University of Minnesota Athletics
Players Mentioned
Distance Corps Set for 2020
1/10/2020 12:15:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Men's Track & Field, Women's Cross Country, Women's Track & Field
Preview the Gophers' distance squad as Minnesota heads into the indoor track & field season.
MINNEAPOLIS -- Assistant coaches Sarah Hopkins and Steve Plasencia break down the Gopher distance squad for 2020, looking at key returners and newcomers heading into the indoor track & field season along with looking ahead to the outdoor season.
Hopkins on the Women's Distance Corps
"We had a really big breakthrough last track season across the board, maybe not in scoring, but getting people into the NCAA first round and bolstering the group," Hopkins said. "I think coming out of last fall, this group was nowhere near where it is right now. We're really optimistic. With Anastasia Korzenowski, Abby Kohut-Jackson, Lindsey Greenlund, Carissa Dock, Sarah Werking, Maria Eastman, Jaycie Thomsen, and a lot of other athletes are in such a better place now than they were a year ago at this time, and yet we still did what we did last year. I think everyone is feeling really positive. Last year we had to take a big jump from the fall to the spring to get where we got, and now we can just keep doing what we're doing and not try to change anything drastically. We built a lot of confidence this fall, being able to do what we did without Bethany and Megan, and we want to keep that going.
"There have been a lot of years of us scoring a decent amount of points in the distance events at the Big Ten meet, but from just a few people. I feel like this might be the indoor and outdoor season where we can score more points for the team but also have it be from a bigger variety of people – not spread anybody super thin but still be able to cover every event. Hopefully be able to ease up on some people but still get the points we need to get to help the team – that's obviously the biggest goal, doing whatever we can do to help the team be as successful as we can be. I really do believe there are a lot of people who are in a really good place to make another jump."
Women's Mid-Distance (800 meters, 1,000 meters, Mile)
Key Returners: Sophie Schmitz, Kelli Schmidt
Key Newcomers: Molly Roach
Hopkins: We have two really solid returners in the 800 meters with Kelli Schmidt and Sophie Schmitz, who both had a huge seasons last year being consistent within that 2:09-2:10 neck of the woods and being very close to making the finals at the Big Ten meet. Their consistency last year was awesome. I think they're ready to take the next step of hopefully being a consistent 2:06-2:08 type of runner and being a mainstay in the Big Ten final. I can see those two building on what they did last year. Hopefully we'll add a couple more people into that group, whether that's Molly Roach, who had a really good cross country season and a great start at SDSU. We have younger people will add depth to the training group and for this year, just learn and grow. Schmidt and Schmitz are more than ready to step into a leadership role, and hopefully we can get both into the Big Ten final and see them work together. They have a great mojo in training and racing and complement each other really well.
Women's Longer Mid-Distance (Mile/1,500 meters/3,000 meters)
Key Returners: Anastasia Korzenowski, Abby Kohut-Jackson, Olivia Hummel, Lindsey Greenlund, Carissa Dock
Key Newcomers: Libby Halbmaier
Hopkins: A lot of our steeplers find themselves in this group indoors, like Carissa Dock and Lindsey Greenlund, and then obviously our milers. We have Libby Halbmeier, who had a really good redshirt year last year. I'm expecting her to have some good breakthroughs this year. If she can build off her marks from last year, I think she might be a little more 800 meters/1,500 meters than 1,500 meters/3K, but she's obviously got some good ability. Olivia Hummel had a really good cross country season, and Abby Kohut-Jackson is ready to have some breakthroughs. Given what she did during cross country, I think Anastasia Korzenowski is probably a little bit of the queen bee of this group, being very mile-focused, run some 3Ks indoors, but then focus on the 1500 meters outdoors. She has a lot of upside, was an NCAA first-round qualifier last year and that was great experience for her. Then you've got Tate Sweeney and some of the younger runners who will add some depth to that group and hopefully continue to build that group going forward in the indoor season but also the outdoor season. That's a group that will make up our DMR as well, which we're really excited about this year because there are a lot of interchangeable parts within that group. We don't have to spread anyone too thin, but we can still put everybody in a lot of different, good places.
Women's Distance (3,000 meters/5,000 meters)
Key Returners: Bethany Hasz, Megan Hasz, Maria Eastman, Bit Klecker, Zetta Mason, Jaycie Thomsen, Sarah Werking
Hopkins: Indoors, that 3K-5K primary group is going to be Maria Eastman, who will then trend up towards the 10K, Megan Hasz, and Bethany Hasz, who obviously have had a great start in the 5K and are in a great place, and Bit Klecker will be in there, along with Zetta Mason, Jaycie Thomsen, and Sarah Werking. That's a really solid group that takes half of our top group from cross country and keeps them together in a really good training group. Then the other half kind of leans more toward the mile-3K, or even 800 meters-mile world. There will be a really good training dynamic, and obviously some versatility there with Megan and Bethany being the queen bees of that group, but I think the rest of the group is slowly catching up. It'll be fun to reintroduce Megan and Bethany – they didn't really train a lot with the group in the fall just because they had a weird class schedule, so now everybody will be back together. They all did a good job of making strides during the fall, and now hopefully that gap will get a little bit closer.
Women's 3,000m Steeplechase
Key Returners: Abby Kohut-Jackson, Lindsey Greenlund, Carissa Dock, Tate Sweeney
Hopkins: Steeple will be really fun. Two years ago we lost Madeline Strandemo, who was our queen bee in the steeplechase group, and then last year we really filled in well with Abby Kohut-Jackson and Lindsey Greenlund. Both scored at the Big Ten meet and were both NCAA first-round qualifiers, so those guys have great PRs and are coming in with a lot of confidence from cross country season, in addition to confidence from last season having made the first round and scoring at the Big Ten level, which is not easy to do. Carissa Dock had a great cross country season as well and had a solid season last year in the steeple. She wasn't quite at the next level, but I foresee her making a good jump this season. Tate Sweeney had the best debut of a steeple ever, as she ran a 10:47 in her first race and then got a little banged up and couldn't quite get back to that with how short the outdoor season ends up being. If we can keep Tate healthy and work on some things, I think those four will be the center of the group. You also have Bit Klecker, who had a great cross country season and will build off that, and we will definitely be trying some freshman there who will redshirt but have some up-side. Even people like Taylor Krone and some of the other redshirt freshmen will probably give it a go, but it will be more of a learning year for them. The steeple has always been an area that we emphasize given the developmental aspect of it and the fact that it's maybe a little bit easier to break into the Big Ten scoring – not that any Big Ten event is easy – but it's a little more niche so it's nice to focus in at times.
Women's 10,000 meters
Key Returners: Megan Hasz, Maria Eastman, Jaycie Thomsen
Key Newcomers: Sarah Werking
Hopkins: We've got a great returning 10K group. Besides Patty O'Brien, everyone who ran it at last year's Big Ten meet is back, and we had some really great breakthroughs last spring from Maria Eastman and Jaycie Thomsen. They had great PRs at the Big Ten meet and almost qualified for the NCAA first round; they were super close. It'll be fun to have those guys back for year two with the 10K, because obviously that race has a pretty big learning curve to it. They complement Megan Hasz, who was a national qualifier last year in the 10K and has our school record. You add into that group, Sarah Werking, who will do the 10K for the first time this year after having had a great break-through cross country season. We might have some younger runners in there, too. We usually don't run freshman in the 10K right off the bat, but there are a few who will trend in that direction. We'll see how things play out in terms of who might try it on the younger side. For sure, those four will be the anchors of the 10K group going forward."
Men's Mid-Distance (800 meters, one mile, 1,500 meters)
Key Returners: Dawson LaRance, Shane Streich
Key Newcomers: Austin Streit, Eli Hoeft
Plasencia: Our top guy right now in the 800 meters and the 1,500 meters right now is Dawson LaRance -- he really took some good strides forward last year. He came in as more of an 800-meter runner, and he kind of jumped a little bit to the mile without making a full transition. We ran some miles during the indoor season, and then he focused on the 800 when it came time for the outdoor season. That went very well. This year we are going to try and make another run with some mile races and some 800 meter competitions to see where he can go. He placed in the 800 last year at Big Tens and was a national qualifier. He's looked good in practice over the fall and in competition during cross country.
The other guy in that group is Shane Streich – he's done some really good things in his career, and we just need to try and hit that 1,500 meters or 800 meters that we can be proud of this season. I think it's there – we just have to get after it.
Owen Hoeft and Seth Eliason are other guys that we are looking at to have breakthrough seasons along with Hunter Lucas. Hunter made our Big Ten team during the outdoor season and looked pretty good to end the year. He's talented – he'll run the 800 on Saturday and then emphasize the mile through the indoor season.
Men's 3,000 Meter Steeplechase
Key Returners: Alec Basten, Jack Manderscheid, Nick Rink
Plasencia: We're fortunate to have a pretty ready-made replacement for Obsa Ali in Alec Basten. He's made some big breakthroughs over the last year. He's been one of those guys that came out of high school and just continued to get better. He was a multi-sport athlete – a football player and a wrestler in addition to running – and that background in athleticism has given him a lot of abilities that help in the steeplechase. He's a great student too. He was a national preliminary qualifier last year and got into a super hot race – I think he could have made the national finals last year. We'll get another shot at it this year.
In addition to Basten, we have some good depth in the steeplechase with Jack Manderscheid and Nick Rink. They were both regional qualifiers last year, so we look to be three or four guys deep in that event.
Men's Distance (3,000 meters, 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters)
Key Returners: Alec Basten, Jack Manderscheid, Owen Hoeft
We think Alec Basten and Jack Manderscheid can also place for us in the indoor season at the Big Tens along with Owen Hoeft – he's a stronger track runner because of his length…he's all of 6-6. He's smooth on the track, and he looks good. We're looking to build with him in any of the mile, the 3,000 or the 5,000. He likes that smooth indoor surface, and he's someone that we are going to count on for some things.
In addition to that, Khalid Hussein and Robert Wagner are talented and will have some opportunities. Jordan MacIntosh was our most improved runner in cross country, and that projects really well for a 1,500 meter runner. We'll try him at both the 1,500 and the 3,000 – he's another guy that we would hope could place at the Big Ten meet.
In the 10,000, we have a number of guys who can contribute – Declan Dahlberg is going to give it a shot along with Connor Olson and Evan Ferlic. Those three guys have potential in the 10,000. I don't like to start guys young in the 10,000, so some of these guys who are older might be ready for it now.
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