Ten Gophers and a Relay Make NCAAs

The University of Minnesota track and field programs will send ten individuals and a relay team to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Seven Gopher men competing individually and the team's distance medley relay will make the trip. Three Gopher women will compete as well.

Making the trip south for the men are double Big Ten champion Aaron Studt, who is seeded #3 in the shot put and #7 in the weight throw, Big Ten champ Ben Blankenship, the #3 seed in the mile, Chris Rombough, seeded #7 in the 3000m, Matt Fisher, the #17 seed in the high jump, and R.J. McGinnis, Jack Szmanda, and Brock Spandl, the #4, #11, and #12 seeds, respectively, in the heptathlon.

The Gopher will also be represented by a #10 seeded DMR consisting of Andy Richardson, Logan Stroman, Harun Abda, and Rombough.

The Gopher men will arrive at the meet as the #7 ranked team in NCAA Division I, according to the latest USTFCCA rankings, HERE.

For the Gopher women, Alicia Rue and Samantha Sonnenberg will compete in the pole vault as the #3 and #16 seeds, respectively, while Megan Duwell will toe the line in the 5000 meters as the #16 seed.

Full startlists of the meet can be found HERE (men) and HERE (women).

The official web-site for the NCAA Indoor Championships is HERE.

Also Competing at NCAAs ... In the meet as well are former Buffalo High School star Zach Mellon of Wisconsin, the #4 seed in the 800m, Winona High School alum Elliott Heath of Stanford, the #5 seed in the 5000m, and Brainerd native Justin Tyner of Air Force, the #14 seed in the 5000m.