University of Minnesota shot putter Aaron Studt finished 5th in last night's men's shot put final at the NCAA Divsion I Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas.The junior landed a PR 63-02 3/4 on his second throw of the competition. Arizona State's Ryan Whiting won the competition with a 65-11 3/4 mark.
Studt the Big Ten indoor and outdoor champion in the event was a double all-American this season. The Ripon, Wisconsin native was the runner-up at the NCAA Indoor meet this winter.
Decathlon Agony ... Gopher decathlete R. J. McGinnis, who finished his first day of competition in 11th place, fought his way back to as high as 7th place during yesterday's action, only to have an elbow injury derail his chances in the javelin.
McGinnis, who suffered the injury winning the Big Ten title a month ago, could only muster one painful throw in the event -- a mark of 133-7 -- which dropped him out of the competition for all-American honors. He finished 17th in the two-day event with 7294 points.
Earlier in the day, McGinnis had run 14.77 in the 110-meter high hurdles, thrown of 134-9 in the discus, and cleared 14-1 3/4 in the pole vault. After the fateful javelin event, McGinnis ran 4:52.84 in the 1500m.
Heptathlon Hopes ... Gopher heptathlete Liz Roehrig finds herself in 2nd place with 3653 point after the first day of action in her event.
The 2008 NCAA Outdoor runner-up and the #2-seed in the event this year opened her meet by running 14.13 seconds in the 100m hurdles. She was then was one of only two athletes to clear 5-11 1/4 in the high jump. Roehrig moved into second place in the competition after the shot put, where she threw 43-7 1/4. The fifth-year senior capped her day with a 24.29 200m.
Nia Ali of Southen Cal leads the competion with 3663.
Laskowske 10th ... The Gophers' Amy Laskowske finished 10th in the 10,000m final. The sophomore ran 34:24.11 for the distance. Hanna Grinaker, the Detroit Lakes alum who attends the University of Wisconsin, finished 17th in 35:20.11.
Hermanson and Dorniden Advance ... North Dakota State senior Laura Hermanson, a Burnsville native, and the Gophers Heather Dorniden both advanced to Saturday's 800m final.
Hermanson finished an automatic qualifying 2nd in the second semi-final of the night, running a PR 2:03.19. She'll toe the finals' starting-line with the third-fastest semi-final time.
Dorniden, running in the same semi-final, finished 4th in 2:03.77. She advanced on time as the eighth of nine finalists in the event.
There's a post race interview with Dorniden, HERE, on Flotrack.
Heath, Lehman Advance at 1500 ... Two Minnesotans qualified for the NCAA 1500m finals. Stanford's Garrett Heath, a Winona native, won the second preliminary heat of the event in 3:44.22. He advanced to finals with the third-fastest time from the round.
There's a post-race interview with Heath, HERE, on Flotrack.
Gopher sophomore Ben Blankenship finished 5th in his heat in a PR 3:42.47, but missed qualifying by two places.
Duke University's Molly Lehman, a Minnetonka High School alum, finished an automatic-qualifying 3rd place in her prelim to advance to the women's 1500m finals.
The University of Minnesota's Elizabeth Yetzer missed finals by one place despite running a PR 4:18.11.
Ellis Misses Final by Inches ... Picking up on an item we missed yesterday, Duke's Jade Ellis, a Tontino-Grace alum, missed advancing to the men's long jump final by just two and a half inches on Wednesday.
Ellis jumped 25-3 1/2 to finish 15th in prelims. A mark of 25-6 advanced to finals.
Live results from the meet can be found HERE.
Video of today's action, beginning at 11:00 a.m., will be streamed HERE.
I looked at the splits for the 1500 heats, and it looked like Ben Blankenship led the first three laps of his heat. That's a tough way to run a three-second PR! And he's now within three seconds of the Gophers' school record as a sophomore!
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