University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Kansas Relays
Gophers Win Team Crown at KU Relays
4/22/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
LAWRENCE, Kan. - The Golden Gopher women's track & field team won the team title at the Kansas Relays Quadrangular with host Kansas, Southern Illinois, and Cal to wrap up the four-day Kansas Relays Saturday evening. Minnesota won 10 events and secured seven runner-up finishes to seal the team crown over host Kansas, 195.5 to 181.5.
Minnesota took the top two places in five events: shot put, high jump, 100-meter hurdles, 400-meter hurdles, 5,000-meter run.
Kiley Sabin (15.55m, 51-00.25) won the shot put title with Shay Nielsen (14.54m, 47-08.50) behind her for a runner-up showing. Sabin's title marked her second shot put crown of the week after she also won the collegiate shot put earlier this week with a throw of 16.08m (52-09.25).
Taylor Wiebke used a collegiate-best mark to win the high jump and move into sole possession of second in Gophers' history at 1.81m (5-11.25) while Heta Tuuri finished second (1.76m, 5-09.25).
In the 100m hurdles, Kimberly Golding (13.33) and Emma Spagnola (season-best 13.35) took the top two spots. Minnesota swept the hurdles as Rachel Schow won the 400-meter hurdles in a career-best 59.24 seconds to move into seventh in program history, and Erin Huls finished as runner-up in 1:01.01.
Patty O'Brien and Bailey Ness both recorded career-best marks to finish first and second in the 5,000-meter run. O'Brien won in 16:50.49 while Ness finished second in 16:59.00.
Minnesota also picked up titles in the 200-meter dash, 4x100-meter relay, 1,500-meter run, long jump, and discus.
Emerald Egwim ran a career-best 23.74 seconds in the 200m to win the event and move into third in Gophers' history. She joined Golding, Spagnola, and Erin Hawkins on Minnesota's winning 4x100m relay team, which clocked a season-best 44.80 seconds to move into third in program history.
Rounding out Minnesota's titles on the track was Madeline Strandemo winning the 1,500m in 4:25.50, marking the fastest 1,500m time at the Kansas Relays since 2013 when professional Nicole Sifuentes, representing Saucony, ran 4:15.54. Strandemo's time beat all other collegiate champions in the event dating back to 2008 when fellow Gopher Heather Dorniden ran a 4:23.21.
Shanique Wright won the long jump with a career-best mark of 5.97m (19-07.00) to move into seventh in Gophers' history. She also led Minnesota in the triple jump with a runner-up showing (12.66m, 41-06.25).
The Gophers earned 15 points in the discus led by Agnes Esser's winning throw of 57.02m (187-01). Angie Guenther (50.63m, 166-01) and Sabin (50.13m, 164-05) finished third and fourth, respectively.
Minnesota closed out the meet with a runner-up showing in the 4x400-meter relay as Schow, Huls, Bolade Jinadu, and Egwim ran a season-best 3:40.27.
Along with the quadrangular events, the Gophers competed in event finals for the KU Relays collegiate competition on Saturday as well. Spagnola won the 400m hurdles in a career-best 58.52 to move into fifth in program history, and Lindsey Smits ran her fifth-straight 400m hurdles PR with a time of 1:00.50 to take third. Schow finished as runner-up in the 100m hurdles in 13.49 seconds, moving into third in Gophers' history.
The Gophers also competed locally at the Holst Invitational hosted by Concordia St. Paul on Saturday where Caitlin Dillon (3,000m steeplechase) and Anne Haakenstad (800m) won event titles to lead the Maroon & Gold. The Gophers' unattached competitors also picked up six more event titles.
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Players Mentioned
