An intriguing cross country season for the Gopher men just got even more interesting.Forrest Tahdooahnippah, a graduate of Minneapolis Southwest High School, will compete for the University of Minnesota's men’s cross country and track teams this season after being accepted to the Minnesota School of Law.
Tahdooahnippah graduated with honors from Stanford in June but has one season of both cross country and track eligibility remaining.
“We are excited to have Forrest join our team,” Gopher cross country coach Steve Plasencia said in a media release. “He’s a talented runner who will add a great deal of experience to our squad. We recruited him out of high school but lost him to Stanford. It will be nice to see him suit up in Maroon and Gold."
"The challenge to combine law school with competitive runner will be a tough one, but I believe Forrest is up for the task," he added.
Tahdooahnippah was a member of Stanford’s team that placed fourth at the NCAA Cross Country Championships last fall. He was the Cardinal’s number-three finisher, placing 68th overall in a time of 32 minutes, 12.6 seconds. Tahdooahnippah also earned All-West Region honors in 2006.
During his high school career, Tahdooahnippah won the Minnesota Class AA title in the 3,200 meters in 2002. In cross country, he was the state runner-up as a junior in 2002 and placed third as a senior in 2003.
Tahdooahnippah joins all-American Chris Rombough, veterans Ben Puhl and Rick Furseth, and promising young stars Mike Torchia and Hassan Mead on the Gopher team.
The Gophers finished 3rd in the Big Ten last year, 6th in the Midwest Region
The Golden Gophers report to preseason training camp on August 23.
With the addition of Tahdooahnippah, the Gophers should push for top three again in the Big Ten and if Rombough is good to go all season, they could finish top ten in the country!
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