USATF Juniors/Studt NACAC

Maggie Ewen capped an amazing freshmen season with a personal best of 161'6" on her final throw of competition at Drake Stadium in the USA Junior Track and Field Championships. Ewen moved from 7th to 5th on her final throw and was within 5 feet of qualifying for World Juniors.



Wisconsin freshmen Casey Dehn (Owatonna) finished 9th in the shot put with a mark of 56'10 3/4" beating former teammate and Owatonna Junior, Jake Fensky, who finished 19th with a mark 50'6".



Logan Hussung finished a decorated Farmington career off with an 18th place finish in the shot put with a mark of 53' 8 1/4" and a 19th in discus with a throw of 156'4".



Ewen, Fensky, and Hussung will all be eligible to compete in the 2011 USATF Junior Championships. The top 2 in each event move onto the World Junior Championships if they surpass the qualifying mark (typically referred to as the "A" standard in World/Olympic Championships).

Aaron Studt of the Minnesota Gophers has been selected to represent the United States in the NACAC U-23 meet held in Miramar, Florida July 9th-11th. The Men's Shot Final will be held at 6:30pm on July 11th.

Two Athletes under the age of 23 are selected per event to represent the United States. The NACAC under-23 meet will include athletes representing the following countries: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, El Salvado, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turk and Caicos Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the United States.


Coverage of the NACAC meet will be provided by usportstv.net via a pay-per-view option online. The webcast starts at 7:35 a.m. (CST) on Friday, July 9, with continued coverage on Saturday, July 10 (6 a.m. CST), and Sunday, July 11 (6 a.m. CST). Cost is $7.95 per day or $17.95 for the weekend.

USA Juniors Preview

An outstanding trio of Minnesotan throwers take their show on the road to Des Moines this week to compete in at the USA Juniors. Logan Hussung (Farmington), Jake Fenske (Owatonna), and Maggie Ewen (St. Francis) look to qualify for World Juniors by placing in the top three Thursday and Friday.

Ewen is one of the youngest competitors at Drake and is currently seeded 9th in the discus.

Hussung is pulling double duty competing in both the shot put (12:30) and discus (2:15) on Thursday.

Hussung will not be the only familiar face for Owatonna's Jake Fenske. Fenske will be facing off against fellow teammate Casey Dehn, now competing for the University of Wisconsin.

Dehn is able to compete since the eligibility for this meet is based on qualifying mark and the not turning 20 years of age in the 2010 calendar year. Mason Finley (Kansas via Colorado and national high school record holder in the discus) is skipping the juniors and will be competing in the open section of the meet in both shot and discus. The implements are a 1.75 kg discus (up from 1.6 kg in high school and down from 2.0 in college/pro) and a 6 kg shot put (up from 12 lb in high school and down from 16 lb in college/pro). Because of the weight change the college competitors usually have a significant advantage over the high school competitors in this meet.

The best thing to come out of New Jersey since the fist pump will be on display Thursday afternoon also. Nick Vena (Morristown, NJ) to make the Junior Shot Put one of the marquee events of the meet. Vena, a junior, has won the state title, Penn Relays, and Gatorade Track and Field Athlete of the Year honors for the last three years in New Jersey. Vena has thrown the 12 lb shot over 70'-28 times over the last year and is currently 5th all-time in the US for high school.

Best of luck to the four Minnesotans competing in the throws!!

Watch the Juniors Live here!

http://www.usatf.org/events/2010/USAJuniorOutdoorTFChampionships/video.asp

State Meet Final Update

With the weather holding out for a majority of Class AA boys discus and girls shot the showdown between Logan Hussung and Luke Johnson in discus did not disappoint.

Johnson took the early lead at 177'3" with his second throw in Prelims only to be bested by Hussung on his first throw in finals. Hussung had an outstanding series of throws with 4 throws over 170' and three over 175'

Kim Hovey of Red Wing avenged her discus loss to Maggie Ewen yesterday with a wire to wire win in the girls shot put. Her mark of 43'0" in shot was enough to hold off Ewen and Emily Lesser of Maple Grove

In Class A Shawn Johnson of Eveleth Gilbert left little suspense with a season best mark of 176'4" in discus in pre-lims. Johnson landed another season best of 178'4" to win the Class A discus by over 20 feet.

In The Circle Report: State Meet Friday update

2010 had the potential for a huge year for throws and it has not disappointed.

In the history of state on 5 throwers in the history of Minnesota have thrown over both 180' in discus and 60' in shot put. The 2010 season marks 3 throwers over both of those marks.

Logan Hussung of Farmington (188'4"/60'6"), Eric Stark of Pipestone (184'0"/60'3") and junior Luke Johnson of Red Wing (183'8"/62'10").

Luke Johnson's marks place him 4th all-time in the shot put and Hussung's mark in the disc is 8th all-time. Hussung, Stark, Johnson, Blaine's Dijon Starr, and Owatonna's Jake Fensky have all hit the US Junior's qualifying mark this season.

The weather tempered the distances in the Class AA shot put today at Hamline. The only finalist to mark a personal best was Sophmore Tom Anderson of Andover who finished third with a throw of 57'7 3/4". Hussung was leading from his first throw in competition until Dijon Starr's 6th and final throw moved him from 3rd to 1st by 1" over Hussung.

View Starr's winning throw here



Eveleth's Shawn Johnson (54'9"/175'10") is the leading thrower for Class A tonight in shot and tomorrow afternoon in disc with the Class A season leader in both events, Eric Stark (Pipestone) ineligible for the state competition.

On the girls side has had it's share of good marks but it has been Kim Hovey of Red Wing battling with freshmen Maggie Ewen of St. Francis. Both were within 1 foot of the All-Time best mark in the event.

Hovey (161'6"/46'4") has the top marks for the season in both events. Ewen edged Hovey today in a very competitice Class AA discus competition (159'4" to 152'1").

Both will square off again Saturday in the shot put. The duo will have company with a very consistent Emily Lesser of Maple Grove who has the potential to make the competition very interesting.

View Ewen's winning throw in today's discus

Big Ten Recap

Most thought that with Aaron Studt red-shirting during the outdoor season the Gopher men's throws might be the events that hold the squad back from repeating as Big Ten Champions. That question mark was answered with an exclamation point this weekend in Indiana.

Lead by freshmen Micah Hegerle, and Sophmores Trey Davis, and Tyler Kleinhuizen the men didn't skip a beat and scored a total of 32 points at Big Ten's.

Hegerle started the weekend off claiming his first (of what will be many) Big Ten titles in hammer on Friday with a throw of 208-3. Hegerle's best on the season was 211-5 was thrown at Iowa on May 1st and broke the freshmen record in hammer 4 times throughout this outdoor season. Hegerle's mark currently ranks 8th nationally and 19th nationally.

All three competitors scored in the discus with Davis placing third (172-5) Hegerle placing fourth (170-1) and Kleinhuizen placing sixth (164-9).

Davis capped a successful weekend for the throwers with a huge PR in the shot at 60-1/2 placing second. That throw currently ranks him 11th regionally and 15th nationally.

Even though the season just ended it's staggering to look at the depth of the roster for next season. Not only are all three returning for next season but Aaron Studt has one season of outdoor eligibility remaining. Incoming freshmen Logan Hussung (Farmington, MN) and transfer Andy Norman (Winona via Hamline University) will definately keep the cupboards stocked for coach Lynden Reder.

The Gopher women finished 2nd, falling 10.5 points short of Penn State this past weekend. Sophmore DeAnne Hahn claimed her first title in hammer with a mark of 185-8.
Junior Nicole Tzanakis placed 5th in the disc with a mark of 164-2 and true freshmen Jessica Cagle (Grand Rapids, MN) 163-1 finished 6th and finished only 1 inch off making finals in the shot put.

Just like the men, all three point scorers will return and will be joined by Kim Hovey of Red Wing.
In other regional news, Wisconsin true freshmen and former Owatonna shot putter Casey Dehn placed 8th with a mark of 56-11 1/2

2010 High School Preview

A tame Minnesota spring should lead to some big performances in the throws this season in Minnesota. The 2010 season may go down as one of the best seasons for the shot put in the history of Minnesota.

Even with the graduation all-time greats Jessica Cagle (Minnesota via Grand Rapids), Casey Dehn (Wisconsin via Owatonna), and Sean Wallace (Stanford via Owatonna) there are many returners from last seasons state meet who should make 2010 memorable.

Red Wing Junior Luke Johnson is currently ranked 20th in the history of Minnesota. His marks from 2009 (60-9 3/4, 173-2) are the second farthest recorded marks by a sophomore, only behind the state's all-time record holder in shot put, Nate Englin, and former record holder in the discus, Mike Yonkey. Johnson will likely have company over the 60' this season. South Dakota State Football recruit and Blaine standout, Dijon Starr (58- 7 1/2) and Logan Hussung of Farmington (56-4 1/2) are the among the leading contenders.

On the women's side, future Gopher, Kim Hovey (Red Wing) is the returning state champion in girls AA shot put and is looking to capture her first discus title. Kim will face stiff competition from St. Francis freshmen, Maggie Ewen (135-0), and New Prague junior Elly Reinke (135-8).

Some not-so-under the radar names to watch in 2010:

Eden Prairie senior, Tyler Kubler, whose lone indoor performance (56'7") ranks him 43rd nationally is already 4 feet farther than his top mark of 2009 is proving why he's one of the most highly recruited throwers in the Midwest.

Owatonna, who has claimed 4 of the last 6 throws titles returns Jake Fensky (Junior) as their top thrower. Owatonna has not had a problem replacing top talent over the last few years.

Spring Lake Park/St. Anthony junior, Jesse Reemtsma is the #2 returning discus thrower (170-1).

Sophomores Bryce Johnson (Champlin Park) and Thomas Anderson (Andover) had the 4th and 5th best marks by freshmen all-time in Minnesota in 2009. Don't be suprised if one, or both of these two, put up some monster marks this season. These two should be very fun to watch over the next 3 years.

Opening the 2010 Season

The weight throw has turned in some big marks early in the season in the state of Minnesota.

Gopher senior Aaron Studt opened his season with a provisional mark of 64-8 1/2 and a second place finish behind post-collegiate Bryan Tolcser. The returning Big Ten Field Event Athlete of the Year for indoors and outdoors last season only competed in the weight throw in the first meet of the season. Tolcser throw broke the NW Open meet record previoiusly held by current U of M head coach Lynden Reder.

Freshmen Micah Hegerle (Dodge Center) broke the freshmen record in the weight throw with a mark of 63-8 1/4. Hegerle had a very strong red shirt season and is positioning himself to make his mark in the Big 10 this season.

MSU-Moorhead throwers Chris Heil (Blaine) took 5th with a throw of 58-1 and Anthony Enyi (Lakeville North) threw 57-3 1/2. Enyi also won the shot put with a mark of 46-6. Enyi opened the season with a throw of 62-11 1/4 at Mankato state on Dec 5th and currently ranks 4th in Division II. Heil currently ranks 13th in Division II.

The weight throw lead to some great starts on the women's side.

Sophmore DeAnne Hahn set a new personal best with a mark of 60-4 and was just over a foot off the NW Open meet record. Hahn had a successful freshmen season after qualifying for two events (shot & hammer) in the NCAA Regional Championships. Freshmen Caitlyn Dongoske (Mound) finished 2nd in the weight throw behind Hahn with a throw of 50-4 1/2. St. Cloud State junior Rebecca Kitzman won the shot put with a throw of 41-9 1/4.


In Division II, Rebecca Stier of Winona(Grand Meadow) currently ranks 1st in the weight throw with a throw of 58-10 3/4 and sits 2nd in the shot put with a throw of 46-6.

The Gophers men's and women's squads will be home for the Minnesota Open and the Jack Johnson Classic on the 16th and 23rd. There will be a few women who will compete in Lincoln, Nebraska on the 15th and 16th.

St. Cloud State University will be hosting a youth throws clinic on January 18th. More information can be found on their website.

http://www.stcloudstate.edu/athletics/sports/track/story.asp?pubID=44&issueID=25577&storyID=30574