Sophomore guard Lindsay Whalen earned a record fifth Big Ten Player of the Week honor this season for her 41-point effort against Purdue last Thursday.
Whalen shares this week’s award with sophomore Shereka Wright of Purdue.
Whalen shot 15-of-20 from the floor and eight-of-nine from the line. The Gophers win over the then seventh-ranked Boilermakers elevated Minnesota to 14th in the AP Poll released Monday ñ its highest ranking in program history.
Women’s tennis
Minnesota’s women’s tennis team fell 4-3 to Colorado last Sunday at the Northwest Athletic Club in Bloomington, Minn. The Gophers drop to 3-6 on the spring season.
Minnesota gained the doubles point with two of the three wins. Michaela Havelkova and Valerie Vladea won 8-5 at the No. 1 doubles, while Brandi Watts and Jennifer Howard partnered for an 8-6 win at the No. 3 doubles.
The Gophers started the singles competition strong with two wins in the No. 1 and No. 2 singles. Havelkova won 6-3, 6-4 at the top spot, while Vladea won in three sets, 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 at No. 2. However, Minnesota dropped the next four single matches for the 4-3 loss.
Minnesota fell 5-2 to DePaul on Friday.
Next action for the Gophers will be on Feb. 22 as they host Penn State at 6:30 p.m. and Ohio State Feb. 24 at 10 a.m. It will be the second and third Big Ten opponents the Gophers have faced in the spring season.
Friday’s match will be at the Bloomington Northwest Athletic Club, while Sunday’s is set at the Burnsville Athletic Club.
Men’s track
Minnesota’s men’s track and field team won eight of the 16 events at the Snowshoe Open. The Gophers dominated the middle-distance events, taking the first three places in the 400, the first six in the 600 and the first two in the 800-meters.
Mitch Potter took first in the 400-meters, Toby Henkels won the 600-meters and Neil Hanson ran to victory in the 800-meters.
In the field events, Lynden Reder broke the school record for the third time this season in the weight throw. Kevin Netzer won the high jump while Karl Erickson took first in the shot put.
The Gophers host the Big Ten Indoor Championships this Saturday and Sunday.
Women’s track
Minnesota’s women’s track and field team finished on top of many events at the Parents’ Day Open.
The Gophers Tahesia Harrigan ran to a win in the 300-meter dash. Elizabeth Woolford took first in the 60-meter hurdles.
In the 800-meter run, Jessica Shuster led the field while posting the second-fastest time this season. Minnesota also took the top four spots in the 600-meter dash, led by Rachel Shutz.
Erica Findlay set a new school record in the pole vault.
The Gophers next compete in the Big Ten Championships held at Penn State on Feb. 23-24.
Women make the grade
For the 28th consecutive term, the University of Minnesota women student athletes compiled a cumulative grade point average at or above 3.00.
The cumulative GPA for fall semester 2001 was 3.18. The last time the department’s GPA was under 3.0 was at the conclusion of fall quarter, 1991. Of the 298 student-athletes in Women’s Athletics, 201 (67 percent) recorded a GPA at or above 3.0 for the fall semester, with 19 (six percent) recording perfect 4.0 GPAs.