University of Minnesota Athletics
Photo by: Brad Rempel
Hopkins Previews 2023 Women's Distance Crew
12/29/2022 8:50:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Sarah Hopkins breaks down a portion of the Gophers' squad for the upcoming season.
This feature is the first of many with each coach breaking down their group of athletes as the team inches closer to the start of the indoor season in January. Stay tuned for more features with the rest of the Gophers' coaching staff in the coming weeks.
MINNEAPOLIS -- Assistant coach Sarah Hopkins breaks down a portion of the Gophers' squad for 2023, looking at key returners and newcomers heading into the indoor track & field season along with looking ahead to the outdoor season.
"Our crew coming off a great fall where we had a ton of new faces step up. This group is really excited to keep that momentum going into track season. This year we think one of our strongest groups on our team is our middle-distance crew."
Middle Distance
Key Returners: Anastasia Korzenowski, Erin Reidy, Libby Halbmaier
Key Newcomers: Zoie Dundon
Hopkins: "Anastasia Korzenowski is one of our top returners. She's a multiple time Big Ten scorer and a really good mile and 800 runner. She has a ton of experience and we'll certainly see her as one of the pillars of our group. Workout wise she'll be in the group with Erin Reidy, who had a huge breakthrough during the cross country season. This group is going to be so fun because we are transitioning from a group in the past few years that has been focused on the steeple, 5K and 10K but this group will be a little more slanted towards that 1500m, 800m and steeplechase."
"Zoie Dundon is one of our freshmen that we are excited about, she was a redshirt during the cross country season but is more of an 800m, 1500m athlete who could very well help us out right away in those events. Libby Halbmaier is more of a 1500m, who has scored at the Big Ten meet before, so there is just a really good core there."
Distance
Key Returners: Taylor Kreitinger, Emma Atkinson, Brianne Brewster
Key Newcomers: Ali Weimer, Izzy Roemer
Hopkins: "In that longer group we have people like Taylor Kreitinger who had a great cross season, and last year did the steeple for the first time and was in the top 12 in the Big Ten in that event. She's excited about making some big jumps in the steeple but also in the mile indoors. She'll be fun to watch along with Emma Atkinson who has historically been a mile runner, but I think now kind of moving into that mile and 3K, or mile and 5K, and obviously had a great fall. Brianne Brewster is going to be a 5K and 10K runner. There will be some decisions we have to make about some of our 'young guns' in terms of Ali Weimer, Izzy Roemer and people like that, but we'll see how the season shakes out."
Additional 'Distance Student-Athletes to Watch': Megan Lundstrom, Ceci Howes, Hannah Constable
Hopkins: The first one that jumps off the page is Megan Lundstrom. Megan had a really good cross season, she was our alternate for regionals, but wasn't necessarily in our top seven or top five. She's a great miler, and she's a great overall track athlete. Megan is one of those that isn't a true middle distance runner, but certainly kind of likes that mile, 3K distance. She has some good natural speed and Megan is someone that was gone for a year, and transferred back. Now that she's reacclimated herself I think that we are going to see a big jump on the track for her.
"Ceci Howes is another one we could see make a jump forward. We recruited her as a 'steepler', and there are not a lot of places that run steeple at the prep level, but she did in Canada. The steeplechase has always been kind of her focus, and she is an awesome technical steeplechaser. I think that she made huge gains in cross country from where she was at a year ago. She's a totally different runner and when she gets into that event that she loves, which is the steeple, we are confident that we are going to see some big improvements from her."
"And then there is Hannah Constable, who is very much a middle-distance runner. For her the 600, and the 800 outdoors, is going to be great situation for her and her training this fall has been better than it has ever been. It isn't something that everyone has seen yet, because it was very much not in the results in the fall, but from what we have seen where she has grown a lot we think she could have some big breakthroughs."
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MINNEAPOLIS -- Assistant coach Sarah Hopkins breaks down a portion of the Gophers' squad for 2023, looking at key returners and newcomers heading into the indoor track & field season along with looking ahead to the outdoor season.
"Our crew coming off a great fall where we had a ton of new faces step up. This group is really excited to keep that momentum going into track season. This year we think one of our strongest groups on our team is our middle-distance crew."
Middle Distance
Key Returners: Anastasia Korzenowski, Erin Reidy, Libby Halbmaier
Key Newcomers: Zoie Dundon
Hopkins: "Anastasia Korzenowski is one of our top returners. She's a multiple time Big Ten scorer and a really good mile and 800 runner. She has a ton of experience and we'll certainly see her as one of the pillars of our group. Workout wise she'll be in the group with Erin Reidy, who had a huge breakthrough during the cross country season. This group is going to be so fun because we are transitioning from a group in the past few years that has been focused on the steeple, 5K and 10K but this group will be a little more slanted towards that 1500m, 800m and steeplechase."
"Zoie Dundon is one of our freshmen that we are excited about, she was a redshirt during the cross country season but is more of an 800m, 1500m athlete who could very well help us out right away in those events. Libby Halbmaier is more of a 1500m, who has scored at the Big Ten meet before, so there is just a really good core there."
Distance
Key Returners: Taylor Kreitinger, Emma Atkinson, Brianne Brewster
Key Newcomers: Ali Weimer, Izzy Roemer
Hopkins: "In that longer group we have people like Taylor Kreitinger who had a great cross season, and last year did the steeple for the first time and was in the top 12 in the Big Ten in that event. She's excited about making some big jumps in the steeple but also in the mile indoors. She'll be fun to watch along with Emma Atkinson who has historically been a mile runner, but I think now kind of moving into that mile and 3K, or mile and 5K, and obviously had a great fall. Brianne Brewster is going to be a 5K and 10K runner. There will be some decisions we have to make about some of our 'young guns' in terms of Ali Weimer, Izzy Roemer and people like that, but we'll see how the season shakes out."
Additional 'Distance Student-Athletes to Watch': Megan Lundstrom, Ceci Howes, Hannah Constable
Hopkins: The first one that jumps off the page is Megan Lundstrom. Megan had a really good cross season, she was our alternate for regionals, but wasn't necessarily in our top seven or top five. She's a great miler, and she's a great overall track athlete. Megan is one of those that isn't a true middle distance runner, but certainly kind of likes that mile, 3K distance. She has some good natural speed and Megan is someone that was gone for a year, and transferred back. Now that she's reacclimated herself I think that we are going to see a big jump on the track for her.
"Ceci Howes is another one we could see make a jump forward. We recruited her as a 'steepler', and there are not a lot of places that run steeple at the prep level, but she did in Canada. The steeplechase has always been kind of her focus, and she is an awesome technical steeplechaser. I think that she made huge gains in cross country from where she was at a year ago. She's a totally different runner and when she gets into that event that she loves, which is the steeple, we are confident that we are going to see some big improvements from her."
"And then there is Hannah Constable, who is very much a middle-distance runner. For her the 600, and the 800 outdoors, is going to be great situation for her and her training this fall has been better than it has ever been. It isn't something that everyone has seen yet, because it was very much not in the results in the fall, but from what we have seen where she has grown a lot we think she could have some big breakthroughs."
Support Track & Field
Support the University of Minnesota Track & Field program. Your support helps our student-athletes succeed athletically, academically, and socially. It takes just seconds to make a monthly or one-time donation. Thank you for your support! Give Now