Saturday, January 12, 2013

Gopher Track Teams Open Indoor Season

The University of Minnesota men's track & field team won ten individual titles in their first meet of the indoor season,  Saturday's Northwest Open at the Fieldhouse. The University of Minnesota women’s track team started off their indoor season at the Bison Classic in Fargo, ND and at the Northwest Open.


In North Dakota, the Gophers posted one-two finishes in two events. Becca Dyson (9:48.59) and Maggie Bollig(9:51.15) took the top two spots in the 3,000 meters. Kylie Peterson (5.02) and Todea-Kay Willis (5.10) finished first and second in the 40-yard dash.

Alena Brooks won the 800 meters in 2:11.10. Willis took the long jump title with a leap of 19 feet, two inches (5.84m). Bria Halama (38-9, 11.81m) won the triple jump.

“Overall, it was a good meet,” director of track and field and cross country Matt Bingle said. “We ran a lot of odd events today, but next week we’ll go full force. We need to have a good week in practice.”

At the Northwest Open Gopher event winners were Jessica Schmidt (3,000m), Becci Osterdyk (shot put) and Caitlyn Dongoske(weight throw).


"We had some solid performances to start our indoor season, and now we have some things that we can build off of as the season continues," director of men's track & field Steve Plasencia said. "Next week, we have a more competitive meet with the Jack Johnson, and our guys have to be ready for it."
  
Among the individual titles was Jon Lehman's weight throw of 20.74m, the top throw in the NCAA so far this season and an NCAA qualifier. The Gophers finished 1-2-3 in the event with Lehman besting teammates Quentin Mege (18.31m) and Justin Barber (17.76m).

Minnesota also posted a 1-2-3 finish in the pole vault with Jack Szmanda, Zach Siegemeier and Logan Markuson leading the day's competitors. Szmanda paced the event with a vault of 5.08m.

Additionally, the Gophers featured 1-2 finishes in the 600m run with Jacob Capek (1:20.89) edging Kevin Bradley (1:21.10) for top honors, the high jump with Danny Schiller (2.1m) topping Trevor Yedoni (2.05m) and the shot put with Mark Jennings picking up first place at 17.08m to Emmanuel Onyia's 17.01m.

The Gophers will host the Jack Johnson Classic at the University of Minnesota Fieldhouse Jan. 18-19.

Men's results are HERE
Women's results are HERE
Bison Classic results are HERE.

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