University of Minnesota Athletics
B1G Honors Wiebke with Weekly Award
3/22/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
MINNEAPOLIS - University of Minnesota women's track & field sophomore Taylor Wiebke has been named this week's Big Ten Conference Field Athlete of the Week after winning the high jump title at the Bulls Invitational last weekend.
Wiebke used a career-best mark of 1.80m (5-10.75) to kick off the 2017 outdoor track & field season with a win as the Gophers wrapped up a week of training in Tampa, Fla., at the University of South Florida. She missed her first two attempts at 1.80m but cleared on her third try.
Wiebke was one of four event champions to lead the Gophers at the Bulls Invitational. In the high jump competition, three jumpers went out at 1.75m as Wiebke cleared two more heights than her next closest competitor, runner-up Courtney Avery from Lehigh University (1.70m, 5-07.00).
Wiebke has the best high jump mark in the Big Ten Conference this outdoor season; the next best mark is 1.70m (5-07.00), held by three jumpers. The Mantorville, Minn., native is tied for third among all NCAA high jumpers as well.
With her performance, Wiebke climbed into a tie for second on Minnesota's all-time list. Liz Roehrig has held the Gophers' outdoor high jump program record at 1.83m (6-00.00) since 2008.
The 2017 indoor season saw Wiebke finish third in high jump at the Big Ten Indoor Championship; she did not finish lower than third in six appearances during the 2017 indoor slate, winning high jump titles at the Minnesota Open and Parents Day Invite.
This week's honor marks the first B1G weekly award of Wiebke's career. She is the second Gopher to earn Big Ten Athlete of the Week accolades this season after Kiley Sabin was named B1G Field Athlete of the Week during the indoor campaign.
Minnesota's distance runners are set to compete at the Raleigh Relays this weekend.
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