records & history
2008
SEASON RECAP The 2008 Season in Review The Golden Gophers collected another impressive national finish to cap off the 2008 season, placing 15th at the NCAA Championships behind the All-America performances of Chris Rombough and Hassan Mead. Minnesota added a runner-up showing at the NCAA Midwest Region Championships and a third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships during the championship portion of the 2008 campaign. Minnesota at the NCAA Championships Minnesota made its 20th appearance in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2008. The Gophers have competed in 11 of the last 12 Championships, missing out only in 2006. The best finish for the Gophers in NCAA history was a fourthplace showing in 1968, while most recently an eighth-place showing in 2007 tops the list. The 15th-place finish in 2008 is the 15th top-20 NCAA showing in Minnesota history. Rombough Makes Minnesota History Senior Chris Rombough became the first Golden Gopher to capture three All-America citations in a career. Rombough added his third national honor in 2008 with a 17th-place finish. He placed 14th in 2006 and 29th in 2007. Six other Gophers, including Hassan Mead, are two-time AllAmericans. Mead Makes His Mark at Big Tens and Region Meet Sophomore Hassan Mead captured the individual Big Ten title, notching his name as the fifth Minnesota Gopher to win the Conference crown. Mead also collected medalist honors at the NCAA Midwest region meet before earning All-America accord with a 31st-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Mead, Rombough Share Team MV Award For the second consecutive season, the Fred O. Watson Award, Minnesota’s team MV award, was shared by Hassan Mead and Chris Rombough. Rombough is a career three-time MV recipient. Mead Clocks Minnesota Record 8K Time Hassan Mead ran the fastest 8-kilometer time in Minnesota history at the Pre-NCAA Meet Blue Race on Oct. 18. Mead clocked a time of 23 minutes, 33.1 seconds to break teammate Chris Rombough’s mark of 23:39.7, set at the same meet in 2007. Minnesota Coaching Staff Golden Gopher head coach Steve Plasencia completed his 13th season leading the Minnesota program. Plasencia has guided the Gophers to NCAA Championships berths in 11 of his 13 years with his alma mater with the Gophers’ 2008 eighth-place NCAA finish the best since 1969. In July of 2008, Plasencia was named the Golden Gophers’ head men’s track & field coach. Volunteer assistant coach Jason Havey finished his first year with the Gophers. Hassan Mead Honored as the USTFCCCA Midwest Region Runner of the Year Sophomore Hassan Mead was named the 2008 USTFCCCA Midwest Region Runner of the Year after capturing medalist honors at both the Big Ten Conference Championships and NCAA Midwest Region Championships. As the Big Ten champion, Mead was also honored as the Big Ten Athlete of the Year.
Gophers 15th in NCAA Championships, Rombough a ThreeTime All-American Golden Gopher senior Chris Rombough set Minnesota cross country history on Monday, becoming the first three-time AllAmerican in school history as Minnesota finished 15th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Rombough finished 17th overall, covering the 10-kilometer course the LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Ind., in a time of 29 minutes, 54.4 seconds. Rombough’s time is the fourth-fastest time in school history. His top finish at the NCAA meet was 14th in 2006, while he placed 29th in 2007. “I’m proud of Chris,” said Golden Gopher head coach Steve Plasencia. “He’s a strong runner who loves cross country. He kept pounding away, moving up through the field. We are going to miss him.” Mead didn’t run his best race but still managed to collect All-America honors with a 31st-place finish in a time of 30:06.2. The Gopher sophomore, who won both the Big Ten and NCAA Midwest Region individual titles, is the seventh runner to earn multiple All-America citations. “Hassan fought back but he didn’t have a good day,” said Plasencia. Plasencia also noted that Mead and most of the Gophers, other than Rombough, didn’t seem to have as much energy as he would have hoped. “Overall we had a mediocre performance today. We didn’t have a lot of zip. I’m thinking that running on that very difficult course at the regional meet may have taken a lot out of us. We didn’t start the race well and that left too much to make up. I guess it says something, though, when we aren’t necessarily pleased with a 15th-place finish at the NCAAs. We had higher hopes, higher expectations, but we just didn’t have the depth to pull it off.” The Gophers were unable to finish with a tight pack of runners, as they had in the NCAA Midwest Region Championships nine days ago. Sophomore Ben Blankenship ran a solid race to finish as the Gophers’ number-three runner, clocking a time of 30:55.1 to place 100th overall, but the gap widened for the important fourth and fifth scorers. Matt Barrett was the Gophers’ fourth runner to cross the finish line, placing 160th in a time of 31:23.6, followed by Mike McFarland in 171st in 31:27.0. Also competing for Minnesota was Ben Puhl, who placed 214th in 32:00.3 and Mike Torchia in 231st in 32:25.0. Gophers Earn NCAA Automatic Berth With Runner-Up Finish at Regional Minnesota, fueled by a one-two finish by All-Americans Hassan Mead and Chris Rombough, earned an automatic NCAA Championships berth by placing second at the NCAA Midwest Region Championships in Stillwater, Okla., on Saturday, Nov. 15. The No. 14 Golden Gophers captured their 11th NCAA Championships appearance in 12 years by finishing in the top two in the regional team standings. Host Oklahoma State tallied 42 for the team title, while Minnesota finished second with 51. “We knew going in that Hassan and Chris could compete at the front of the pack,” said Golden Gopher Steve Plasencia. “What we needed was for our other guys to push forward and they certainly came through for us today. Ben (Blankenship) ran with great confidence today and was a key contributor. We have conditioned ourselves to be successful at the longer 10K distance run in the NCAAs.”
Chris Rombough
Mead, also the 2008 Big Ten Conference medalist, became the fourth Golden Gopher to win the Midwest Region individual title. The sophomore covered the 10-kilometer course at the Oklahoma State Cross Country Course in a time of 31 minutes, 15.65 seconds. He used a strong finish in the last 400 meters to push away for the win. Rombough was second in a time of 31:18.85. Minnesota finished with six of its seven runners earning All-NCAA Midwest Region honors. Ben Blankenship, running his first Midwest Region meet after running in the South Region with Mississippi State a year ago, posted the best finish of his young Gopher career, placing 12th in a time of 31:28.45. The final two Gopher scorers crossed the line back-toback. Matt Barrett placed 19th in a time of 31:40.60, while Mike Torchia was 20th in 31:41.10. The sixth Gopher to earn all-region acclaim was Mike McFarland in 24th in a time of 31:56.85. Also competing for the Gophers was Ben Puhl, who clocked a time of 32:19.95 and placed 40th overall. Hassan Mead Honored as Big Ten Runner of the Year, Puhl Honored as Well Hassan Mead was named the Big Ten Conference Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year, announced by the Conference officials. The conference postseason honor is determined by a vote of the Big Ten cross country coaches. Mead concluded the Big Ten season by capturing the individual title at the Big Ten Championships held at Michigan. Mead covered the 8-kilometer course in a time of 24 minutes, 26.4 seconds, winning the crown by over nine seconds. The Minneapolis South High School graduate also picked up two Big Ten Runner of the Week accolades during the 2008 season. Mead is the fifth Gopher to win the Big Ten title and the second in three years as teammate Rombough captured Big 31 * Minnesota Men’s Cross Country