Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
GOPHERS HEAD TO BIG TENS!!
The gophers depart tomorrow for the Big Ten Championships to be held on the campus of Penn State University! Minnesota is the two time defending Big Ten Team Champions and will be in search of title number three this weekend.
It is never easy in the Big Ten as evidenced by a 1 point win in 2007 and a 4 point win in 2008, but the Gophers go in with a strong chance for the three-pete. Challenging Minnesota will be 4 other NCAA ranked opponents in Illinois, Penn State, Michigan, and Iowa.
The gophers will bring the most experienced squad to the meet with seven of nine returners from last years Big Ten Team! The two new additions are much improved Sophomore Stephanie Price from Mankato, Minnesota and freshman Kayla Wagner from Baldwin, WI. Both these athletes add to an extremely deep team that looks to "attack with a pack!"
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Split Squads head to Pre-NCAA's and Tori Neubauer!
This weekend the Gopher CC runners will split the squad and send the top 12 athletes to the Pre-NCAA meet in Terre Haute, Indiana and the rest of the team will travel to LaCrosse, Wisconsin to compete in the Tori Neubauer Invitational!
The top 12 at a Glance:
Megan Duwell, senior c0-captain and 2008 CC All-American has been the Gophers #1 runner in every meet this season, including a win at the Roy Griak Invitational! Duwell has twice been named the Big Ten Runner of the week.
Elizabeth Yetzer, senior co-captain and 2009 outdoor track NCAA individual qualifier in the 1500 has been a solid #2-3 runner for the gophers this 2009 CC season!
Amy Laskowske, senior and 2009 10k All-American for the Gophers was named second team All-Big Ten in CC last year and has come into this season ready to roll and continue her success!
Nikki Swenson, junior co-captain and 2009 outdoor NCAA qualifier in the 800m has vastly improved on the cross country course this fall and has been in the top 5 for the gophers in every race!
Kayla Wagner, true freshman has had an immediate impact for the Gophers this fall! She has been in the top 7 in the line-up all fall and continues to improve with every race!
Heather Dorniden, senior co-captain who is the most decorated female track athlete in Minnesota history earning 9 All-American honors over her great career. An 800m runner by nature Dorniden has stepped up in cross country and has been a two time All-Region performer on the grass!
Jamie Cheever, senior co-captain struggled with illness at the Roy Griak, but is a returning All-American and was the gophers number 2 and 3 runner in the first two meets of the year!
Stephanie Price, sophomore breaks onto the scene this year as a solid top 9 performer for the Gophers. Price improved drastically last year and went from running 5:08 in high school to 4:52 as a freshman at Minnesota!
Mallory Van Ness, senior 2008 All-Region CC performer for the gophers who adds great depth and experience to the gopher squad!
Kelly Wilson, junior c0-captain is making her first Pre-NCAA . Wilson has worked her way up the food chain from a walk on 11:35 high school 3200m runner to a contributor at the DI level. Wilson competed in the Big Ten 10k last spring and placed 10th in her first Big Ten competition!
Katie Dyson, junior makes her first pre-NCAA meet in her career! Dyson has steadily improved every season as a Gopher, coming into her own this year to make the top group!
Claire Rindo, red-shirt freshmen makes the top 12 after sitting all last year with injury. Healthy and ready to learn, Rindo has a bright future with this squad when she gets a solid year of injury free running and racing under her belt!
Tori Neubauer
"In order to grow and improve as a runner, you need to RACE!" This has been the moto of long time distance head coach Gary Wilson. To make this a reality, we split squads and take the rest of the team to the Tori Neubauer Invitational in La Crosse, WI. Coach Hesser will travel with the team as they get invaluable experience for the following years. In the top 12 this year are three athletes who raced at the Neubauer meet last year, further solidifying the programs philosophy that "There are a lot of diamonds in the rough, you just have to take the time to look for them!"
There will be A LOT of young Gophers gaining experience in LaCrosse so they will be prepared down the road to continue the Championship tradition of the Minnesota GOLDEN GOPHERS!!!
The top 12 at a Glance:
Megan Duwell, senior c0-captain and 2008 CC All-American has been the Gophers #1 runner in every meet this season, including a win at the Roy Griak Invitational! Duwell has twice been named the Big Ten Runner of the week.
Elizabeth Yetzer, senior co-captain and 2009 outdoor track NCAA individual qualifier in the 1500 has been a solid #2-3 runner for the gophers this 2009 CC season!
Amy Laskowske, senior and 2009 10k All-American for the Gophers was named second team All-Big Ten in CC last year and has come into this season ready to roll and continue her success!
Nikki Swenson, junior co-captain and 2009 outdoor NCAA qualifier in the 800m has vastly improved on the cross country course this fall and has been in the top 5 for the gophers in every race!
Kayla Wagner, true freshman has had an immediate impact for the Gophers this fall! She has been in the top 7 in the line-up all fall and continues to improve with every race!
Heather Dorniden, senior co-captain who is the most decorated female track athlete in Minnesota history earning 9 All-American honors over her great career. An 800m runner by nature Dorniden has stepped up in cross country and has been a two time All-Region performer on the grass!
Jamie Cheever, senior co-captain struggled with illness at the Roy Griak, but is a returning All-American and was the gophers number 2 and 3 runner in the first two meets of the year!
Stephanie Price, sophomore breaks onto the scene this year as a solid top 9 performer for the Gophers. Price improved drastically last year and went from running 5:08 in high school to 4:52 as a freshman at Minnesota!
Mallory Van Ness, senior 2008 All-Region CC performer for the gophers who adds great depth and experience to the gopher squad!
Kelly Wilson, junior c0-captain is making her first Pre-NCAA . Wilson has worked her way up the food chain from a walk on 11:35 high school 3200m runner to a contributor at the DI level. Wilson competed in the Big Ten 10k last spring and placed 10th in her first Big Ten competition!
Katie Dyson, junior makes her first pre-NCAA meet in her career! Dyson has steadily improved every season as a Gopher, coming into her own this year to make the top group!
Claire Rindo, red-shirt freshmen makes the top 12 after sitting all last year with injury. Healthy and ready to learn, Rindo has a bright future with this squad when she gets a solid year of injury free running and racing under her belt!
Tori Neubauer
"In order to grow and improve as a runner, you need to RACE!" This has been the moto of long time distance head coach Gary Wilson. To make this a reality, we split squads and take the rest of the team to the Tori Neubauer Invitational in La Crosse, WI. Coach Hesser will travel with the team as they get invaluable experience for the following years. In the top 12 this year are three athletes who raced at the Neubauer meet last year, further solidifying the programs philosophy that "There are a lot of diamonds in the rough, you just have to take the time to look for them!"
There will be A LOT of young Gophers gaining experience in LaCrosse so they will be prepared down the road to continue the Championship tradition of the Minnesota GOLDEN GOPHERS!!!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
GOPHERS RANKED #8 in the NCAA!
After a successful weekend at South Dakota State University that saw the Gopher Women go 2-4-5-6-7-8-10-12 the Gopher's rose to number 8 in the NCAA. The women are still the top ranked Big Ten school followed by #16 Penn State, #18 Illinois, #23 Michigan, #24 Michigan State, #28 Wisconsin and #29Iowa.
Megan Duwell was once again the Gopher's #1 runner and has earned TWO Big Ten Runner of the week accolades this season!
Rising to prominence in the Gopher's line up is true freshman Kayla Wagner from Baldwin, WI! Kayla has been in the top 7 for each of her first 4 meets as a Gopher and was our #4 runner at SDSU. In a senior laden group it is exciting to see a freshman come into the mix and gain valuable experience for the next four years of what looks to be a GREAT career!
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