas, No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 USC, and No. 5 Florida make up the top five in the week three NCAA Division I National Team Computer Rankings compiled by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Three Big Ten Conference teams are among the top-25 in No. 10 Michigan, No. 16 Purdue, and No. 20 Penn State. The Gophers slipped one place to the No. 66-ranked team according to the complete rankings; the week four rankings will be released on Feb. 13.
Gophers Rank Among Big Ten's Best
Several Gophers rank among the top-10 performers in the Big Ten Conference so far this season, including Kiley Sabin leading the B1G in the shot put.
1. Kiley Sabin, shot put (56-04.00, 17.17m)
3. Kimberly Golding, 60m hurdles (8.20)
4. Emma Spagnola, 60m hurdles (8.25)
4. Cami Gilson, pole vault (13-02.25, 4.02m)
T4. Madeline Strandemo, mile (4:38.88)
4. Emerald Egwim, 400m (53.84)
4. Patty O'Brien, 5,000m (16:46.09)
4. Taylor Wiebke, high jump (5-10.00, 1.78m)
5. Angie Guenther, weight throw (64-00.25, 19.51m)
5. Shanique Wright, triple jump (41-07.00, 12.67m)
T5. Heta Tuuri, high jump (5-09.75, 1.77m)
6. Bailey Ness, 5,000m (16:47.68)
6. 4x400m relay (3:41.30)
7. Nina Horvath, weight throw (63-08.75, 19.42m)
8. Tamara Gorman, 5,000m (17:05.66)
Sabin Honored By Big Ten
Kiley Sabin was named the Big Ten Field Athlete of the Week following her record-breaking performance at the Minnesota-Wisconsin Dual. Sabin was one of eight event champions to lead the Gophers to an 82-80 win over the rival Badgers in the dual meet. She threw 17.17m (56-04.00) to win the shot put, defeating runner-up Banke Oginni (15.72m) of Wisconsin by 1.45m for the title.
With her throw, Sabin improved on one of Minnesota's oldest program records, besting the record held by Aubrey Schmitt at 16.58m (54-04.75) since 1999 by nearly two feet. Sabin improved on her own career-best mark by nearly five feet (15.79m, 51-09.75).
Minnesota Welcomes 23 Newcomers
The Gophers' 2017 roster includes 23 newcomers. Freshmen Hannah Arason, Jane Baude, Meleah Biermaier, Jenna Conzemius, Ryan Crotty, Carissa Dock, Delaney Eigenberger, Alyssa Faucett, Maddie Gourley, Lindsey Greenlund, Bethany Hasz, Megan Hasz, Brieasha Hobbs, Abby Kohut-Jackson, Val Larson, Natalie Manders, Zetta Mason, Elyse Prescott, Ashley Ramacher, Kelli Schmidt, Rebekah Walter, and Sarah Werking join the Minnesota family while senior sprinter Tayler Whittler comes to Minnesota as a transfer from DePaul University. The Gophers' roster also includes 18 redshirt freshmen making their official collegiate debuts this year.
2017 Track & Field Schedule
The Gophers' indoor schedule is made up of 12 meets, including three home meets at the University of Minnesota Fieldhouse: Minnesota Open (Jan. 14), Jack Johnson Classic (Jan. 27-28), and Parents Day Invite (Feb. 18). The outdoor schedule has Minnesota traveling to 18 meets in 10 different states. In total, the team will compete in 15 different states in 2017.
Who's Back?
The Gophers return 11 of 19 point scorers from last year's B1G championship team. Among those returners are six Minnesota program record-holders in Emerald Egwim (indoor 400m, indoor 4x400m, outdoor 4x400m), Agnes Esser (discus), Kimberly Golding (indoor 60m hurdles, outdoor 100m hurdles), Erin Hawkins (indoor 4x400m, outdoor 4x400m), Kat Keller (indoor 4x400m, outdoor 4x400m), and Titania Markland (indoor 4x400m, outdoor 4x400m).
Minnesota's returners also include five all-time No. 2 performers in program history in Titania Markland (indoor 400m), Nicolle Murphy (outdoor javelin), Emma Spagnola (indoor 60m hurdles, outdoor 100m hurdles), Madeline Strandemo (outdoor 3,000m steeplechase), and Heta Tuuri (outdoor high jump).
Gophers Sign 10 for 2017-18
The Minnesota women's track & field and cross country program is pleased to announce the addition of 10 student-athletes who have signed for the 2017-18 season. Erin Dunning (Ashwaubenon, Wis.), Allison Gerads (Champlin, Minn.), Alexis Hurst (Robbinsdale, Minn.), Tess Keyzers (Little Chute, Wis.), Elizabeth "Bit" Klecker (Minneapolis), Anastasia Korzenowski (Chanhassen, Minn.), Lorean Murray (Kingston, Jamaica), Sophie Schmitz (Willmar, Minn.), and Jaycie Thomsen (Plymouth, Minn.) will join the Gophers as freshmen next season while Nayoka Clunis (Kingston, Jamiaca) comes to the University of Minnesota as a junior after competing for Cloud County Community College in Concordia, Kan., for two seasons.
Seven Gophers to Captain 2017 Squad
The seven Gophers who will lead the defending Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field co-champions are Cami Gilson, Kimberly Golding, Angie Guenther, Erin Hawkins, Titania Markland, Nicolle Murphy, and Madeline Strandemo. Markland and Murphy return to the Gophers' leadership group after serving as captains last season while Strandemo was a captain for Minnesota's cross country team this fall. The remaining four Gophers enter their first seasons as captains.
2016 Cross Country Season Rewind
The Gophers wrapped up the 2016 cross country season with three NCAA All-Midwest Region honorees, two All-Big Ten Conference honorees, and one NCAA individual national qualifier. Madeline Strandemo represented Minnesota at the NCAA Championship with a 51st-place showing, running her second fastest 6K time of her career in 20:31.5.
Strandemo, Megan Hasz, and Bethany Hasz led Minnesota with all-region showings at the NCAA Midwest Regional after Strandemo and M. Hasz picked up Second Team All-Big Ten honors. The duo led host Minnesota to a fourth-place team finish at the B1G Championship.
2016 Indoor Season Rewind
The Gophers capped the 2016 indoor track & field season with a fourth-place showing at the Big Ten Conference Indoor Championship led by Titania Markland's 600-meter title and Jess Lehman's pentathlon title. Minnesota scored 89 points to finish fourth, its highest indoor team finish since also placing fourth in 2014. Michigan took home the team title with 109 points, followed by Purdue (102 points) and Penn State (96.50 points) in the top three.
2016 Outdoor Season Rewind
Led by B1G event titles from Jess Lehman (heptathlon) and Nicolle Murphy (javelin) and points from 16 different Gophers, Minnesota secured its second outdoor and fifth overall Big Ten Conference title in program history last spring. The Gophers sealed a share of the B1G title with a fourth-place finish by the 4x400-meter relay team of Erin Hawkins, Kat Keller, Emerald Egwim, and Titania Markland; the Gophers entered the final event trailing Michigan by one point, 102-101, and the 4x400m team finished one place ahead of the Wolverines to finish the meet tied at 106 points each.
Minnesota then finished tied for 22nd place in the team standings at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship, marking the program's highest finish since placing 18th in 2009. Eight Gophers competed at the NCAA Championship, the most since eight also competed at the 2008 national meet. Five Gophers earned All-American honors in Agnes Esser (discus), Jess Lehman (heptathlon), Nicolle Murphy (javelin), Lyndsey Thorpe (hammer throw), and Shanique Wright (triple jump), marking the most individual All-Americans in a single season in program history.
Up Next: Parents Day Invite
Minnesota returns to the University of Minnesota Fieldhouse for its final home meet of the regular season next Saturday, Feb. 18. Action is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. CT, and the Gophers will recognize their 2017 seniors during the meet.
###
Players Mentioned
