Both teams finish third at Big Ten’s

At the 2009 cross country Big Ten Championships, the women’s team saw their two-year reign at the top come to an end while a member of the Gophers men’s team added to an already stellar junior season.
Led by senior Megan Duwell , the Minnesota women’s team entered the 6-kilometer race hoping to add a third consecutive Big Ten Championship, but at the Penn State cross country course the host school took home the women’s team title.
Paced by top individual finisher Bridget Franek, the Nittany Lions scored 71 points, six points better than second-place Illinois.
Duwell was the top Minnesota runner, finishing third overall with a time of 20:23 , earning first-team All-Big Ten honors. Staying with the lead group through most of the race, the senior fell behind during the uphill section of the race and was unable to recover.
“It was from that point on where I tried to hang in there and keep as close a contact as I could, but they got away from me a little bit,” Duwell said. “At that point I just did what I could do to finish strong.”
All five scoring members of the Gophers team finished in the top 25 overall, including a 14th-place finish from freshman Kayla Wagner and an 18th place finish from sophomore Stephanie Price.
With strong performances from some of his younger runners, head coach Gary Wilson said he is pleased with the direction his team is headed in the future.
“They’re just kind of waiting in the wings, and they’re ready to take the reins next year, so that’s exciting,” Wilson said. “We’ve got a good little nucleus to build off.”
In the immediate future, the Gophers have two weeks before the NCAA Championship meets, and while the Gophers didn’t finish how they would have liked at the Big Ten Championships, they feel confident heading into the final weeks of the season.
“There was some disappointment, but I think that we definitely aren’t going to back down. It’s just going to fuel our fire for the rest of the season because I think that we have a lot more to give for Regionals, Nationals,” Duwell said. “It’ll only help us from here on out.”
Heading into the men’s race, head coach Steve Plasencia looked at the scores of the Big Ten teams going into the Big Ten Championships and aimed for a top-four finish for his squad.
Led by Hassan Mead, the Gophers did Plasencia one better, finishing third overall with 97 points.
Mead finished the 5.2-mile race in 25:00.2 , good for first place and five seconds ahead of the closest competitor.
“I think he did it in rather convincing fashion, more than what the times reflect,” Plasencia said. “He took the race himself and was the aggressor the whole time; he was the guy pushing the pace.”
With the victory, Mead earns back-to-back Big Ten individual titles and joins Fred Watson and Garry Bjorklund as the only multiple Big Ten individual champions in Minnesota history.
“It feels great,” Mead said. “Anytime you get in a win it’s a great feeling.”
The Achilles heel for this year’s men’s team had been the No. 5 runner. Plasencia decided to remove the red-shirt from Derek Storkel and the move paid off, with a solid 42nd place finish from the freshman.
“We were able to bridge that gap a little bit. Fifth is still a little bit back, but it was a lot more reasonable today; it didn’t hurt us,” Plasencia said.
Wisconsin added to its impressive Big Ten Championship total, earning its 11th consecutive Big Ten Championship and 42nd of all-time.
“I think we’re getting to the point where more guys are feeling good about how their races are going,” Plasencia said. “I think our teams have generally been well-suited to move up to 10k, so we hope to use that as an advantage.”
Next for the runners is the NCAA Midwest Regionals Nov. 14 in Missouri, followed by the NCAA National Championships Nov. 23 in Indiana.