NCAA-Bound Gophers Run Strongly at Regions

The University of Minnesota cross country teams earned national meet berths Saturday and appear poised for strong finishes at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships held a week from today in Terre Haute, Indiana.

The #7-ranked Gopher women defended their Midwest Region title, beating #14 Illinois 57-64. #29 Nebraska was 3rd with 124; #20 Iowa was 4th with 126.

The Gophers and the Illini earned automatic berths into the NCAA Championships; the Conrnhuskers and Hawkeyes will compete at nationals as at-large picks.

The Gopher men put together the best race of their season so far finishing second to #2-ranked Oklahoma State 42-51. 3rd place Tulsa and 4th placers Iowa State earned at-large selection to nationals via selection by the NCAA committee.

Women ... "We ran a great team race today,” Gopher women's coach Gary Wilson said in a media release. “We went in with the plan to run an aggressive race from the start and our pack did a terrific job is sticking together."

The aggressive racing landed six Gopher women in the race's top-20. Junior Megan Duwell, the Gophers’ #1 runner all season, finished 4th in 20:45. Senior Gabriele Anderson was 12th in 21:24, junior Amy Laskowske was 13th in 21:26, junior Mallory Van Ness was 14th in 21:26, graduate student Felicitas Mensing finished 18th in 21:29, and junior Heather Dorniden was 19th in 21:31.

Junior all-American Jamie Cheever finished 26th in 21:42.

The #7 Gophers, who defended both their Big Ten and Central Region titles from a year ago, will head to NCAAs seeking the top-10 national finish that eluded them last year. Ranked #5 entering NCAAs in 2007, the Gophers finished a disappointed 12th.

Men ... A 1-2 finish by Gopher all-Americans Hassan Mead and Chris Rombough powered the team's runner-up finish. Mead, a sophomore, won the Midwest Regional in 31:15; Rombough, a senior, was second in 31:18.

“We knew going in that Hassan and Chris could compete at the front of the pack,” Golden Gopher coach Steve Plasencia said. “What we needed was for our other guys to push forward and they certainly came through for us today."

Sophomore Ben Blankenship, showing that a young miler can succeed at the 10K distance, was the Gophers #3-man with an 11th-place, 31:28 run, junior Matt Barrett was 18th in 31:40, and sophomore Mike Torchia was 19th in 31:41.

"Ben (Blankenship) ran with great confidence today and was a key contributor," Plasencia said. "We have conditioned ourselves to be successful at the longer 10K distance run in the NCAAs."

Mike McFarland, 23rd in 31:56 and Ben Puhl, 39th in 32:19, rounded out the Gopher finishers.

The Gopher men, who were ranked #14 ahead of the Midwest Regional, no doubt hope to repeat the success of last year's NCAA meet when the team finished 8th -- the best performance by the Gophers at nationals since 1969.

Find Midwest Regional results HERE.

Find complete details on the NCAA Championship field HERE.