University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Macalester Invite
Gophers Win Nine Titles at Macalester
4/29/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Sophia Anderson, Emily Castanias, Natalie Manders, and Allie Heifort won events while competing in uniform and the Golden Gophers came away another four titles while competing unattached as members of the Minnesota women's track & field team competed locally at Macalester's Janis Rider Invitational on Saturday.
Anderson (400m) and Castanias (3,000m) won events on the track while Manders (discus) and Heifort (hammer throw and shot put) took home titles in the throwing events to lead the Gophers.
The Gophers took the top three places in the 400m behind Anderson's win in 56.96 seconds. Allison Dugan ran a career-best 57.86 as runner-up, and Maddy Kammer finished third (1:01.36).
Castanias led four Gophers in the top four places in the 3,000m with a career-best time of 10:17.04. Ally Smith (10:19.72), Naomi Ollila (10:30.71), and Danielle Anderson (10:37.36) rounded out the top four, respectively.
In the throwing events, Manders won the discus with a career-best mark of 43.94m (144-02), and Heifort won both the hammer (49.99m, 164-00) and shot put (12.94m, 42-05.50).
While competing unattached, Meleah Biermaier (400m hurdles), Val Larson (800m), and Ashley Ramacher (high jump) won individual events as well. Minnesota's unattached 4x400-meter relay team of Rebekah Walter, Biermaier, Titania Markland, and Larson won in 3:55.15 as well.
Biermaier ran 1:02.98 to win the 400m hurdles, and Walter came in fourth in a career-best 1:05.33.
The 800m saw eight unattached Gophers go head-to-head with Larson (2:10.21) narrowly edging Markland (2:10.31) for the title. Minnesota's unattached runners took the top five places and placed eight in the top 12. Kelsey Sather was the lone runner in uniform, placing eighth in a career-best 2:17.63.
Ramacher won the high jump with a mark of 1.68m (5-06.00) ahead of runner-up Hannah Arason at 1.63m (5-04.25), also competing unattached. Kayla Nelson cleared a career-best 1.58m (5-02.25) for third in uniform for the Gophers.
Minnesota ran three 4x400m relay teams led by the unattached team of Walter, Biermaier, Markland and Larson. S. Anderson, Dugan, Kammer, and Sather represented the Maroon & Gold with a second-place finish in 4:01.58 while the unattached team of Abby Kohut-Jackson, Zetta Mason, Jenna Conzemius, and Kelli Schmidt finished fourth (4:03.19).
Arason (40.73m, 133-07) and Ryan Crotty (39.70m, 130-03) finished second and third, respectively, while competing unattached in the javelin as well.
Along with the Janis Rider Invitational, the Gophers competed at the Longhorn Invitational in Austin, Texas, Saturday. Minnesota's distance runners raced at the Drake Relays on Thursday and the Kip Janvrin Open on Friday to complete the Gophers' four-meet week.
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Players Mentioned
