Minnesota sophomore MaryAnne Kelley broke the Minnesota school record in the all-around en route to a Gophers win Sunday.
Minnesota topped Arizona on the road 195.800-195.600. The Gophers’ total was the third best in school history.
Kelley finished in the top three spots of three events to earn her mark. She finished one-tenth of a point behind Arizona’s Randi Liljenquist.
The meet figures to be a boon for Minnesota in the rankings. Coach Jim Stephenson said last week his team needed to top 195 in both meets this weekend to move up.
He got his wish Friday too. The Gophers hit for 195.300, finishing one spot ahead of fourth-ranked Utah, but behind No. 17 Arizona State and second-ranked Alabama.
Men’s tennis
The Gophers took two wins on the weekend, one coming from Big Ten rival Ohio State, which Minnesota beat Saturday 5-2 in Columbus. The 23rd-ranked Gophers also beat Virginia Tech on Saturday, winning four of the six singles matches.
Men’s gymnastics
Minnesota took on Big Ten foes Ohio State and Iowa along with BYU this weekend in Columbus.
Freshman phenom Clay Strother tied for first on the pommel horse with a near-perfect score of 9.950. Strother’s effort highlighted a meet that saw Minnesota place a distant fourth behind Iowa.
Senior Lindsay Fang finished third in the pommel. Sophomore Justin Connor placed fifth in the all-around.
Men’s track and field
The Gophers took eight wins and set a new Fieldhouse record in their tuneup for next weekend’s Big Ten indoor meet.
The 4X400 relay team of Bob Quade, Tom Gerding, Adam Freed and Andy Wohlin cut almost two seconds off the Fieldhouse record en route to a win.
The 400-meter run was good to Minnesota. Freshman Erik Foley won the individual run while teammates Andy Wiberg and Zach Edmonson took fourth and seventh respectively.
Women’s track and field
Getting ready to host the indoor Big Ten championships next week, the Gophers won eight events over the weekend at a home meet.
Freshman Shani Marks won the 600-meter run and took the long jump title to become Minnesota’s only double winner.
Thrower Aubrey Schmitt won the shot put with her fifth NCAA provisional qualifying mark of the year with a toss of 52-feet, 1-inch.
Softball
The Gophers finished a four-day tournament in North Carolina with two wins to take fifth place in a 25-team tournament.
Minnesota won five of its six games in the tourney to improve its season record to 8-6. Angie Recknor pitched the Gophers to a 5-1 win over North Carolina-Greensboro and a 2-0 win over Kansas on Sunday to improve her record to 7-6.
The Gophers are off now for two weeks before playing in a tournament in Texas.