Two Gopher track & field athletes to be inducted into "M" Club Hall of Fame

This September two former Golden Gopher track & field standouts will be among a class of eight athletes inducted into the University of Minnesota Athletics Department "M" Club Hall of Fame. The following was excerpted from the U of M news release:


Lori (Townsend) Monaghan–Women’s Cross Country/Track & Field
A four-time track NCAA All-American, Lori (Townsend) Monaghan remains one of the best distance runners in Golden Gopher history.

Monaghan captured national acclaim three times in the 5,000 meters, twice at the NCAA Indoor Championships (1994, 1996) and once at the NCAA Outdoor Championships (1995). She added one All-America citation in the indoor 3,000 meters in 1995.

Monaghan finished her Gopher career with school records in all three events and still ranks third in each of those events today. She also competed in cross country, where she collected All-NCAA Region accolades four times.

Not only was Monaghan a star runner, she was also a star in the classroom, earning Academic All-Big Ten honors four times. Finishing her career at Minnesota, Monaghan was named Minnesota Senior Athlete of the Year in 1995-96.

After college she went on to work for a design firm for 13 years. She now lives in New Jersey with her husband, Bruce, and two daughters, Grace & Elizabeth.


Jack DeField–Men’s Track & Field
During the early 1940s no Golden Gopher pole vaulter was more dominant than Jack DeField.

Twice he captured NCAA titles for the pole vault, doing so in 1942 and 1943, making him one of two Gopher trackmen who have won two or more track and field NCAA titles. In fact, he and Bob Finch were the first Gopher track athletes to ever earn All-America honors, doing so in 1942. DeField was a three-time Big Ten outdoor champion in the pole vault and won the Big Ten indoor title in 1942.

With all his success, DeField became Minnesota’s captain in 1942, leading the team to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

After leaving Minnesota, DeField won the pole vault with a mark of 14-0 at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships. In 2002, DeField was inducted into the Minnesota USATF Hall of Fame.