Minnesotaís womenís swimming and diving team sits in first place after two days of competition at the Big Ten Womenís Swimming and Diving Championships in Bloomington, Ind.
The Gophers have 200 points, seven better than second-place Michigan. Minnesota won the Big Ten title in the 500-yard freestyle when freshman Yuen Kobayashi touched the wall first, in four minutes, 43 seconds. Fellow freshman Christine Jennings was third in the race, finishing in 4:45.57.
ìYuen and Christine have shown all year that they are some of the best free-stylers in the conference and in the country,” co-coach Kelly Kremer said in a statement. ìThey continued to do what they have been doing all season and did it tonight as well. Yuen had a great night and was able to pull out a win and Christine set herself up for a great NCAA run.”
The title was Kobayashiís second conference crown in two days, coming on the heels of her part in Minnesotaís 800-free relay Wednesday.
Freshman Stacy Busack broke the Minnesota school record in the 50 free, finishing second in the finals with a time of 22.57.
Freshman Jenny Shaughnessy placed second in the 200 individual medley. She finished in 2:00.06. That time was good for second best in school history in the event.
ìWe are doing better then we expected and thatís always exciting,” Kremer said in a statement. ìGive credit to our swimmers because they came into the championship very energetic and they are so into the meet and are just having a great time.”
Softball to Tobacco Road
Minnesotaís softball team will play at the Triangle Classic this weekend in Chapel Hill, N.C., hosted by North Carolina.
The Gophers will compete in Group A, and will play Coastal Carolina, Toledo and North Carolina.
Minnesota opened its season last weekend by dropping all four of its games at the Auburn Tournament.
The Gophers were outscored 23-4 in the four games in Alabama.
Tennis hosts weekend
Minnesotaís womenís tennis team plays host to Iowa on Friday and Dartmouth on Sunday.
The Iowa dual meet starts at 6 p.m. and the Dartmouth meet starts at 10:30 a.m.
The Gophers are 1-3 on the season. In their last match, they defeated Colorado State by a score of 4-3.
Golf to Phoenix for Alumni Challenge
Minnesotaís menís golf team will play Sunday at the Phoenix Alumni Challenge.
The event is the Gophers first of the spring season, and first without freshman phenom Antti Ahokas.
In the fall season, Minnesota finished first at The Gopher Invitational, second at the Pac-10 vs, Big Ten Challenge, fourth at the Duke Classic, and tied for third at the Landfall Tradition.
Minnesota finished fourth at the Big Ten Championships last spring, seven strokes behind Big Ten champion Michigan.
The Gophersí next event is Feb. 26 through 28 at the NCAA Shootout in Puerto Rico.
