Minnesota coach Matt Bingle saw it coming when he recruited Emma Spagnola out of West Aurora.
“I thought she was a national level kid,” Bingle said. “And each year, she’s gotten better. This past year, she’s taken a really big step.”
Spagnola, a junior hurdler for the Gophers, capped her breakout season last week at the NCAA Division I Championships at the University of Oregon. Actually, she exceeded expectations for the second time this year.
While she failed to achieve her goal of running a personal best and did not advance to the eight-woman final from among 24 qualifiers, Spagnola did finish 16th overall and earned second-team All-American honors.
“It’s a big step to reach that national level,” Bingle said.
She did it during the indoor season, too. She was ranked 16th among 60-meter hurdles qualifiers and finished 11th at indoor nationals to also earn second-team All-American honors.
“After the Big Ten indoor meet I was 17th on the list,” Spagnola said. “The girl who was the 16th qualifier was also a heptathlete qualifier and withdrew. So to sneak in and then finish 11th was super nice.”
Outdoors, she was the 12th and final qualifier to make it to nationals from the NCAA West Prelim in Austin, Texas.
Ranked so low, Spagnola drew the outside lane and finished seventh in 13.31 seconds, well off her personal record of 13.02, set at the outdoor Big Ten Meet, where she finished third. She was fourth in the 400 hurdles at conference and 24th at the NCAA West Prelim.
“It wasn’t my best race,” Spagnola said of Thursday’s semifinal. “But getting second-team All-American again was pretty good.”
And, her parents Wally and Gia, were able to fly in and see her race.
“It was supposed to be a surprise, but my mom kind of spilled the beans,” Spagnola said the day before. “I know they’re coming, but that’s OK. It’s great they get to come to this because it’s pretty hard to get to many of our meets because we do so much traveling.”
Spagnola rarely competes in the long jump as she did in high school. But she still sees spot duty in both the 400 and 1,600 relays.
She downplayed the impact of having to run in the outside lane.
“Honestly, it didn’t really bother me,” she said. “Although at this meet it was a little weird in lane 8 because the fence is so close. There’s not much space but I just try to focus on my lane anyway.”
Spagnola will find expectations ramped up more next year.
“Technically, my start has really been improved,” Spagnola said.
Her teammate, workout partner and friend, Jamaican-born senior Kimberly Golden, has been a big influence.
“Competing in practice and meets with her has helped,” Spagnola said. “We go back and forth, pushing each other. We’re tied for the school record in the indoor 60 hurdles and having her as my training partner has really helped me improve.”
Golding, injured at the NCAA West Prelim, didn’t qualify for nationals.
With good health, Bingle likes Spagnola’s chances.
“I still think there’s development to be made senior year there,” he said. “We’re talking about going really fast, especially with the 100 and 400 hurdles. They’re very, very challenging.”
Twitter @RickArmstrong28
