Gophers: Eight Women, Five Men to NCAAs

The Golden Gopher track squads will send eight women and five men to next weekend's NCAA Outdoor Championships at Drake University in Des Moines Iowa. Qualifiers for the meet, which include top-five individual placers from last weekend's Midwest Regional Championships and at large selections to the field, were announced yesterday.

The Minnesota women's contingent is headlined by returning all-Americans Heather Dorniden (800 meters), Liz Roehrig (heptathlon), Ruby Radocaj (javelin), and Alicia Rue (pole vault.) Dorniden and Rue captured NCAA Midwest Region titles to advance, while Radocaj was the regional runner-up. Roehrig earned an automatic qualifying score in the heptathlon, one of two events (the 10,000m is the other) to qualify athletes directly to the Championships.

Other women collecting automatic bids were Liz Podominick in the shot put and Andrea Smith in the pole vault. Podominick will also compete in the discus. Jamie Cheever received an at-large berth to compete in the 3000m steeplechase, while Christin Kingsley was added to the NCAA field in the long jump.

For the Gopher men, sophomore Ben Peterson and true freshman Hassan Mead earned automatic berths in the NCAA field with top-five finishes at Regionals. Peterson placed fifth in the pole vault, while Mead was fifth in the 5000-meter run. Sophomore R.J. McGinnis will compete in decathlon based on his 7,290 score at Big Tens. Chris Rombough (5000m) and Aaron Studt (shot put) earned at-large berths into the NCAA Championships field.

Also at NCAAs ... Other notable Minnesotans making the NCAA meet include: Winona's Garrett Heath (Stanford) in the 1500m, Osseo's Julian Morris (Northern Iowa) in the high jump, Mounds View's Nate Englin (Missouri) in the shot put, Mankato Loyola's Sarah Price (Michigan State) in the steeplechase, and Edina's Alex Gits in the 10,000m.

Full women's "accepted athletes" lists for NCAAs are HERE.

The men's list is HERE.