Sunday, June 28, 2009

Weekend Update: USA Championships Sunday Recap


A number of Minnesota athletes played prominent roles in the final day of the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at historic Hayward Field in Eugene Oregon.

Laura Hermanson recorded a personal best time of 2:01.28 to finish fifth in a very competitive women's 800 final. The Burnsville native who just completed her senior season at North Dakota State University had run 2:01.37 at the NCAA championships where she finished second.

Minnetonka grad Will Leer also finished in fifth place, running 3:44.28 in a tactical men's 1500 final.

Gopher star Liz Roehrig amassed 5802 points to finish sixth in the women's heptathlon.

In the women's pole vault, the Gopher's Alicia Rue cleared a PR and school record-tying 14 feet, 3 and a quarter inches to finish in seventh, while Mankato's Katelin Rains cleared 13 feet, 9 and a quarter inches to finish in a tie for 12th.

Former Gopher Karl Erickson finished 8th in the discus throw with a toss of 193-9. The University of Minnesota's Aaron Studt recorded three fouls and did not place in the men's shot put.


In Juniors Competition... Buffalo's Zach Mellon made a big move with 250 meters remaining to take the lead in the men's 800 meter final, only to be passed just before the finish by Joe Abbott of Washington State. Mellon ran 1:51.7, less than two tenths of a second behind Abbott. Watch video of the race here.

In other juniors events, former Wayzata star Jordan Helgren leaped 42 feet, one and a half inches to finish third in the women's triple jump. Travis Beniak ran 9:33.72 to finish ninth in the men's steeplechase and Donny Wasinger ran 15:12.79 to finish 11th in the men's 5000 meters.

Complete results are available here.

Videos of most track events are available here.

Will Leer (top, green singlet) and Zach Mellon (bottom, BISON singlet) photos courtesy of trackandfieldphoto.com.

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