Gopher Women Win First Indoor Big Ten Title

[Chris]

Women's Track Team Wins First-Ever Big Ten Indoor Title

quote:
http://www.gophersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=38651&SPID=3300&DB_OEM_ID=8400&ATCLID=807097
Minnesota?s women?s track and field team was crowned Big Ten Indoor Track & Field Champions for the first time in school history on Sunday in Champaign, Ill.

The Gophers tallied 121.5 total points, easily defeating Michigan placing second with 108.5 points. Illinois took third with 107 points.

Minnesota has now won two consecutive titles after winning the 2006 Big Ten Outdoor Championships.

?It was just a great team effort,? interim head coach Matt Bingle said. ?The girls just had fun. It was two days of excitement, and both days the girls showed up and represented. It was a great feeling to get that second championship, the first indoor ever. We told them before we left to enjoy competing and to enjoy the pressure, and that?s what happened. It was like one big party the whole weekend.?

Highlighting the meet for the Gophers was senior Liz Alabi, who won the weight throw with a distance of 69 feet, 3/4 inches. The mark bettered the Minnesota school record, which Alabi already held. Alabi swept the throwing events after being crowned shot put champion on Saturday (52-10 3/4).

?That was huge,? Bingle said. ?She really stepped up to the plate. It was a great day for her as a senior to win both events as she did.?

Minnesota scored 19 points in taking three of the top four places in the 800 meters. Sophomore Gabriele Anderson?s second-place time of 2 minutes, 8.141 seconds barely edged out teammate Jamie Cheever, who took third in a time of 2:08.144 seconds. Junior Julie Schwengler placed fourth with a time of 2:08.22. All three Gophers ran times good enough to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championships.

The Gophers also scored multiple runners in the mile run. Senior Emily Brown placed second with a career-best time of 4:44.14, while sophomore Heather Dorniden took sixth in 4:47.40.

Dorniden took second in the 600 meters, timing 1:28.62 to better her school record time of 1:29.31.

Minnesota scored two in the high jump, with sophomore Caitlin Roemhildt tying for third with a leap of 5-8 3/4 and Liz Roehrig placing sixth.

The Gophers? 4x400-meter relay of Rikita Butler, Ekene Obi, Kadian Douglas and Dorniden placed fifth with a time of 3:43.85.

Douglas scored a point for the Gophers by placing eighth in the 60 meters (7.72), while Elizabeth Yetzer placed eighth in the 5000 meters with a time of 16:51.38.

The Gophers will compete next weekend at the Iowa State Qualifier on Saturday, March 3 in Ames, Iowa.

Liz Roehrig Captures Three-Peat Winning the Big Ten Pentathlon Crown

quote:
http://www.gophersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=38651&SPID=3300&DB_OEM_ID=8400&ATCLID=806172

The No. 10 Minnesota women?s track & field team captured two individual titles and compiled 59 team points to build a 23-point lead after the first day of action at the 2007 Big Ten Indoor Championships in Champaign, Ill., on Saturday. Highlighting the day for the Golden Gophers was junior Liz Roehrig in the pentathlon and performance of the Minnesota shot putters, led by senior Liz Alabi.

?We had a good first day and put ourselves in a great position for tomorrow,? said Golden Gopher interim head coach Matt Bingle. ?We scored well today in the event we thought we would and every runner that we thought should advance to the finals on the track did so for tomorrow. We?ll have to perform well tomorrow (to capture the title) but we?re excited and ready.?

Roehrig, a Chilton, Wis., native, captured her third Big Ten pentathlon title writing a bit of Minnesota track & field history as the first Golden Gopher to win three straight indoor conference titles in the same event. Roehrig tallied 4,177 points, just four point shy of the Big Ten record, but her total bettered her own Minnesota record and NCAA automatic qualifying score.

Roehrig was sixth after the 60-meter hurdles, running a time of 8.84 seconds. She grabbed the lead by winning her marquee event, the high jump, clearing 5-feet, 9 1/4 inches. Roehrig extended her lead by taking another first, landing a throw of 42-11 3/4 in the shot put. The lead was maintained by a third-place showing in the long jump as Roehrig recorded a best of 18-11 3/4.

The Gophers? multi-event All-American headed into the pentathlon?s final event, the 800-meter run, with a 44 point lead. Roehrig finished off her third run to the Big Ten pentathlon title by posting a career-best time of 2:22.64 in the 800 meters.

?Liz is a competitor,? added Bingle. ?She wasn?t feeling 100 percent, but she still found the will to run the fastest 800 meters of her career to capture the title. Liz really gutted it out in that last 200 meters.?

Later in the afternoon, Roehrig added a seventh-place finish in the long jump with a leap of 19-3 1/4.

Alabi won her first Big Ten title of her career in grand fashion, tossing a personal best in the shot put by over 2 feet. The Brooklyn Park native landed a throw of 52-10 3/4, the second-best throw in school history.

Alabi was joined by top efforts by Liz Podominick and Kari Schmidt as the trio contributed an impressive 22 points to the team total with career-best performances. Podominick, competing in her first Big Ten indoor meet, heaved a toss of 52-10 1/4 in her final attempt, the third-best throw in Gopher history, to finish second. Schmidt finished fifth with a throw of 49-3.

The Gopher distance medley relay ran to a runner-up finish with a NCAA provisional time of 11:31.15. The relay consists of Gabriele Anderson, Ekene Obi, Challis Larson and Jamie Cheever.

Minnesota?s pole vaulters chipped in 14 points with Andrea Smith placing third (12-10), Ashley Nord fourth (12-10) and Alicia Rue sixth (12-6).

Freshman Elizabeth Yetzer completed the scoring performances with a sixth-place finish in the 3,000-meter run in a time of 9:41.44.

Minnesota and Michigan are expected to battle for the team title. Both teams will enter Sunday?s competition with eight runners qualified for finals.

The Gophers? 800-meter crew leads the way with four qualfiers to finals. Anderson ran the fifth-fastest time in school history at 2:08.81. She will be joined by Cheever, Julie Schwengler and Ayla Mitchell in the final field.

Senior Emily Brown ran an NCAA provisional time of 4:48.08 in the mile to advance, while Heather Dorniden won her heat in a time of 4:50.70. Dorniden also advanced in the 600 meters with a time of 1:31.25 and will be joined by Brittni Swanson (1:34.19) in the final.

Senior Kadian Douglas completes the list of finals? qualifiers, advancing in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.60 seconds.

Results: http://cfpitiming.com/results/index.htm?SPSID=38651&SPID=3300&DB_OEM_ID=8400

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Event 13  Women Pole Vault
=================================================================================
      World: W 4.91m  2/12/2006   Yelena Isinbaeva, RUS                        
   American: U 4.81m  3/7/2004    Stacy Dragila, Nike                          
 Collegiate: C 4.53m  2/8/2002    Amy Linnen, Arizona                          
  NCAA Auto: A 4.20m                                                            
 NCAA Prov.: P 3.95m                                                            
 Conference: N 4.00m  2002        Ebbie Metzinger, Purdue                      
     Armory: I 4.12m  2002        Tracy O'Hara, U.C.L.A.                        
   Name                    Year School                  Finals            Points
=================================================================================
Finals                                                                          
 1 Peck, Mallory             SO Purdue                   4.11mN  13-05.75  10  
    3.71 3.81 3.91 4.01 4.11 4.21                                              
       O   XO    O    O   XO  XXX                                              
 2 Neuenswander, Vera        FR Indiana                  4.11mN  13-05.75   8  
    3.51 3.61 3.71 3.81 3.91 4.01 4.11 4.21                                    
       O    O    O  XXO    O    O   XO  XXX                                    
 3 Smith, Andrea             JR Minnesota                3.91m   12-10.00   6  
    3.61 3.71 3.81 3.91 4.01                                                    
       O   XO   XO    O  XXX                                                    
 4 Nord, Ashley              JR Minnesota                3.91m   12-10.00   5  
    3.41 3.51 3.61 3.71 3.81 3.91 4.01                                          
       O    O    O    O   XO   XO  XXX                                        
 5 Whittaker, Ashley         JR Illinois                 3.91m   12-10.00   4  
    3.51 3.61 3.71 3.81 3.91 4.01                                              
       O    O    O    O  XXO  XXX                                              
 6 Rue, Alicia               FR Minnesota                3.81m   12-06.00   3  
    3.41 3.51 3.61 3.71 3.81 3.91                                              
       O   XO    O    O   XO  XXX                                              
 7 Pintaro, Amanda           JR Illinois                 3.71m   12-02.00   2  
    3.51 3.61 3.71 3.81                                                        
       O    O    O  XXX                                                        
 8 Soceka, Jenny             SO Wisconsin                3.71m   12-02.00   1  
    3.71 3.81                                                                  
      XO  XXX                                                                  
 9 Fairbairn, Caitlin        FR Penn State               3.71m   12-02.00      
    3.41 3.51 3.61 3.71 3.81                                                    
       O   XO    O   XO  XXX                                                    
10 Massey, Laura             JR Minnesota                3.71m   12-02.00      
    3.41 3.51 3.61 3.71 3.81                                                    
      XO    O   XO   XO  XXX                                                  
10 Dahlin, Amy               SO Wisconsin                3.71m   12-02.00      
    3.41 3.51 3.61 3.71 3.81                                                    
      XO    O   XO   XO  XXX                                                    
12 Burgett, Sarah            SR Iowa                     3.61m   11-10.00      
    3.41 3.51 3.61 3.71                                                        
      XO   XO   XO  XXX                                                        
13 Scheidegger, Samantha     JR Illinois                 3.61m   11-10.00      
    3.41 3.51 3.61 3.71                                                        
       O    O  XXO  XXX                                                        
14 Williams, Laura           FR Indiana                  3.51m   11-06.25      
    3.41 3.51 3.61                                                              
       O    O  XXX                                                              
14 Conkle, Sarah             FR Michigan                 3.51m   11-06.25      
    3.41 3.51 3.61                                                              
       O    O  XXX                                                              
14 Heinzmann, Lindsey        SR Wisconsin                3.51m   11-06.25      
    3.41 3.51 3.61                                                              
       O    O  XXX                                                              
17 Meissner, Jacqueline      FR Penn State               3.51m   11-06.25      
    3.41 3.51 3.61                                                              
      XO    O  XXX                                                              
17 Ziegler, Jacqueline       SO Illinois                 3.51m   11-06.25      
    3.41 3.51 3.61                                                              
      XO    O  XXX                                                              
19 Pearson, Kristin          SR Michigan                 3.51m   11-06.25      
    3.51 3.61                                                                  
      XO  XXX                                                                  
19 Mehl, Jennifer            JR Michigan                 3.51m   11-06.25      
    3.41 3.51 3.61                                                              
       O   XO  XXX                                                              
21 Willett, Kim              JR Ohio State               3.41m   11-02.25      
    3.41 3.51                                                                  
       O  XXX                                                                  
22 Catino, Kelly             SR Michigan                 3.41m   11-02.25      
    3.41 3.51                                                                  
      XO  XXX                                                                  
-- Miller, Stephanie         JR Michigan State             SCR                  


[Chris]

Congratulations Team!

[ebuyse]

Congratulations Ladies!!
That is so exciting[]  Good luck with the rest of your season!!