The 11th ranked University of Minnesota women’s gymnastics team earned an invitation to the NCAA Southeast Regional Championship, to be held Saturday, April 6, in Morgantown, W.Va.
Minnesota qualified with a regional score of 196.210. The other teams set to compete at the Southeast Region are No. 2 Alabama, No. 19 West Virginia, No. 20 Kentucky, No. 21 Michigan State and No. 22 North Carolina.
The invitation marks the seventh consecutive year Minnesota has qualified for regional competition. The top-two team finishers advance to the NCAA Championships, to be held April 19-21 at the University of Alabama.
Minnesota is one of five Big Ten schools to qualify for regional competition.
Women’s golf
Minnesota’s women’s golf team played its best round in the final round but moved up just one spot to finish 16th in the Liz Murphy Classic at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga., on Sunday.
Minnesota dropped 10 strokes off its second round total to card a team score of 308 in the final round. The Gophers shot 323 in the first round and 318 in the second to compile a team total of 949. Florida edged Auburn by one stroke for the team title, 879-880.
Florida’s Jeanne Cho shot a final round of 1-over par 73 to finish at even par 216 for the tournament to capture medalist honors. She finished one stroke ahead of Mississippi State’s Anna Gertsson, who led the tournament for the first two days, and Georgia’s Angela Jerman.
Junior Karyn Stordahl topped the Gopher individual finishes, tying for 48th place with rounds of 79, 81 and 75 for 236. Kirstin Whalen climbed to a tie for 60th at 238, bettering her score in each round tallying marks of 83, 79 and 76.
Other Gophers competing were Tai Kinney, 67th at 240 (82-78-80), Cindy Cannon, tied for 70th at 242 (85-80-77), and Terra Petsinger, tied for 73rd at 244 (79-85-80).
Men’s golf
The Gophers men’s golf team moved up one place Sunday to finish second at the Pepsi-Cola Invitational. The tournament was held at the par-72, 6,993-yard Tanglewood Resort in Pottsboro, Texas.
Minnesota shot a final round of 298. Combined with the two rounds Saturday of 295 and 303, the Gophers tied for second with a team score of 896. The other second-place team was Illinois. Both schools finished 23 strokes behind event winner Michigan State.
Leading the Gophers were sophomore Simon Nash and junior Wilhelm Schauman. Nash shot a 1-over-par 73 and finished in third-place. Schauman, after leading Saturday, fell three places with a 75 (+3) and ended tied for fourth. Junior Joe Affrunti, competing as an individual, shot an even par-72 to remain at 10th place.
Minnesota’s next event will be April 13-14 in Chapel Hill, N.C.
