Sophomore Luca Wieland is in the Gophers' record books now.
Who's Luca Wieland? A Big Ten indoor champ for Gophers
There are two sentences on the U of M bio for Luca Wieland. He was 11th in the heptathlon a year ago at Big Tens.
March 1, 2015 at 10:13AM
Not only did he win a title in the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Friday and Saturday. He set the school record in the seven-event heptathlon with a score of 5,787 points.
The previous record of 5,769 was set on March 1, 1998 by Benjamin Jensen. That's 17 years ago.
"Obviously, we had two remarkable performances from Luca and Mitch," Gophers track and field director Steve Plasencia said.
Mitch Heschel won the 600-meter run. Those 20 points from those two firsts helped Minnesota place third, up from sixth place a year ago.
This article dwells on Wieland because he seems to have come out of nowhere to set a program record.
His bio says his home is Berlin and he went to the Gym Rotenbuhl Saarbruken. For career highlights, it lists two. Won the long jump (23-9 1/2) in Northwest Open and won the 60-meter hurdles (8.26) seconds in a dual meet with Wisconsin. That's all.
Outdoors last spring, he was 13th in the decathlon at the Drake Relay on April 24 with a total of 6.120. Not eye-catching.
Nor was his 11th in the 2014 Big Ten Indoor Championships with 4,918 points. But, a year later, in a field of 15 this past weekend, he blew that total away. Here's how:
First in 60 hurdles, 8.23 seconds, 925 points -- most in any event. ... He was 11th in 8.75 as a freshman, so about half a second drop..
First in shot put, 46-4 1/2, 755 points. ... Last year he was 12th in 11.86 meters, that's just under 39 feet, so a gain of more than 6 feet.
Second in high jump, 6-9 3/4, 878 points. ... Last year he was 14th in 1.88 meters, that's about 6-2. Huge improvement. Moved up the most spots in this event, 12.
Fourth in 60, 7.08, 854 points. ...Last year he was 11th in 8.75. Another huge drop, more than 1.5 seconds in a short race.
Fourth in long jump, 22-11, 659 points. ... Last year he was sixth in 6.93 meters, about 22-9. Slightly better.
Fifth in pole vault 15-1, 790 points. ... Last year he was sixth in 4.50 meters, about 14-9. Slightly better. Moved up the fewest spots in this event, one.
Eighth in 1,000, 2:48.99, 776 points. ... He was 15th in 3:30.43. Big drop of more than 40 seconds.
So in all seven events, he was better than in 2014. In several, dramatically so.
The 2015 heptatlon came down to three athletes. Wieland, sophomore Tim Erhhardt of Michigan State and junior Stephen Keller of Indiana.
Ehrhardt finished second with 5,741 points -- only 46 behind Wieland, Keller was third with 5,706. The fourth place heptathlete was way back of those three, at 5,542.
What makes Darius Taylor such an effective running back for the Gophers? Many things, but especially his vision and ability to find creases.
