Sunday, March 07, 2010

Sub-4: Blankenship Runs 3:57.87 Mile

One week after winning the Big Ten title in front of a home crowd, Ben Blankenship made himself the first sub-4-minute miler in University of Minnesota history with a 3:57.87 victory at the Washington Qualifier in Seattle yesterday.

The Stillwater High School alum out-raced -- and threaded the homestretch traffic needle between -- the University of Oregon's A.J. Acosta and Olympian Galen Rupp for the NCAA automatic qualifying win. Acosta clocked 3:58.08; Rupp ran 3:58.79.

You can watch the race, thanks to Flotrack, above.

Blankenship broke the U of M school record of 4:02.56 set by Andrew McKessock in 2000.

More "Last Chance" Action ... U of M distance medley relay of Andy Richardson, Logan Stroman, Harun Abda and Chris Rombough turned an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 9:33.86, the second-fastest time in school history, to place fourth at the Notre Dame Alex Wilson Invitational.

Abda and teammate Travis Burkstrand notched NCAA provisional performances in the 800-meter run at the meet. Burkstand finished 11th in 1:49.30, followed by Abda in 12th in 1:49.61.

Zach Mellon, the Buffalo High School alum who runs for the University of Wisconsin, won the event in a PR 1:47.45, which automatically qualified the true-freshman to the NCAA Indoor Championships.

You can watch Mellon's race HERE.

Competing at the Iowa State Qualifier in Ames, Ben Peterson won the pole vault with a height of 17 -1 3/4, while teammate Joe Plencner placed in a tie for fifth at 16-2.

In women's pole vault competition at the meet, Alicia Rue and Samantha Sonnenberg claimed the top two places. Both Rue and Sonnenberg cleared 13-10 1/2. The effort was a PR for Sonnenberg and improves her NCAA provisional qualifying mark.

Rue, who won the Big Ten title in the event last week, owns an automatic qualifier for the upcoming NCAA Championships.

Last week, Rue was named the Big Ten's Indoor Field Event Athlete of the Year.

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