University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Big Ten Championships
Gophers Lead B1G Day One
5/12/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
| Meet Results (Day One) 
| Live Results | Meet Schedule
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Temi Ogunrinde won the hammer throw and Cami Gilson took third in the pole vault to lead the Golden Gopher women's track & field team on day one of the Big Ten Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championship at Nittany Lion Outdoor Track on the Penn State campus Friday.
Minnesota leads the team standings through three events scored. The Gophers have 24.5 points after scoring in all three day one event finals, and the Maroon & Gold lead Indiana (22 points), Penn State (17), Ohio State (14.5), and Michigan (12) in the top five.
"I thought we performed well; we're ahead of where we thought we'd be after day one," director of women's track & field and cross country Matt Bingle said. "We got some additional qualifiers in, and I was very pleased with the effort. Overall, life was good for the team today. They're excited and the culture is going well, so I'm very pleased with where we're at."
Ogunrinde used a career-best mark of 61.44m (201-07) on her first throw to win the hammer throw and secure her first Big Ten title of her career after placing 14th in the weight throw at the 2017 Big Ten indoor meet. She joined Agnes Esser and Angie Guenther to combine for 17 points in the team race as the Gophers secured three top-six finishes in the hammer.
"I was really excited for Temi," Bingle said. "She has a great story, coming in as a sprinter and becoming a thrower, and her success is well-deserved. She's just an awesome young woman. It was a great effort from the whole hammer group today."
Behind Ogunrinde's Big Ten title, Esser threw 59.30m (194-07) for fifth followed by Guenther at 58.82m (193-00) for sixth place. Nina Horvath also competed, taking 18th with a mark of 51.25m (168-01) on her third throw after fouling her first two attempts.
"It's been a long season, to see the work pay off and to finally succeed, it's been a long three years since coming in as a freshman as a sprinter and now being here as a hammer thrower and throwing far -- it just makes me really happy," Ogunrinde said. "I'm really grateful for Coach Bingle and Coach Peter seeing something in me to become a hammer thrower and not giving up on me in the beginning."
In the pole vault, Gilson secured her best B1G finish of her career, clearing 4.03m (13-02.50) to tie for third and pick up 5.5 points in the team standings. Lexi Kiefer tied for ninth place at 3.73m (12-02.75) as well.
"It's my last year, so I was really glad I was able to end on a big bang," Gilson said. "Getting a medal is really exciting. It means the world to me to be able to contribute to the team's success. That's the best part. This team is my family, and I love them so much."
The 10,000-meter run saw Bailey Ness record a career-best time of 34:17.74 to place seventh and secure two points for the team while moving into seventh on the Gophers' all-time list. Patty O'Brien (35:15.35) and Emily Betz (35:50.82) also posted career-best times, finishing 16th and 21st, respectively, while Molly Eastman ran 37:32.77 in her B1G debut.
"Bailey Ness had a good break-through in a pressure situation," Bingle said. "Coming through and getting seventh was really good for her."
Preliminary heats for the 400-meter hurdles and 1,500-meter run were also held Friday with three Gophers moving on to the event finals.
Emma Spagnola and Rachel Schow both advanced to Sunday's 400m hurdles final. Spagnola moved into second in Gophers' history with a career-best time of 57.89 seconds to take fourth in prelims while Schow finished ninth in 59.25 seconds.
Lindsey Smits ran a career-best 1:00.17 to finish 10th in the 400m hurdles, and Erin Huls (1:00.36) came in right behind her in 11th overall as both made their Big Ten Championship debuts and narrowly missed advancing to the final.
In the 1,500m run, Madeline Strandemo took fourth in her heat in a season-best 4:24.35 to move on to Sunday's final with the seventh-fastest preliminary time. Tess Wasowicz (4:39.65) and Abby Lange (4:40.44) finished 20th and 21st overall as well.
Day one action also included the first four events of the heptathlon where Kayla Nelson is in 14th place. She ran 16.26 seconds for the 100-meter hurdles and cleared 1.55m (5-01.00) in the high jump. Nelson then posted a mark of 10.04m (32-11.25) in the shot put before her best showing of the day in the 200-meter run with a time of 25.66 to place sixth. Her score through four events is 2,720 points with the long jump, javelin, and 800-meter run remaining on Saturday.
Action at the Big Ten Championship continues all day Saturday and Sunday. Big Ten Network will provide live streaming coverage on BTN2Go, BTN's digital extension. Saturday's coverage will feature infield finals and will begin with women's long jump at approximately 12:20 p.m. CT, and run through the end of men's long jump at approximately 4:30 p.m. CT.
Gophers' Scoring B1G Finishes
1. Temi Ogunrinde, hammer throw (10 points)
T-3. Cami Gilson, pole vault (5.5 points)
5. Agnes Esser, hammer throw (4 points)
6. Angie Guenther, hammer throw (3 points)
7. Bailey Ness, 10,000m (2 points)
###
