University of Minnesota Athletics
Friday, May 12
Bloomington, Ind.
All Day
University of Minnesota
vs
Big Ten Outdoor Championships
Players Mentioned
Distance
/ Men's Track & Field
Sprints
/ Men's Track & Field
Sprints
/ Men's Track & Field
Distance
/ Men's Track & Field
Sprints
/ Men's Track & Field
Throws
/ Men's Track & Field
Throws
/ Men's Track & Field
Throws
/ Men's Track & Field
Pole Vault
/ Men's Track & Field
Sprints
/ Women's Track & Field
Throws
/ Men's Track & Field
Photo by: Brad Rempel
Zaltos Secures Three-Peat on Opening Day of Big Tens
5/12/2023 9:13:00 PM | Men's Track & Field, Women's Track & Field
Zaltos becomes the fifth man in program history to win three straight conference titles.
MINNEAPOLIS – The University of Minnesota opened up the 2023 Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a bang on Friday with the men finishing the day at the top of the team standings. Redshirt junior Kostas Zaltos secured his third straight Big Ten crown leading Minnesota's No. 1 nationally-ranked hammer throw group to 19 of the team's 32 points on Friday.
Minnesota also saw a school record go down on Friday in the men's javelin with Austin Parsons breaking a 30-year-old record to bring home the bronze medal in his Big Ten debut. Parsons' launched a mark of 72.15m (236-8) on his final attempt of the competition to move from fifth to the bronze medal position. The mark for Parsons is a lifetime best for the first-year Gopher and pushed him from No. 2 in school history to the top spot past Chad Rodvold's 70.40m that had stood since 1993.
Zaltos, like Parsons, tossed his mark on his final attempt of the competition. Zaltos sat in second place through most of the competition behind Penn State's Tyler Merkley but used a Big Ten Championship record throw of 74.93m (245-10) to push him to the top of the leader board and to his third-straight Big Ten title. The three-straight Big Ten titles in an individual event is the first time a Gopher man has done so since Karl Erickson did it in the discus for Minnesota from 2002-04.
Alongside Zaltos in the men's hammer throw was Jake Kubiatowicz and Kaleb Siekmeier who scored for the men's squad on Friday. After a breakout performance at the Drake Relays Kubiatowicz responded with another 69-meter throw on his second attempt to secure the bronze medal in his second Big Ten Outdoor Championships. Kubiatowicz's mark of 69.08m (226-8) goes down as his second-best mark in the event in his career and he will enter the NCAA West Regional meet with the No. 15 mark in the country this season (69.60m). Siekmeier's sixth-place throw of 63.98m (209-11) goes down as a season-best for the sixth-year Gopher and gave him his best Big Ten finish in the event in his career.
Minnesota's success in the field events continued with Jak Urlacher in the men's pole vault. The sophomore secured his highest Big Ten finish with a vault of 5.24m (17-2 1/4) to finish fifth. Urlacher overcame a slow start at his opening height of 4.99m (16-4 1/2) to then clear 5.14m on his first attempt and then 5.24m on his second attempt.
After the tone was set in the field the Golden Gophers got started on the track with the men's 200m. The men's trio of Kion Benjamin, Devin Augustine and Carlon Hosten all secured spots in the Big Ten final, all snagging spots as time qualifiers. Augustine enters Sunday's final with the No. 3 time (20.56), Benjamin with the No. 5 time (20.81) and Hosten at No. 7 (20.96).
Amira Young continued her spectacular season, earning a spot in her eighth 200m final of her career (indoors and outdoors). In just her second 200m race of the 2023 outdoor season Young clocked a 23.16 to earn a time qualifying spot in Sunday's final. Her time of 23.16 will enter as the fourth-fastest time in the field.
Minnesota's distance crew got in on the fun shortly after the 200m group. Eli Hoeft made his second straight 1500m Big Ten final by automatically qualifying by winning the third preliminary heat in a time of 3:46.11. Hoeft will attempt to score in the event for the first time outdoors on Sunday after finishing 10th last season.
Redshirt freshman Emmet Anderson capped off the day in the men's 10000m with the best performance of his young career. Entering with the 23rd fastest seed time Anderson put himself in a position with a mile to go to score points for Minnesota. Anderson stuck with it and used a 62-second final lap to move to the No. 6 position and earn Minnesota a huge three points to end the first day of the conference meet. Anderson's time of 30:25.54 goes down as his first track and field 10000m event after only running the event once at the NCAA Midwest Region Cross Country Championships back on Nov. 11. Anderson's sixth-place finish is the first time a Gopher has scored in the 10K since Adam Zutz in 2016 (seventh) and is the highest finish in the event since Mike Torchia in 2011 (fifth).
The 2023 Big Ten Outdoor Championships will resume on Saturday morning. For the Maroon and Gold the first event in Bloomington will be the men's shot put final that will begin at 1 p.m. CT. All events can be seen on B1G+ and live results can be followed on PTTiming.com.
For more information on the Gophers, continue to check back with GopherSports.com. Keep up with the University of Minnesota cross country and track and field team on Twitter and Instagram (@GopherCCTF) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the season.
Minnesota also saw a school record go down on Friday in the men's javelin with Austin Parsons breaking a 30-year-old record to bring home the bronze medal in his Big Ten debut. Parsons' launched a mark of 72.15m (236-8) on his final attempt of the competition to move from fifth to the bronze medal position. The mark for Parsons is a lifetime best for the first-year Gopher and pushed him from No. 2 in school history to the top spot past Chad Rodvold's 70.40m that had stood since 1993.
Zaltos, like Parsons, tossed his mark on his final attempt of the competition. Zaltos sat in second place through most of the competition behind Penn State's Tyler Merkley but used a Big Ten Championship record throw of 74.93m (245-10) to push him to the top of the leader board and to his third-straight Big Ten title. The three-straight Big Ten titles in an individual event is the first time a Gopher man has done so since Karl Erickson did it in the discus for Minnesota from 2002-04.
Alongside Zaltos in the men's hammer throw was Jake Kubiatowicz and Kaleb Siekmeier who scored for the men's squad on Friday. After a breakout performance at the Drake Relays Kubiatowicz responded with another 69-meter throw on his second attempt to secure the bronze medal in his second Big Ten Outdoor Championships. Kubiatowicz's mark of 69.08m (226-8) goes down as his second-best mark in the event in his career and he will enter the NCAA West Regional meet with the No. 15 mark in the country this season (69.60m). Siekmeier's sixth-place throw of 63.98m (209-11) goes down as a season-best for the sixth-year Gopher and gave him his best Big Ten finish in the event in his career.
Minnesota's success in the field events continued with Jak Urlacher in the men's pole vault. The sophomore secured his highest Big Ten finish with a vault of 5.24m (17-2 1/4) to finish fifth. Urlacher overcame a slow start at his opening height of 4.99m (16-4 1/2) to then clear 5.14m on his first attempt and then 5.24m on his second attempt.
After the tone was set in the field the Golden Gophers got started on the track with the men's 200m. The men's trio of Kion Benjamin, Devin Augustine and Carlon Hosten all secured spots in the Big Ten final, all snagging spots as time qualifiers. Augustine enters Sunday's final with the No. 3 time (20.56), Benjamin with the No. 5 time (20.81) and Hosten at No. 7 (20.96).
Amira Young continued her spectacular season, earning a spot in her eighth 200m final of her career (indoors and outdoors). In just her second 200m race of the 2023 outdoor season Young clocked a 23.16 to earn a time qualifying spot in Sunday's final. Her time of 23.16 will enter as the fourth-fastest time in the field.
Minnesota's distance crew got in on the fun shortly after the 200m group. Eli Hoeft made his second straight 1500m Big Ten final by automatically qualifying by winning the third preliminary heat in a time of 3:46.11. Hoeft will attempt to score in the event for the first time outdoors on Sunday after finishing 10th last season.
Redshirt freshman Emmet Anderson capped off the day in the men's 10000m with the best performance of his young career. Entering with the 23rd fastest seed time Anderson put himself in a position with a mile to go to score points for Minnesota. Anderson stuck with it and used a 62-second final lap to move to the No. 6 position and earn Minnesota a huge three points to end the first day of the conference meet. Anderson's time of 30:25.54 goes down as his first track and field 10000m event after only running the event once at the NCAA Midwest Region Cross Country Championships back on Nov. 11. Anderson's sixth-place finish is the first time a Gopher has scored in the 10K since Adam Zutz in 2016 (seventh) and is the highest finish in the event since Mike Torchia in 2011 (fifth).
The 2023 Big Ten Outdoor Championships will resume on Saturday morning. For the Maroon and Gold the first event in Bloomington will be the men's shot put final that will begin at 1 p.m. CT. All events can be seen on B1G+ and live results can be followed on PTTiming.com.
For more information on the Gophers, continue to check back with GopherSports.com. Keep up with the University of Minnesota cross country and track and field team on Twitter and Instagram (@GopherCCTF) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the season.
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