Gopher Women Tie for 11th at Nationals

The University of Minnesota women's cross counry team finished in a tie for 11th at the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana today.

The #6-ranked Golden Gophers tied with Michigan State at 336 points.

"“We ran a good team race today, though obviously we wanted to finish higher,” Gopher coach Gary Wilson said. “Strategically I thought we ran one of our best races of the year but a few teams like Stanford, Georgetown and Texas Tech had really, really good days. I am excited about extending that top-12 streak. I don’t think anyone realizes how difficult that is and what a great accomplishment for our program it is.”

Wilson talked to DtB about the meet and his team below ...



Junior Megan Duwell led the Gopher with a 32nd place, 20:36 performance over the 6K course, earning her all-American honors.

The Gophers only senior Gabriele Anderson was 49th in 20:48, junior Amy Laskowske was 94th in 21:10, junior Mallory Van Ness was 116th in 21:19, junior Heather Dorniden was 135th in 21:28, junior Jamie Cheever, an all-American last year, was 164 in 21:41, and grad student Felicitas Mensing finished 236th in 22:37.

The University of Washington women, the prohibitive pre-meet favorites took the team title with 79 points. Sally Kpiyego of Texas Tech became the first woman in NCAA history to win three cross country titles with her victory today.

Find full team results HERE, individual results HERE.