Minnesota Women in The Lead After Day One of Women's Big Ten Meet

The Minnesota women’s track have the lead after day one of the 2008 Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships, being held at the University Fieldhouse in Minneapolis. The Gophers scored 58 points. Michigan, which won the distance medley relay and the long jump, is currently in second place with 37 points. Penn State is in third place with 33 points.

Minnesota won three of Saturday’s six finals, including a school record-setting jump by sophomore Alicia Rue in the pole vault. Rue cleared 13', 9.25 " (4.20 meters), which is an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Championships, Bit Ten, and school record.

"I think our team had fun today," said Minnesota head coach Matt Bingle. "In those competitive situations, it's important just to enjoy it and thrive, and that's what they did."

Two-time multi-event All-American Liz Roehrig won the pentathlon to become the first Golden Gopher athlete to win four consecutive titles in an individual sport/event. Roehrig scored an NCAA automatic qualifying 4,218 points, the second-best pentathlon score in the nation and a new school record. To read the Star Tribune pre-meet feature on Roehrig, click here.

Senior Liz Podominick won the shot put with an NCAA provisional toss of 51', 4.5 ", her career fourth Big Ten title. Podominick won conference titles in the outdoor shot put (2005, ’06) and the discus (2005).

Fellow Gophers Andrea Smith and Laura Massey also bettered the NCAA provisional height with jumps of 12 ', 11.5 ". They finished tied for fifth and sixth in the event.

"It was great to have Liz Podominick, Alicia Rue and Liz Roehrig come through like they did today," said Bingle. "It was awesome and exactly what we needed. It provided some momentum for us... Everybody saw it, and it was huge."

Christin Kingsley finished second in the long jump with an NCAA provisional mark of 20 ', 2.5 ". Kingsley’s score earned her the top spot on Minnesota’s all-time list for the long jump.

Junior Heather Dorniden qualified for Sunday’s finals in the mile run and the 600-meter dash. Dorniden ran a time of 1: 29.65 seconds in the 600 and 4:48.18 in the mile. Also in the 600, Gopher Jamie Dittmar qualified for the final tomorrow with a time of 1:32.44. The performance put her eighth on Minnesota’s all-time list.

Junior Jamie Cheever qualified in the mile run with a time of 4 minutes, 47.81 seconds. Cheever also ran an NCAA provisional time of 9 minutes, 23.64 seconds in the 3,000 meters to finish sixth. Sophomore Ekene Obi qualified in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.25 seconds. Fellow Gopher Rikita Butler also qualified in the 400 meters (55.33 seconds). In addition, Minnesota is sending three runners to the 800-meter final. Junior Gabriele Anderson ran the best time out of the three with a time of 2 minutes, 10.14 seconds. Nikki Swenson (2:10.47) and Julie Schwengler (2:10.96) also qualified.

Saturday’s distance medley relay(pictured above in Gene Niemi's photo) featured a second place finish by Minnesota’s team of Anderson, Schwengler, Challis Larson and Swenson. Their time of 11:30.11 broke the old Fieldhouse record (that time, 11:45.97 was beaten by five teams Saturday) and qualified Minnesota provisionally for the NCAA Championships.

Sunday’s action will get underway at noon with the weight throw and triple jump events at the University Fieldhouse. The meet is scheduled to be televised on tape delay by the Big Ten Network early in the week. For notes on other significant achievements on day one of the meet, click here.