It came down to the discus in the University of Minnesota women's track and field team's neck-and-neck battle with Oregon at Saturday's Pepsi Team Invitational in Eugene, Oregon.All of the running events and the rest of the field events at Oregon's storied Hayward Field were in the books, but the team score was still in doubt. The Gophers would need big finish in the disc to win the meet.
Entering the final round of throws in the discus, Gopher star Liz Podominick, who had already earned second-place points for the team in the shot put, held a comfortable lead at 161-8. But the Gophers needed more than Podominick's points to seal the win.
Enter freshman Hannah Studt, a Gopher thrower so anonymous she's just a name on the team's on-line roster -- no photo, no stats, no hometown. Studt stepped into the ring, though, and launched her final throw 155-10 to take second place in the event and seal a 193 to 192 victory for the #23-ranked Gophers over the #18-ranked Ducks.
The Gopher women had five event-winners at the meet: Podominick in the discus, Ruby Radocaj threw a school-record 187-6 in the javelin, Anna Arciszewska won the triple jump in a career-best 40-8 3/4, Heather Dorniden won the 800 meters with an outdoor season debut of 2:06.07, and Jamie Cheever splashed to a win in the steeplechase with a PR 10:11.33.
“We feel good about where we are right now as a team,” Golden Gopher head coach Matt Bingle said in a Gopher media release. “This was really our first solid test of the outdoor season and despite less than ideal weather conditions, we had some very good performances."
The Gopher men, who had "a bit of a lack-luster day" according to head coach Phil Lundin, finished third in the men's portion of the meet. Oregon won with 230 points, Penn State tallied 150, the Gophers had 140.5.
Ibrahim Kabia was the squad's only winner with a wind-aided 10.39 victory in the 100 meters.
Full results from the meet are HERE.
No comments:
Post a Comment