Saturday, October 05, 2013

Gopher Women Fill Top Ten Spots at SDSU Classic

The Gopher women captured the top ten  places at the SDSU Classic 5K Brookings, SD, Friday evening. Junior Molly Kayfes and seniors Maggie Bollig, Laura Docherty and Katie Moraczewski led the way for the Gophers, taking the top four places and finishing within a seven-second span. Kayfes crossed the line in 17:29.01, followed by Bollig in 17:30.21. Docherty finished in 17:34.83 with Moraczewski at 17:35.29.

"It makes me very happy as a coach to know that we have those interchangeable parts," head coach Sarah Hopkins said. "If one person is a little off, it doesn't mean that they whole thing is going to collapse. We've got four or five people up front who are very capable of being number one on any given day. You just don't find that very often.

"I told the team that this is the mark of this team. At the Griak, it was Docherty leading the way and Katie Moraczewski having a breakthrough. This week it was Molly leading the way and Maggie having a breakthrough. That's what good teams do. They have enough depth."

In total, seven Gophers posted sub-18 minute times. Senior Kelli Budd (17:41.11), sophomore Becca Dyson (17:51.96) and senior Rachel Drake (17:54.52) finished in the top seven places.
Sophomore Liz Berkholtz (18:03.56), senior Kaitlin Mincke (18:05.47) and sophomore Kaila Urick (18:08.90) rounded out the top ten. The Gophers ran 12 runners total with sophomore Kate Bucknam (18:13.94) in 13th overall and Jamie Vandenberg (18:44.68) in 26th. 

"Nothing like back-to-back weeks of pretty tough weather, but everybody is dealing with it," Hopkins said of the wet, windy conditions during the race. "When you look at the times, they ran really well. I was impressed with how fast they ran given all those factors."

Full results are HERE.

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