The Minnesota men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the Drake Relays, Longhorn Invitational, and other meets over the weekend, and it was Taylor Wiebke on the women’s team who stood out the most.
Competing at the Longhorn Invitational on Saturday, Wiebke surprised herself by winning the high jump with a new program record 1.85 meters.
The sophomore beat her personal record clearing 1.82 on her second attempt before she claimed her spot at the top of the record books on her first attempt.
“I started crying like immediately after I made the bar,” Wiebke said. “It showed pretty much how excited I was about making [the jump]. It was really unexpected.”
The previous high jump record of 1.83 meters, held by Liz Roehrig, was set in 2008.
Although she wasn’t expecting this result, Wiebke said she is ready for Big Ten Championships where her goal is to medal.
“I’m feeling pretty confident right now, especially after hitting some big marks pretty consistently these past couple weeks,” Wiebke said. “I always just want to score for the team, but personally first or second would be cool for me.”
In the team standings, the women’s team finished second overall. Host Texas won the meet with 141 points. The Gophers weren’t far behind and scored 134 points.
The director of women’s track and field Matt Bingle said his squad is at a good place as the conference meet approaches.
“I feel good about who we are and what we want to do as a team,” Bingle said.
He told the team they were in a very good spot to push for a top-three finish in the Big Ten.
Kimberly Golding and Emma Spagnola owned the 100-meter hurdles. For the fourth time this season, they finished in the top two spots in the event.
Golding ran it in 12.87 seconds just ahead of Spagnola, who ran a 13.06 second time.
Minnesota had three runners place in the top six in the 400-meter dash. Emerald Egwim took first with a time of 53.19 seconds. Bolade Jinadu and Kat Keller earned fifth and sixth place in the event.
At Drake Relays, unattached rookie Megan Hasz earned second in the 5,000-meter run. Her career-best time of 16:08.47 would have ranked second in Minnesota history if she ran attached.
Men’s track and field recorded 15 top-10 performances at Drake Relays.
Ryan Lockard finished second in the high jump, clearing 2.12 meters. Teammates Nick Bachinski and Luca Wieland tied for 10th at 2.08 meters.
Derek Wiebke Jackson Wellenstein, Mitch Hechsel, and Shane Streich claimed second in the distance medley relay. Their time of 9:58.10 just lost to Oklahoma, whose relay team won the event with a time of 9:57.86.
Wellenstein and Hechsel were part of the 4×400 relay team that took third with Brad Neumann and Nate Roese., Minnesota posted a time of 3:14.62.
