Gopher Track to Defend Big Ten Title on Home Turf

This weekend the Minnesota Gophers will host the Big Ten Indoor Men’s Track Championships at the University Fieldhouse. The Gophers will be defending their sweep of the 2009 Big Ten Indoor and Outdoor Track championships, as well as trying to set a school record by winning three consecutive Big Ten titles.

The Men’s track team was in transition in 2009 as long time Minnesota cross country coach Steve Plasencia accepted the head coaching position for the track team in the summer of 2008.

“œWe did feel like we were successful last year, in no small part due to the cooperation of the team with the new coaching staff as it came onboard,” Coach Plasencia said. “œThe focus on the program during the changeover had staff and athletes focused on what we do here and how to do it better.”

When asked about the challenge of the transition from head cross country coach to head track coach, Coach Plasencia offered, “œFrom my standpoint, if anything has been a revelation to me it is just the need in this role to be accessible and more closely tuned in to the needs of athletes, coaches, and support staff that work with the program. I can’t shut my door and expect to just bury myself in my work; it takes time to coordinate things.”

As the team prepares to defend its title, the Gophers have plenty of athletes they can rely on. Along with four returning 2009 indoor champions Hassan Mead, Matt Fisher, R.J. McGinnis, and Aaron Studt, the team also features 2008 indoor pole vault champion Ben Peterson who is back after missing the 2009 campaign due to injury.

In addition to the past champions assistant coach Paul Thornton spoke to the depth of the team, “œMany of our younger guys that are competing at the Big Ten Championships have proven their abilities at earlier meets this indoor season. We have a nice group of younger guys that will contribute to our team success such as Micah Hegerle, Jack Szmanda, Cameron Boy, Andy Richardson, Oladipo Fagbemi to name a few. We have great leaders on this team, and those leaders will play a major factor into our team performance.”

The Indoor Big Ten Championship will be held Saturday, February 27 and Sunday, February 28. The University is nearing a sellout as the championships approach with fewer than 100 available tickets. There are multiple ways to find results from the meet including gophersports.com, assistant coach Reder’s blog, and the Big Ten Network will be running the Championships tape delay on Tuesday, March 2.