Both Gophers could end up on the podium in the weight throw
The Minnesota Golden Gophers will have a pair of athletes at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships when they kick off Thursday night in Boston. In fact, both athletes the Goophers qualified for the championships are in the same event! Senior Shelby Frank and Freshman Annie Nabwe will both compete in the women’s weight throw and are seeded in the top five in the nation.
Frank enters this year’s championships as the #3 seed but the veteran when it comes to the competition. She was the NCAA runner-up in the event a year ago. This season Frank finished in third place at the Big Ten Championships with a throw of 22.08 meters, but her season high throw of 24.09 places her as the third seed.
Nabwe made a splash in her first year competing for the Gophers. The freshman from Jamestown, North Dakota won the Big Ten Championships a few weeks ago with a throw of 23.36m. That was good enough to earn her the #4 NCAA seed heading into the championships Thursday night.
Both Gophers will be chasing the two time SEC champion and reigning NCAA Champion Jalani Davis of Ole Miss who has a season high throw of 25.09 meters.
Both Frank and Nabwe will try and win the Gophers third individual indoor track and field championship. Heather Dorniden won the 800m title in 2006 and Kaitlyn Long won the 2018 weight throw championship. If both Gophers place highly they could also potentially provide Minnesota’s best team performance at the championships. Minnesota’s highest team finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships is 12th, which came in both 2006 and 2009. In 2009 it took 14 team points to reach 12th place as a team while in 2006 it took 19 points.
There will be no stream on Thursday night’s event, but fans can follow live results HERE.