Gopher Teams Ready for Big Ten Meets

I have a non-track, non-running friend who asked me the other day, "So when does track start?" Were I a less patient fellow, I might have replied, "Dude, are you kidding, it's Big Ten Indoor weekend already! The season's half-over."

Indeed, the Gopher's are sending two strong squads to Champaign, Illinois (women) and Bloomington, Indiana (men) for the conference championships this weekend. The #13-ranked Gopher women, Big Ten champs outdoors last year and third under-cover, hope to top #2-ranked Michigan for the indoor title this year. The Gopher men, runners-up in in 2006 and in three of the last four seasons, hope to break #2-ranked Wisconsin's 6-year hold on the Big Ten Indoor title.

Women's coach Matt Bingle, who described his team Big Ten readiness "85% there" after the Notre Dame meet in early February, is pleased with the status of the team he takes to Illinois this weekend.

"I think we are close to being a 100%," Bingle said via e-mail, "but we do have a little bit sickness going through the team. So it will be interesting to see if that affects us."

Despite the high stakes, Bingle added that keeping the team loose is a priority this week.

"I think that the team needs to have fun and be loose, I think we all perform better when we are that way," he said. "They need to have fun competing!! This week we are resting and trying to enjoy being in the week! It is the easiest week of practice! As coaches we are taking a laid back approach to it and just going with the flow of the team! We are all just trying to enjoy the whole Big Ten Meet!"

Key events for the Gopher women are the 600, 800, pole vault, throws, and pentathlon. Liz Roehrig is the two-time defending champ in the pentathlon. Heather Dorniden is the defending champ at 800, but faces nemesis Geena Gall of Michigan in a duel with important team implications.

The Gopher SIDs, have produced a nice tip-sheet for the meet that you can find here. The Big Ten performance lists are found here.

At the men's meet, the key to success will be having the Gopher's balanced team score well across the events and, perhaps, to have the team's young distance stars take a bite out of Wisconsin's regular dominance of the sweaty events. Since we looked at the Gopher men last week, the team has improved its standing on the conference performance lists -- Aaron Buzard now leads the 200 and 400 meter lists, Adam Schnaible now leads the 20-pound weight list, and Ibrahim Kabia is now the #2 ranked 60 meter man.

Minnesota's men's tip sheet can be found here.

Competition at both venues begins Saturday morning and concludes Sunday afternoon.