MINNEAPOLIS -- The University of Minnesota women's track and field team is headed to Eugene, Ore., for the 2025 Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships from May 16-18. All aspects of the meet will be either streamed or televised via the Big Ten Network or B1G+. Meet information, schedules and more can be found on the
Big Ten Championship central page.
Leading up to the 2025 Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships take a look at five things to be excited for on the women's side. Check out the men's Big Ten Championships preview here.
- The Defending Champs
In 2024 the 'U' won its fourth outdoor conference championship with 131 team points, capped by
a championship photo finish in the 4x400m relay. The Maroon and Gold return 12 events that scored points in 2024, including one
Big Ten Champion, Zoie Dundon, in the 3000m steeplechase. In the latest USTFCCCA national rankings Minnesota comes in at No. 26 while coming in at No. 4 in the Midwest Regional rankings and No. 6 in the Big Ten rankings. In the USTFCCCA's latest
'Event Squad' rankings the Gophers hold three spots inside the top 10, highlighted by its highest ranking in the steeplechase where they are No. 4.
- Triple Threat
Minnesota's triple jump duo of
Diarra Sow and
Brooke Moore rank No. 1 and No. 3 in the Big Ten this season. Sow, a returning Second Team All-American, enters the conference meet with a wind-legal season-best mark of 13.42m (44-0 1/2) that she set on May 3, at the LSU Invitational. Moore's best leap was 13.34m (43-9 1/4) at the LSU Invitational, but was wind-aided (+4.2 m/s) and her best wind-legal mark is 13.21m (43-4 1/4). Sow and Moore are looking to be Minnesota's first triple jump Big Ten champion since Shani Marks 22 years ago. In total the Maroon and Gold women have won three conference titles in the triple jump coming from Marks (2001, 2003) and Christine Gulbrandsen (2000).
- Steeplechase Stars
Three of the last seven Big Ten champions in the 3000m steeplechase have been Golden Gophers and the success in the event has continued in 2025.
Zoie Dundon won the event as a redshirt freshman in 2024 and returns in 2025 with another Gopher freshman in
Isabelle Schmitz. After appearing in the NCAA final in the event in 2024 Dundon has dropped her lifetime best to 9:52.46 which ranks her second in the conference while Schmitz's 9:55.19 is the third-fastest. Nationally Dundon's time is good enough for 10th while Schmitz's is 12th but also ranks her second among freshmen.
- Minne-THROW-ta
Once again Minnesota will bring a strong throws contingent to the Big Ten Outdoor Championships. Liberian national
Anthonett Nabwe ranks No. 1 in both the hammer throw and the discus while she also is seventh in the shot put. Along with Nabwe's trio of scoring opportunities in 2025, the Maroon and Gold also bring indoor All-American
Hadley Streit to the hammer throw competition where the sophomore sits fifth this season with a mark of 65.36m (214-5). Last season Nabwe claimed a silver medal in the shot put at the outdoor conference championship meet and was fourth in the hammer throw while Streit came in 12th in the hammer. Between the indoor and outdoor seasons Nabwe has been named a Big Ten Athlete of the Week five times while fellow thrower Ella Wieppert (Javelin) earned one Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor this year.
- Time to Step Up
After a team victory in 2024 in Ann Arbor, the Minnesota Golden Gophers graduated a ton of top talent and will have to look to a new wave of student-athletes in 2025.
Ali Weimer has had a breakout 2024-25 with the junior finishing third at the Big Ten Cross Country Championships in the Fall and ranks fourth in the conference this season in the 10000m with a school record time of 33:03.15.
Dyandra Gray has been a mainstay in Minnesota's 4x400m relay team over her career, but the graduate student will aim to score for the first time individually this year with her fifth-best 400m hurdles time of 58.12 that she set back on May 3, at the LSU Invitational. After scoring in both the 3000m and the Distance Medley Relay at the indoor conference championships,
Isabelle Schmitz will aim to score in her first outdoor Big Ten meet in the steeplechase while redshirt freshman
Kennedy Martinson aims to add a scoring performance in the heptathlon after scoring at indoor Big Tens in the pentathlon. Other Gophers that are in the mix to score for the first time at the outdoor conference championships include:
Sofia Condon (Pole Vault, Ranked 11th),
Kitania Headley (400m hurdles, Ranked 13th) and
Ellie Kuechle (400m hurdles, Ranked 14th).
For more information on the Gophers, continue to check back with GopherSports.com. Keep up with the University of Minnesota cross country and track and field team on X.com (Twitter) and Instagram (@GopherCCTF) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the season.
