Golden Gophers Have A Chance To Make A Run At NCAA Men's Track Title Less Than Five Years After Program Was Nearly Cut

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Brynn Kleinke photo

The fight waged in the fall of 2020 to save the University of Minnesota men's track and field team looks very much justified from the vantage point of May 2025. 

Heading into this week's NCAA D1 East and West Preliminary Rounds, DyeStat's latest formchart points to a very close battle at the top of men's team race for the championship, which will be contested June 11-14 a Hayward Field. 

And it's Minnesota leading the way, thanks to its 1-2 punch in the hammer (Kostas Zaltos and Angelos Mantzouranis), a leading contender to win the long jump (Charles Godfred) and a suddenly potent 4x100 relay squad. 

Minnesota last won the NCAA title in 1948. 

In 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Minnesota athletic department told the university's Regents that it would cut four sports, including men's track, as a cost-cutting measure. 

After a month of intense lobbying to keep the program, it was saved. Men's tennis and men's gymnastics weren't so lucky. 

Given new life, head coach Matt Bingle sought to make sure that the program cemented its relevance. 

"We had a three-year plan," Bingle said. "Of course, we couldn't have predicted the (Big Ten) expansion part of it, but the plan we put in place was to the find the right talent and the right people. We built expectations that we want to be in the top 10 and the (athletes) want to push."

Minnesota finished second to Oregon at the recent Big Ten Championships in Eugene, but carry more big-meet potential forward into this week's West regional prelims at College Station, Texas. 

When the Gophers began Bingle's three-year plan "we had a good core group of guys who were talented and new they could be good at the national level," he said. "We've been adding pieces, making them a bit better, getting a little bit older."

The approach has been working. 

Minnesota is in the mix for the national title. Now the Gophers have to perform, this week and in two weeks. 

"All of the assistant coaches are doing a great job of developing talent and identifying talent," Bingle said. "We have challenges at our place. Our way has always been, even before COVID, to do different things, beat the bushes, keep recruiting every day, and overcome. We don't care what's thrown at us. We'll figure it out."

Zaltos and Mantzouranis, who are from Greece, could give the team a big boost in the hammer. The pair went 1-2 at Big Tens. Godfred, from Nigeria, nearly broke Jesse Owens' immortal 1935 meet record in the long jump, if not for very close scratch on his first attempt. And the relay team of Zion Campbell, Kion Benjam, Aaron Charles and Devin Augustine broke the Big Ten meet record with 38.54.

Jak Urlacher (pole vault) and Hakeem Ford (triple jump) are also potential national scorers. 

Texas A&M, New Mexico and Auburn are also at the top of the men's team projection.