The Gophers men’s tennis team swept a pair of weekend matches at the 98th Street Racquet Club in Bloomington, blanking Penn State on Friday and Indiana State on Saturday.
Adam Selkirk won a third-set tiebreaker against Indiana State’s Peter Magnusson at No. 1 singles, and Minnesota coasted through the lower singles spots.
Women’s tennis
Minnesota improved to 4-0 on the Big Ten season (8-5 overall) with a 5-2 road win over Penn State on Sunday.
The Gophers, ranked No. 38 in the country, dropped the doubles point but won five of six singles matches en route to the victory.
Men’s golf
The Gophers men’s golf team won the team title at the Dr. Pepper Intercollegiate meet in Texas this weekend by a staggering 24 strokes.
Minnesota freshman James McLean finished four under par to win the individual title, while Martin LeMesurier and Rob Kerr also finished in the top 10.
Women’s golf
The Gophers women’s golf team traveled to Myrtle Beach, S.C., over the weekend for a three-team tournament.
Minnesota’s Amy Dahle turned in two impressive rounds to win the individual title, while Northwestern’s golfers took second through fourth places and won the team title. Minnesota placed second, 14 strokes ahead of Iowa State but 10 behind Northwestern.
— Jim Schortemeyer
Softball
The Gophers softball team opened its Big Ten season by winning two of three games against host Ohio State. The last two games of the series went to extra innings.
On Sunday, the 20th-ranked Gophers rallied for two runs in the top of the 11th as they won the rubber game 5-3.
Wendy Logue relieved Steph Klaviter in the bottom of the eighth and went the final 2 2/3 innings to run her record to 11-2.
The teams split a doubleheader on Saturday as the Gophers took the opener 14-5 and lost the second game 9-6 in 12 innings.
In the opener, Shannon Beeler led the 17-hit attack, going 3-for-4 with a homer and seven RBIs. Klaviter went 5 2/3 innings, improving her record to 8-4.
The second game proved to be more competitive, as the Gophers (26-8, 2-1 Big Ten) scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to put the game into extra innings.
But the Buckeyes (11-10, 1-2) rallied for three runs in the top of the 12th, preventing the Gopher sweep.
Earlier in the week, Minnesota swept doubleheaders from Dayton and Toledo. They began their Ohio trip by beating Dayton 3-1 and 11-2. Against Toledo, the Gophers won 6-1 in the first game, and 6-0 in the second.
The Gophers return to action with a doubleheader against Mankato State on Thursday, in their first home games since February. They follow that with a three game series against Purdue over the weekend.
Men’s track and field
Coming off its first Big Ten Indoor title ever, the Gophers men’s track and field team began the outdoor season at the Baldly Castillo Invitational in Tucson, Ariz.
The Gophers placed 10 men in the top 10, with senior Tony Riter taking first place in the 10,000-meters. His time of 31:29.01 was almost six seconds faster than the second-place finisher.
Women’s track and field
Aubrey Schmitt, the only Gopher to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships, continued her impressive rookie season by winning the discus at the Cal-Irvine Invitational in Irvine, Calif.
Schmitt won the event with a throw of 164-7. She took second in the shot put with a throw of 45-4 1/4, and third in the hammer throw (142-1).
Minna Haranoja placed second in both the 800-meters (2:15.22) and the 1500-meters (4:34.48).
Schmitt and Haranoja’s performances led the Gophers to a third-place finish behind Brigham Young and Air Force.
— Michael Dougherty