Megan Duwell Leads Gophers to Perfect Score and Win at Oz Memorial

Courtesy: Eric Miller/University of Minnesota http://gophersports.com/ Mallory Van Ness placed third at the Oz Memorial Run.

Junior Megan Duwell captured her first collegiate medalist honor winning the individual title of the Oz Memorial Run and leading the Minnesota women’s cross country to a perfect team score and the team crown. The Golden Gophers have tallied a perfect score of 15 points in winning the last four consecutive Oz titles.

Duwell, an all-region performer a year ago, covered the 6-kilometer course at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights, Minn., in a time of 21 minutes, 57 seconds, winning the race by 25 seconds.

The Gophers collected the next four finishes to post the perfect score. Senior Gabriele Anderson clocked a time of 22:22, followed by junior Mallory Van Ness in third in a time of 22:28, junior Jamie Cheever fourth in 22:31 and junior Amy Laskowske in fifth in 22:32.

North Dakota State’s Semebar Tesfaye snuck in for sixth place, pushing back Ariella Deprenger-Gottfried (22:41) and Elizabeth Yetzer (22:58) into eighth and ninth place and giving the Gophers eight placewinners in the top 10 finishers.

North Dakota State finished second in the team standings with 74 points, edging South Dakota State (78) and Drake (82). Minnesota State Mankato was fifth with 127.

The race was contested in damp, misty conditions with temperatures in the low 60s. The Golden Gopher freshmen experienced their first competition at the collegiate distance of 6 kilometers.

“This was good for us to get out and compete against other teams and also for our rookies to experience  a 6K race,” said Golden Gopher head coach Gary Wilson. “Megan is off to a nice start on the season, as are others with her. We ran a decent race today, but this team is still very much a work in progress. Of course that is exactly what you want at this time of the season.”

The Gophers next meet is in two weeks, on Sept. 27 when they host the Roy Griak Invitational, annually one of the largest cross country meets in the nation.