2009 Indoor Season Begins

Opening Weekend Highlights from Mankato State's MSU Alumni Meet and the Northwest Open at Minnesota


Division III:

Derrin Izdepski, unattached thrower from UWRF, would have broken the schools weight throw record had he competed for the team at the Northwest Open. "It's a great start to the season. He's a strong and fast kid and this is a great first step," said Coach Peter Miller on Derrin's performance.

Division II

At the MSU Alumni meet held at Mankato State Adam Kershaw (54' 1 1/4") of St. Cloud State and Michael Robinson ( 54' 9 1/2")of MSU had promising marks to open the season. Travis Zins, Throws Coach of SCSU said that it's a great start to the season. "He's been working hard and it's nice to start off with a personal best in the first meet of the season."

Division I

Lynne Anderson, Women's Throws Coach, entering his 28th season said meets this early in the season are a "chance for them to show me what they've got and it looks like we're off to a good start." Kari Schmidt won the women's shot put with a throw of 47'9". Schmidt, a senior out of Chisago Lakes, who ranks 9th in shot put all-time at the U of M started off her final season in maroon and gold well.

Former Gopher All-American Lynden Reder and first year throws coach on the opening performances of the 2009 men. "We were basically training through this meet and most of January. It was a great opportunity for some of our younger throwers to step up." Micah Hegerle, red shirting freshmen from Kasson-Manterville, performed well in his first meet at the U (49'6" weight throw). "We got a good performance out of Micah. He's got a lot of potential and has some great guys to learn from."

The Gophers are returning two scorers from last year's Big Ten Championships and have several atheltes with the potential to score in '09. Aaron Studt leads the returning core of the throwers. Studt was a national qualifier in the shot put (62' 7 1/2") and weight throw (65'4 3/4") in 2008. 5th-year senior Andy Bastain and senior Jerry Netland along with freshmen Tyler Kleinhuizen and Trey Davis round out the team. "We have a good chance to have several scorers at Big Ten's this year. We're going to be training through most of January because these guys performing at their best in February at Big Ten's is what it's all about," said Reder.

The Gophers will host the Minnesota Open on next Saturday, January 17th with field events starting at 11:30 AM.