2015 B1G TEN Outdoor Championship
Michigan State University
May 15-17, 2015
MEN - The men's program closed out the meet with a sixth-place finish.
The throwing events were led by one of the best shot put performances in school history by Mark Jennings finishing 4th and a school record in the hammer by Gian Ferretti finishing 3rd. In the discus, Sam Elsner took 5th place at 54.95 meters. Luke Johnson came in 6th at 54.32 meters. Justin Barber placed 7th at 53.71 meters.
Minnesota earned nine points in the high jump with Danny Schiller and Ryan Lockard attaining PRs. Schiller was 4th with at 2.14 meters, while Ryan got 5th at 2.11 meters.
A very pleasant surprise was Aaron Bartnik's 5th place finish in the steeple. Aaron has not been running this event much but he had a great night at 8:55.92 for a new PR.
A HUGE benefit for the team was the first place finish in the decathlon by Luca Wieland, continuing a long history of multi-event champions on the men's team.
On the track, the Gophers added 10 points thanks to finishes a 4th, 5th and 8th in the 800 meters - Goaner Deng hit a new PR at 1:49.24. Mitch Hechsel ran 1:49.65. Brad Johnson ran 1:51.76. The 4X400 relay team earned 3 points with a sixth-place finish at 3:10.9. That team include Deng, Hechsel, Rawshawn Fountain and Nate Roese, Blayne Dulian added 4 points to the total with his 5th place finish in the 1500. Brad Newmann added 2 points with a 7th place finish in the 200. The 4X100 relay team of Neumann, Gemechu Godi, Trevor Yedoni and Jordan Charles also finished 7th for 2 points.
Most of these athletes are returning next year, so more good things are yet to come.
WOMEN - The field events led the first day with Minnesota picking up 17 points in the hammer. Devin Stanford took 2nd with a throw of 61.44m. Lyndsey Thorpe, Angie Guenther and Ke-Ke Burks placed 5th, 6th and 7th, each with a PR. In the pole vault, Katie Murgic placed 6th having cleared 4.02m. The only scoring that day on the track for the Gophers was Liz Berkholtz running the 10,000 under very warm conditions but earning a point for the Gophers with a hard fought 8th place finish.
The field events continued to support the team on day 2. Devin Stanford finished 2nd in the discus at 52.98m. Freshman Agnes Esser finished 4th at 52.93. In the javelin, the Gophers took 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Nicolle Murphy threw 48.90m, Rachel Melum hit a PR at 47.39m and Jess Herauf had a great series with a longest throw of 47.19m. The multi-event athletes had a big part in earning team points. Jess Herauf won with a school record of 6,014. Alex Beckman took 4th at 5,088, a PR. Day 2 on the track earned the Gophers 5 points with Kaila Urick's 4th place finish at 10:18:45 in the steeple. That puts her in 5th place in the Minnesota history books.
The last day was amazing resulting in a 3rd place team finish. Finally the track athletes got to show how they win points! (Remember, they were working hard the other 2 days, but most track events have preliminary rounds then finals, so the points don't hit until the 3rd day.) The Gopher 4X400 relay team ran a program-record of 3:33.76 to take 2nd. That team includes Emerald Egwim, Jessica Waldvogel, Erin Hawkins and Titania Markland. Similarly the 4X100 relay team which included Emerald, Erin and Jessica, but added Emma Spagnola achieved a season's best time of 45:17 to finish 4th for 5 points. Titania and Emma, individually, earned points for the team. Titania is a 4th place finish at 53.66 in the 400-meter dash, just off her new program record of 53.53, that she set in the prelims. Emma took fifth in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:00.45.
Like the men's program, most of these athletes will be back!
Click below for photos:
Day 1
