Minnesota Gophers win Women’s Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championship!

On Saturday the Minnesota Golden Gophers women’s Indoor track and Field Team won the Big Ten Championships for the fifth time in school history, and first since 2018. The Gophers also brought home eight individual event championships and will advance 10-12 athletes to the NCAA Championships when the field is announced on Tuesday.

The Gophers crushed the competition finishing with 138 points, 58 more than second place Michigan Wolverines. The Gophers added up the points with 8 first place finishes, one runner-up, and five third place finishes. A trio of Gophers each had a hand in two individual event championships.

The Gophers were led by junior sprinter Amira Young. Young won both the 60 meters in a time of 7.31 seconds, and the 200 meters in 23.5 seconds. Both victories came in the final day on Saturday and iced the team competetion for the Gophers.

Two of Minnesota’s middle distance runners also each were involved in two event titles. Abigail Schaffe won the 600 meters in a time of 1:27.96 with teammate Val Larson right behind in second place in 1:28.67. Both Larson and Schaffe were members of the Gophers winning 4x400 relay team along with Jayla Campbell and Janielle Josephs who won that event in a time of 3:35.51. Larson picked up her second event title in the Gophers win in the distance medley relay along with Anastasia Korzenowski, Libby Halbmaier, and Abby Kohut-Jackson in a time of 11:10.05. That event was on of the final lean of Kohut-Jackson just edging out second place Michigan by 0.07 seconds.

Bethany Hasz won the 3,000 meters easily with a time 9:06:66. It was Minnesota’s first ever event win in the 3,000 meters and was Hasz’s second individual championship of the spring after winning the Big Ten Cross Country Meet in January. Tess Keyzers took home the weight throw for the Gophers with a toss of 21.66 meters. It was the fourth longest throw in school history.

Finally the Gophers got a win in the pentathlon from Allison Gerads. Her score of 4088 set a new Minnesota record.

The Gopher men would finish in fifth place at the Big Ten championships and add one individual crown to their list. Owen Hoeft won the mile in a time of 4:05:45 to win the event for the seventh time in Gopher history. The Gophers got a trio of runner-up finishes from Ben Psicihulis in the 600 meters, Kaleb Siekmeier in the weight throw and the 4x400 meter relay team.

After the NCAA’s which will take place in two weeks in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the focus will switch to the outdoor season where the Gopher women will try and sweep the indoor and outdoor titles for the first time since 2018.