The Minnesota Golden Gophers Track and Field teams brought home four individual Big Ten Event Championships last weekend at the Big Ten Championships. On the women’s side Anthonette Nabwe won the women’s hammer throw for the second consecutive season. On the men’s side the Gophers brought home three individual titles in the competition as Angelos Mantzouranis won his second men;s hammer throw in three seasons, Charles Godfred won the long jump for the third consecutive season, and the Gophers men’s 4×100
relay team won the title for the second consecutive year.
The Gopher men finished in second place in the team standings behind only Oregon led by their three event champions. Mantzouranis wasted no time getting the Gophers on the board tossing his his first-round throw 75.98m (249-3) to capture his title and also added throws of 74.27m (243-8) in round two and 74.17m (243-4) in round five – both of which would have also won the competition over Iowa’s Ryan Johnson (73.94m | 242-7). The hammer throw Big Ten title for the junior extended Minnesota’s streak in the men’s event to six straight years dating back to 2021 with Mantzouranis claiming two of those titles and 2025 NCAA Champion Kostas Zaltos with the other four. The six-straight Big Ten championships in the hammer throw made Minnesota the first men’s program since 1957 (Michigan) to claim six-straight field event conference titles. Anthony Barmes would also come in third place for the Gophers in the event.
Godfred won his third title in the long jump after already qualifing for the 100 meter final earlier in the day. Godfred needed just three jumps to claim his third consecutive conference championship at 7.99m (26-2 3/4). Godfred became the first Big Ten men’s long jumper to win three straight titles since Michael Hartfield of Ohio State did it from 2012-14.
On the final day Godfred would anchor the Gophers 4×100 relay team to their second straight Big Ten title taking 0.1 seconds off of their conference record the Gophers had previously set in 2025. Joined by Zion Campbell, Wanyae Belle, and Aaron Charles the Gopher quartet locked a 38.44 to set the new Big Ten record.
Godfred would not be done as he took 3rd place individually in the men’s 100 meter final. Despite the windy conditions (+5.6 m/s) Godfred became the first Gopher man to go below 10 seconds in the 100m with his 9.88 in Lincoln. Between the long jump, 4x100m relay and the 100m, Godfred combined to contribute 26 of Minnesota’s 81 team points at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships.
Charles would win an individual medal as well taking home second place in the 200 meters. In total Minnesota had four of the nine 200m finalists on Sunday with the quartet combining to score 14 team points. First-year Gopher Wanyae Belle was sixth (20.39), true freshman John Caleb was seventh (20.40) and Campbell finished eighth (20.67).
The Gophers got a second place finish from Emmet Geres in the 3000m steeplechase in 8:49.89. True freshman Sam Scott also snagged a podium finish in sixth place. Scott’s 8:57.15 earned the team’ three points and made the Minneapolis Southwest graduate the top freshman finisher in the Big Ten 3000m steeplechase field.
The Gopher scorers for the Gophers in the Championships were Waukeem Walters finishing in 5th place in the long jump, Hakeem Ford taking sixth place in the Triple Jump, and seventh place finishes from Ramy Ayoun in the 800 meters and the Gophers 4x 400 relay team.
The Gopher women finished in 6th place in the team standings with Nabwe leading the way for the Gophers. Besides winning the hammer throw, she also added a silver medal in the shot put and a bronze medal in the discus. Her 24 total team points would have tied her for 12th overall by herself in the final in the team standings.
Minnesota picked up a silver medal from Ali Weimer in the 10,000 meters on Friday night. Besides Nabwe, the Gophers had two other podium finishes in the hammer throw. Redshirt junior Hadley Streit used her round five Streit’s throw of 67.55m (221-7) helped her finish with the bronze medal while senior Ella Pavlovich scored for the first time in her final Big Ten Outdoor Championships with her third-round 59.76m (196-1) to finish in 5th place.
For the second time in three years Zoie Dundon captured a Big Ten medal in the 3000m steeplechase. Dundon’s 10:07.50 helped the redshirt junior secure her third straight podium finish in the event and gives her five career conference medals between indoor and outdoor.
Other scorers for the Gopher women included fourth place finishes from Diarra Sow in the Triple jump and Kennedy Martinson in the 400 meter hurdles, a 5th place finish from Nontokozo Ncube in the 400 meters, sixth place finishes from Rejoice Agbewodie in the javelin and Kitania Headley in the 400 meter hurdles, seventh place finishes by the Gophers 4x 400 meter relay and Sofia Condon in the pole vault, and an 8th place finish from Izzy Roemer in the 10,000 meters.
This week it was announced that Minnesota had earned 40 combined entries from the mens and women’s teams to the NCAA West Regional that will be healthy in Fayetteville, Arkansas May 27-30. A total of 23 entries came from the men’s side and 17 from the women. A full list will be in our NCAA Preview post next week.
The region’s top 48 student-athletes in individual events and the best 24 relay teams will compete with the men set for Wednesday and Friday, while the women will compete on Thursday and Saturday. Coverage of the entire meet will be streamed live on ESPN+ with live results via Flash Results. The top 12 competitors from each individual event and the top 12 teams from each relay will advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships set for June 10-13 in Eugene, Ore., at Hayward Field.
