The Minnesota Track and Field Hall of Fame will add six new members to its honored circle later this year, officials announced today.Members of the Class of 2007 are elite athletes Sarah Renk Thorsett, Carson Hoeft, and Donovan Bergstrom, veteran athlete Jerry McNeal, and coach/administrators Gary Wilson and Dick Mulkern.
Renk Thorsett, a Winona High School and Wisconsin Badger star, was a two-time World Championships participant at 1500 meters (1995 & 1997) with a 4:05.87 lifetime best in the event. Hoeft, a Robbinsdale Armstrong and Minnesota Golden Gopher standout, was an NCAA all-American at 1500 meters in 1990 in 3:42.35. Bergstrom, who raced for Elgin-Millville and Wisconsin, was a three-time Big Ten champion (cross country 1991, 3000m steeplechase 1992, 1993) and the 1993 NCAA steeplechase champion with a lifetime best of 8:29.08.
Wilson, the longtime University of Minnesota women's track and cross country coach, won the Big Ten outdoor track and field championships with the 2006 Golden Gophers, the program's first-ever Big Ten title. Mulkern coached football at Hamline University and guided the school's strong throwing squads in track and field. Mulkern coached Mike Manders, among others, to his Hall of Fame career.
DtB assumes that Jerry McNeal is the University of Kansas track and cross country all-American from the 1950s ... something we are in the process of verifying.
The induction ceremony will take place Saturday, December 1, in Coffman Union at the University of Minnesota.
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DtB's suggestions for the Class of 2007
Bruce Brothers' suggestions for the Hall
3 comments:
Ran against Bergstrom in high school a couple of times. He was the man in class A for a few years. I think he won 3 straight MSHSL CC titles. Nice to see that he hasn't been forgotten.
Carson Hoeft was the biggest surprise on the list for me.
It seems like a tough call between a lot of Gopher guys with his sorts of credentials -- i.e., Morrison, Idstrom, Ness.
I think the tiebreaker is that he went to Armstrong.
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