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!

GOPHERS HOST ROY GRIAK INVITE!

On Saturday September 26th the University of Minnesota will host the 24th Annual Roy Griak Invitational! The meet begins at 9:00am with the DIII Maroon Women's Race and will continue throughout the day! In total there will be 11 races, including the NEW Goldies Kids fun run at 1:25!

The Gopher Men take to the course at 12:05 and look to win their first Roy Griak Invitational. The women will follow at 12:55 and look to make it 3 in a row for the team title!

Come and join the action and watch over 4,000 runners compete at all levels. Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for students.

MEGAN DUWELL BIG TEN ATHLETE OF THE WEEK!

Congratulations to senior co-captain and 2008 cross country All-American Megan Duwell who was names Big Ten Runner of the week for her win at the Oz Memorial! AWESOME job Megs :)

TCF BANK STADIUM!

After running the Oz on Friday night, many of us got the wonderful opportunity to attend the first football game at TCF Bank Stadium! It was an AMAZING day for Gopher Athletics as fans came in droves to spend all day on campus tailgating, hanging out with friends, walking around campus and soaking in the Gopher spirit! We had a blast at the sell out game where the Gophers won 20-13!

Enjoy a few clips from the stadium during game time!

2009 OZ Memorial!

What a fun weekend for Gopher Athletics! We started off the weekend in style at the 10th Annual Oz Memorial Invitational on Friday September 11th. The Gopher Women won the meet with a near perfect 17 points! 5 of the gopher's top 6 performers were over 20 seconds faster than they were last year at this time with top honors going to Soph. Stephanie Price who was 62 seconds faster than her freshman Oz effort!

Here are the Gopher Individual Results:

Results - Women
1 Duwell, Megan Minnesota 21:13.24
2 Yetzer, Elizabeth Minnesota 22:06.38
3 Cheever, Jamie Minnesota 22:10.27
5 Swenson, Nikki Minnesota 22:18.49
6 Laskowske, Amy Minnesota 22:21.47
7 Price, Stephanie Unattached, 22:27.29
8 Wagner, Kayla Minnesota 22:40.38
10 Dorniden, Heather Minnesota 23:01.18
11 Van Ness, Mallory Minnesota 23:06.41
12 Wilson, Kelly Minnesota 23:11.94
13 Mason, Meghan Unattached, 23:13.54
14 Rindo, Claire Minnesota 23:23.84
15 Dyson, Katie Unattached, 23:27.28
17 Drake, Rachel Unattached, 23:34.54
18 Moraczewski, Katie Unattached, 23:42.37
20 Talajkowski, Annie Unattached, 23:56.95
23 Edmonds, Jaclyn Unattached, 24:05.34
24 Dittmar, Jamie Minnesota 24:08.46
27 Orcutt, Paige Unattached, 24:21.49
28 Docherty, Laura Unattached, 24:23.80
30 Koch, Laura Minnesota 24:34.53
33 Miller, Emma Minnesota 24:40.54
34 Light, Taylor Unattached, 24:47.07
35 Ritter, Kathryn Minnesota 24:49.56
36 Smith, Megan Minnesota 24:55.43
38 Meagher, Amanda Unattached, 24:57.39
44 Budd, Kelli Unattached, 25:11.52
45 Volz, Michelle Unattached, 25:15.08
50 Lewein, Jenna Minnesota 25:29.35
51 Gusmer, Becca Minnesota 25:31.48
54 Larson, Mikaya Minnesota 25:35.33
56 Helmers, Tari Minnesota 25:39.17
58 Brunn, Heather Minnesota 25:45.92
63 Cederstrom, Kendall Minnesota 26:12.68
64 Fowler, Emily Unattached, 26:14.28
65 Hemmerich, Celia Minnesota 26:21.12
68 LeBreck, Danielle Unattached, 26:37.55
74 Muscala, Marie Unattached, 27:27.85

Reults from the Intrasquad!

This past weekend we ran the Intrasquad on our home course. We split our team into three teams and have a 5k time trial! It is a fun race to see where people are coming out of summer training and they have fun competing against one another for some exciting prizes! Coach Hesser's maroon team won the meet and we had some GREAT early season performances!

Minnesota Maroon 3-4-5-8-14-(15)-(22) 34
Minnesota Gold 1-7-10-12-13-(17)-(19) 43
Minnesota Black 2-6-9-11-16-(18)-(20) 45

1. Megan Duwell (Gold) 17:41.63
2. Jamie Cheever (Black) 18:33.22
3. Heather Dorniden (Maroon) 18:41.35
4. Amy Laskowske (Maroon) 18:42.91
5. Stephanie Price (Maroon) 18:46.66
6. Elizabeth Yetzer (Black) 18:48.83
7. Mallory Van Ness (Gold) 18:52.78
8. Nikki Swenson (Maroon) 18:53.88
9. Kayla Wagner (Black) 18:54.37
10. Kelly Wilson (Gold) 19:09.83
11. Katie Dyson (Black) 19:27.36
12. Claire Rindo (Gold) 19:40.74
13. Rachel Drake (Gold) 20:00.30
14. Jamie Dittmar (Maroon) 20:05.82
15. Katie Moraczewski (Maroon) 20:09.27
16. Jaci Edmonds (Black) 20:10.98
17. Taylor Light (Gold) 20:12.70
18. Emma Miller (Black) 20:17.43
19. Kelli Budd (Gold) 20:40.12
20. Megan Smith (Black) 20:41.21
21. Annie Talajkowski (Black) 20:41.69
22. Paige Orcutt (Maroon) 20:44.14
23. Michelle Volz (Gold) 20:45.31
24. Kathryn Ritter (Maroon) 20:53.08
25. Laura Docherty (Black) 20:59.51
26. Jenna Lewein (Maroon) 21:02.98
27. Laura Koch (Black) 21:06.43
28. Becca Gusmer (Gold) 21:12.53
29. Amanda Meagher (Black) 21:18.17
30. Heather Brunn (Maroon) 21:20.61
31. Mikaya Larson (Black) 21:31.18
32. Danielle LeBreck (Gold) 21:31.44
33. Tari Helmers (Gold) 21:48.51
34. Kendall Cederstrom (Maroon) 21:52.20
35. Celia Hemmerich (Black) 22:10.74
36. Emily Fowler (Gold) 22:27.18
37. Marie Muscala (Gold) 23:34.04

Videos on Gophersports!

Hey guys! Our Sports Information Director just edited a lot of video footage from Ely and has posted it on the Women's Cross Country page of Gopher Sports. Click the following link and then look for the video camera icons to watch the videos!!

www.gophersports.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPID=3297&DB_OEM_ID=8400

ENJOY :)