Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Yes/No: Three or More Gopher All-Americans?

The group of Gophers qualified to compete at the National Meet will not have to travel far this year. Drake University is hosting the Championship in Des Moines, Iowa. The Gophers have plenty of experience on this track as many athletes compete at the Drake Relays every year.

13.1 Mpls

The qualifying method for DI Nationals is composed of two Regional Meets. There is a West Region and an East Region. Twelve individuals/relay teams qualify from each region and move on to compete at Drake.

There will be seven individuals and two relay teams wearing the Gophers' maroon and gold at NCAAs, each with a chance to become an All-American. How many will achieve this lofty goal?

Yes/No: Will three or more University of Minnesota individuals or relay teams finish in the top eight and earn All-American honors at the National Meet this week?

For the purposes of this contest we are defining an All-American as an individual/team that finishes in the top-eight in an event. Technically, All-American awards are also awarded to American competitors finishing outside of the top-eight, but within the first eight American finishers in each event.

Each competitor has a seed place or time for the National Meet. However, these marks are taken solely from the Regional Meet and may not be very relevant. Many competitors only did as much as they had to in order to advance to Nationals and because of this, many of the seedings are skewed. To see a list of all the marks during the outdoor season (prior to the Regional Meet), please visit the Track and Field Results Reporting System.

The Gophers participating in the National Meet include: Harun Abda (800), Men's 4x400 Relay, Brock Spandl (Pole Vault) and Micah Hegerle (Hammer Throw). On the Women's side, the competitors include: Nikki Swenson (1500), Women's 4x100 Relay, Samantha Sonnenberg (Pole Vault), Todea Kay-Willis (Long Jump) and Nicole Tzanakis (Discus).

For more information on the meet and Gophers, check out Drake University's page, the USTFCCCA site, and the Gophers preview for Men and Women.

To play our game, simply type "yes" or "no" into the subject line of an e-mail and send it to us at DtBFantasy [AT] gmail [DOT] com before 3:00 A.M. CDT, Wednesday, June 8th. Please put your answers in the subject line of the e-mail and make sure your full name appears somewhere in the e-mail. We will offer our usual bonus for participants making their 2011 debut in Yes/No - a correct answer will be worth two points for anyone who has not played yet this year.

My answer: Yes.

Last week's question was: Will William Leer finish ahead of Ben Blankenship in the International Mile at the Prefontaine Classic on Saturday? Both runners ran great. Unfortunately they ended up competing in different races. Leer opted to run the 2 mile instead and ran 8:19.11. Blankenship ran a personal best 3:54.10 in the mile. Everyone that entered the contest earned a point this week.

We also awarded some bonus points for time predictions on the two runners. The bonus points were given to Daniel Gerber who guessed Will Leer would run 8:18.54 and Lori Anne Peterson who picked 3:54.67 for Blankenship. One additional point was given to Ryan Aylesworth who predicted a 1500 time (3:36.47) for Blankenship. While it was the wrong distance, his conversion was technically a bit closer than everyone who guessed a mile time. Lori Anne Peterson was able to use that bonus point to move into a tie for first place with Rachel Karel. There are four players tied for second place, one point back.

For all the results, please visit DtB Fantasy Corner, HERE.

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