Monday, April 25, 2011

Willis Lands Gopher Long Jump Record

University of Minnesota sophomore Todea-Kay Willis landed in the Gopher record book with a school record 21-1 1/2 long jump victory at the LSU Alumni Gold meet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Saturday.

In the lead after preliminary competition at 20-7 1/4 , Willis fouled her fourth jump before marking the effort that broke Liz Roehrig's existing school record by one-quarter of an inch. Willis, a native of Mavis Bank, Jamaica, fouled her final attempt.

13.1 Mpls

Willis, who also finished 7th in the triple jump at 39-3, was one of three Gopher victors at the meet. Nikki Tzanakis added another, winning the discus with a throw of 164-4. Gopher Kim Hovey was fifth in the event with a toss of 150-5.

Ben Peterson of the Gopher men's team also traveled to the meet where he won the pole vault with an outdoor season-best height of 17-7 3/4.

On the track, Chimerem Okoroji placed 10th in the invitational 100-meter dash with a career-best 11.63, the fourth-best time in Gopher history. Okoroji added another career-best performance in the 200 meters finishing third in 24.22, tying the seventh-fastest time in school history.

The Gophers collected a pair of top-five finishes in the 400-meter hurdles. Sharyn Dahl placed second in 59.25 seconds. Kelly Stalpes was fifth with 1:00.63.

Other top five finishes for the Gophers were Nyoka Giles, fourth in the 100-meter dash open race with a season-best 11.89; Samantha Sonnenberg fourth in the pole vault with 13-2 1/4, and Natalie Devine fourth in the high jump at 5-7.

The Gopher relays both placed fifth with the 4x100-meter relay of Willis, Giles, Okoroji and Alena Brooks running 45.36 seconds and the 4x400-meter relay of Dahl, Giles, Brooks and Stalpes clocking 3:39.68.

The Minnesota women also competed at the Iowa Musco Twilight in Iowa City on Saturday. Cassy Opitz and Maggie Bollig notched a 1-2 finish in the 1,500 meters. Opitz ran a time of 4:36.89, while Bollig was clocked in 4:37.26. Kelsey Joson won the triple jump with a leap of 37-7 3/4. Paige Orcutt finished third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a personal-best time of 11:02.20.

Gopher Men ... The Minnesota men’s track & field team captured four event titles at the Iowa Musco Twilight meet.

The Gophers won three events on the track. Harun Abda won the 400 meters with a time of 47.25 seconds. Travis Burkstrand ran a personal-best 3:49.77 to win the 1,500 meters, while Steve Sulkin clocked a time of 14:39.69 to capture the 5,000 meters.

Winning in the field was shot putter Trey Davis. Davis landed a throw of 56-10. He added a fifth-place showing in the discus with 168-11. Micah Hegerle finished second overall in the hammer with a throw of 209-3.

Minnesota collected three other runner-up finishes. David Pachuta was second in the 800 meters with a career-best time of 1:48.91. Oladipo Fagbemi placed second in the triple jump with a distance of 49-3 3/4. The Gophers’ 4x400-meter relay of John Holton, Pachuta, Fagbemi, and Jacob Capek was second at 3:12.55.

Adding third-place finishes for the Gophers were Sean Duling in the 110-meter high hurdles at 14.42 and Addison Demer in the long jump with 22-11 3/4.

Find complete LSU Alumni Gold results HERE. Find Musco Twilight Results HERE.

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