Gopher Thinclads Strong at Arizona Meets

The Gopher men's and women's track teams continued the southern swing of their outdoor season with more action in Arizona last weekend.

U of M thrower Micah Hegerle earned the unique distinction of winning the same event in two separate meet on the same day -- topping the hammer throw at the Mesa Classic and at Arizona State's Sun Angel Classic. Hegerle threw 207-1 in Mesa and 209-4 down the road in Tempe.

The men’s 4 x 400-meter relay was the lone Gopher victor on the track at the Sun Angel Classic. The foursome of Kevin Bradley, John Holton, Oladipo Fagbemi, and Harun Abda clocked a season-best time of 3 minutes, 10.05 seconds to win.

Earlier in the meet, Abda posted a career-best 1:48.54 800 meters for second place. The time ranks #5 in Gopher history. Relay teammate Fagbemi also excelled in an individual event landing a career-best leap of 23-11 1/2 inches to finish fourth in the long jump.

Cameron Boy added a fourth-place finish in the 200 meters with a 21.67. He teamed with Ryan Todhunter, Sean King, and Fagbemi to place sixth in the 4x100-meter relay in a season-best time of 41.06 seconds.

Todhunter was also sixth in the 110-meter high hurdles in 14.75.

Three Gopher throwers collected top-five finishes on Saturday. Aaron Studt placed fourth in the open shot put at 54-11 1/4, followed by Trey Davis in fifth with 54-8. Tyler Kleinhuizen placed fifth in the open discus with 166-10.

Gopher Women ... Sharyn Dahl opened the weekend with a win in the 400-meter hurdles at the Mesa Classic, running 1:00.80. Teammate Kelly Stalpes was third in a time of 1:02.06. Kim Hovey captured the title in the invitational shot put with a throw of 47-3 3/4.

The next day at the Sun Angel Classic, Dahl became the sixth hurdler in Minnesota history to run a sub-sixty-second time in the 400-meter hurdles. The junior placed third with her career-best 59.20, the fifth-fastest time in school history.

Todea-Kay Willis finished third in the Sun Angel long jump with a leap of 19-10 3/4 inches.

Alena Brooks added her name to the Gophers’ top-10 list in the 800 meters. She placed seventh with a time of 2:08.18, the eighth-best time in Gopher history.

Brooks also anchored the Gopher 4x100-meter relay that placed sixth in a time of 45.92 seconds. Joining Brooks on the relay were Todea-Kay Willis, Nyoka Giles, and Chimerem Okoroji.

Find Mesa Classic results HERE.

Find Sun Angel Classic results HERE.