After a subpar performance against Iowa on Jan. 22, Minnesota’s men’s swimming and diving team redeemed itself this time around, defeating both Purdue and Wisconsin in a triple dual meet Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.
“No question – we performed a lot better,” Minnesota coach Dennis Dale said. “Everyone was disappointed after last week.”
Minnesota, currently ranked seventh in the nation, beat Purdue 218-135 and Wisconsin 268-95.
Senior Justin Mortimer led the way for the Gophers, winning each of the five events he competed in.
Minnesota was most dominant in the freestyle races, where the Gophers recorded the top times in each event.
“We’re moving in the right direction,” Dale said. “We have one more meet to clean things up a little bit and get a little sharper before we take on the rest of the Big Ten.”
Women 2-1 at Purdue
Minnesota’s women’s swimming and diving team went 2-1 in a quad dual meet this weekend, defeating No. 21 Purdue 192-161 and Illinois 240-143 and losing to No. 8 Wisconsin 207-146 in West Lafayette.
The Gophers’ dual meet record now stands at 7-1.
“We were very happy with how we competed,” Minnesota co-head coach Terry Nieszner said. “Purdue is ranked ahead of us, so it was nice to beat them in their home pool.”
Kate Hardt was the top performer for the Gophers, finishing second in both the 400 individual medley and the 500 freestyle with times of 4:23.70 and 4:57.13, respectively.
Bridget McCoy finished third in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke events.
Men’s gym season high
Minnesota’s men’s gymnastics team posted its highest team score in nearly four years in defeating Illinois-Chicago 215.900-210.000 Saturday in Chicago.
The Gophers won every team and individual event.
Guillermo Alvarez earned four individual titles, winning the floor exercise, pommel horse, vault and high bar.
Alvarez also won the all-around with a career-best score of 55.200.
Women’s gym third/four
Minnesota’s women’s gymnastics team scored 193.700 to place third Saturday at the Washington Quad Meet in Seattle.
Washington won the meet with a score of 195.075 and was followed by Arizona, Minnesota and Seattle Pacific.
The Gophers had a team score of 48.550 on the balance beam – their highest score of the season. Stephanie Funk scored 9.775 to place third in the event.
Laura Johnson and Ashley Mutchler both scored 9.825 on vault to tie for second.
Men’s track at N. Iowa
Senior Travis Brandstatter won the heptathlon Friday with 5,522 points as Minnesota’s men’s track team competed this weekend at the Northern Iowa Invitational in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Brandstatter provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships with his score.
Bryant Howe placed second in the high jump with a height of 7-2 1/4 to also provisionally qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Women’s track, too
Freshman Liz Roehrig broke the Minnesota women’s track and field record in the pentathlon with 3,891 points to place first and provisionally qualify for NCAAs at the Northern Iowa Invitational.
Senior Melissa Steele ran a personal-best 600-meter time of 1:33.44 Saturday to earn second place in the event.
