Gophers baseball coach John Anderson had a hard time putting his team's 9-7 come-from-behind win over Mankato State on Friday night at the Metrodome into words. During post-game interviews, Anderson was...

A year ago when the Gophers men's basketball team advanced to the Final Four, large caravans of Minnesota fans traveled to every NCAA tournament game and all the campus-area bars and restaurants overflowed...

Coming into the final series of the regular season Friday night against second-place St. Cloud State, the seventh-place Gophers men's hockey team was searching for anything to turn its abysmal season...

INDIANAPOLIS -- The seven Gophers women's basketball players suspended earlier in the week by coach Cheryl Littlejohn for team rules violations stood silently underneath one of the baskets at the RCA...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Senior center Angie Iverson stood outside the visitor's locker room at the RCA Dome 20 minutes after the Gophers women's basketball team's 65-47 season-ending loss to Wisconsin in the...

It's amazing what close games against two of the top three teams in the conference can do for the confidence of a team mired in the midst of an 11-game losing streak and a 4-22 season. But that was just...

Coach Cheryl Littlejohn on Monday suspended seven members of the Gophers women's basketball team for violating team rules late Sunday night. Littlejohn notified her players of the suspensions Monday during...

Sometimes fate has a strange way of touching a person's life. A year and a half ago, Gophers women's basketball guard Swantreca Taylor was dealt one of those surprises when she learned she was pregnant...

Only a few inches separated the Gophers women's basketball team from a possible victory Friday night at the Sports Pavilion. With the Gophers trailing Michigan 54-53 and 12.2 seconds on the clock, Minnesota...

For a while Sunday at the Sports Pavilion, it looked like the Gophers women's basketball team was capable of upsetting first-place Iowa, halting the Hawkeyes' Big Ten title hopes and snapping their own...

There has always been at least one constant in junior Gophers women's basketball guard Mindy Hansen's life. She had to deal with her parents getting divorced when she was younger, the difficult experience...

In a display reminiscent of the treatment that top blue chip high school sports recruits receive from college coaches, Big Ten women's basketball sports information personnel have blanketed the 22-person...

If the Gophers women's basketball team has proven one thing this season, it is that the squad is capable of losing games in a variety of different fashions. Indiana became the latest team to notch a 'W'...

The 1997-98 Indiana women's basketball media guide describes junior Hoosiers point guard Dani Thrush as an "exciting" and "talented" player who "gets in the middle of every play." This season, however,...

Silver linings have been hard to come by this season for the last-place Gophers women's basketball team, but that's just how the team described its two close weekend losses to conference leading Illinois...

There was a noticeably different atmosphere during the Gophers women's basketball team's post-game interviews after the team's pair of eight-point weekend losses. Instead of wearing their normal tired...

Twenty-one games into the Cheryl Littlejohn era at Minnesota, the performance of the Gophers women's basketball team has been somewhat of a disappointment to the team, the fans and, most of all, to Littlejohn...

Two months after the conclusion of its most successful season to date, the Gophers women's soccer team was rewarded with what coach Sue Montagne calls her best recruiting class ever. On Wednesday, the...

More than 30 years ago, Gophers volleyball coach Mike Hebert and Dennis Berg were teammates on the UC-Santa Barbara men's volleyball team. Back then, Hebert had no idea that he would one day coach Dennis'...

Junior forward Sarah Klun did not play for the Gophers women's basketball team on Friday at Purdue or Sunday at Ohio State because of a coach's decision by Cheryl Littlejohn. While Littlejohn refused...

Just when it seems things can't get any worse for the Gophers women's basketball team, something else happens to top the team's past failures. Over the weekend Minnesota (4-17 overall, 1-10 Big Ten) suffered...

Cheryl Littlejohn still remembers where she was when she received the call. The Gophers women's basketball coach was in her new office only days after taking over the reigns of the team from ex-coach...

Before the start of the season, the women's athletic department touted senior center Angie Iverson as an All-America candidate. And why not? The 21-year-old Owatonna, Minn., native was coming off a season...

Gophers women's basketball coach Cheryl Littlejohn paced the sidelines impatiently during the second half of Minnesota's 67-54 loss to No. 17 Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon at the Sports Pavilion. No matter...

It's been almost a year since the 11th-seeded Gophers women's basketball team upset sixth-seeded Wisconsin, 80-75, in the first round of the Big Ten women's basketball tournament. Both teams have varying...

Sophomore Gophers women's basketball guard Kiauna Burns did not play during Sunday's 84-65 loss at Northwestern for a basketball-related reason coach Cheryl Littlejohn characterized as a "coach's decision." "It's...

After the Gophers women's basketball team's 81-73 upset win at Michigan State on Jan. 11, it looked as if Minnesota and new coach Cheryl Littlejohn were about to turn the corner and erase the memory of...

Ayesha Whitfield, a freshman shooting guard on the Gophers women's basketball team, will have surgery next week after suffering a season-ending knee injury in a Dec. 28 game at Iowa. The meniscus tear...

It took a new starting lineup and contributions from several unlikely sources, but the Gophers women's basketball team finally got its first Big Ten win of the season Sunday afternoon at Michigan State. Before...

Erin Olson has become accustomed to watching basketball games from the sidelines. From her familiar perch in the stands last year and her current spot on the bench this season, the 5-foot-9 sophomore...

During almost every practice earlier this year, Jaime Ellis could be seen pedalling away fervently on an exercise bike and shouting words of encouragement to her teammates from the sidelines. But for...

Maybe it's a sign of the times, a result of new-found independence or just a form of expression. Whatever the causes, the University and its athletic teams have seen an increase in the number of tattoos...

Cardboard boxes and loose stacks of paper decorate new Gophers women's hockey coach Laura Halldorson's office at the Bierman Athletic Complex. A signed picture of Hall-of-Fame hockey player Darryl Sittler,...

The Gophers men's swimming and diving team has signed four new recruits this spring. Minnesota signed two swimmers and two divers to try to help replace departing senior swimmers Matt Schlessman, Mitch...

Junior swimmer Manolis Lentaris has started swimming again following two seasons of turmoil at Minnesota that saw him suffer various injuries, academic troubles and motivational problems. This time, however,...

The Gophers' men's golf team ended their roller-coaster season appropriately over the weekend by failing to advance to the NCAA championships. Minnesota finished 17th out of 21 teams at the NCAA Central...

After the first day of the three-day NCAA Midwest Regional in Norman, Okla. on Thursday, the Gophers were tied with Tulsa for 14th place out of 21 teams with a one-round 297. Texas A&M was first with...

Not only could this weekend's NCAA regionals be the last tournament of the season for the men's golf team, it could also signal the end of senior golfer Mark Halverson's Gophers career. For the last four...

The Gophers women's swimming team announced 13 new signings for next season on Wednesday. Coach Jean Freeman called the new class the best she has ever recruited. The new swimmers come from a broad background,...

Prior to the start of the Big Ten men's golf championships on Friday in Columbus, Ohio, conference officials sent out a mailing, previewing the top teams and individuals in the Big Ten. The conference...

As anticipated, the Gophers men's golf team received an invitation to the NCAA Central Regional on Tuesday. "We've expected to get there all year," Gophers coach John Means said before learning that his...

After finding out that she was denied a chance to be the lone individual competitor not on a team invited to the NCAA East Regionals, Gophers junior golfer Amy Dahle took out her aggression on the Forrest...

Despite recording their lowest three-round total in two months, the No. 20 Gophers men's golf team finished fourth Saturday at the Kent Invitational in Ravenna, Ohio. Minnesota was in second place at...

The women's golf team feels it has nothing to lose at the Big Ten championships, which run today through Sunday in East Lansing, Mich. The team will be playing under considerably less pressure this weekend...

For one of the few times in his 18-year career, Gophers men's golf coach John Means gambled on a recruit last spring. He signed freshman golfer Martin Le Mesurier to a national letter of intent without...

Golf has been a major part of sophomore men's golfer Bill Thompson's life since he was a toddler. He got his first set of golf clubs when he was just 4 years old and grew up playing with current PGA competitor...

Before the start of the Gophers men's golf team's spring campaign, this season figured to be one to remember. But with the conclusion of its spring competitions looming near, Minnesota would like to forget...

The Gophers women's golf team's worst fears were realized this weekend as the team was eliminated from postseason competition in its last regular season meet of the year. Minnesota finished sixth out...

When senior women's golfer Carolyn Klecker came to Minnesota as a freshman five years ago, golf was about the farthest thing from her mind. Klecker initially came to the University for it's aeronautical...

Sophomore men's golfer Bill Thompson soared past several of his more-heralded teammates on his way to an eighth-place tie at the Marshall Invitational Friday and Saturday in Huntington, W.Va. Thompson...

After making four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances for the first time since 1964, the men's golf program is on the brink of a breakthrough season. The Gophers have placed in the upper division...

Before the start of the fall season, the Gophers women's golf team sat down and made out a list of goals for the upcoming year. Among them was placing in the top two at the Big Ten championships and making...

Junior Amy Dahle turned in another strong performance over the weekend, carrying the Gophers women's golf team on her shoulders Saturday and Sunday at the Indiana Invitational in Bloomington, Ind. Dahle's...

Minnesota's women's golf team is hoping that a trip to Indiana this weekend will help them scrape away the cobwebs that accumulated during its three-month layover. The No. 17 Gophers will compete Friday...

Over the weekend, the usually quiet University Aquatic Center was transformed into a loud, raucous arena during the men's NCAA swimming and diving championships. Throngs of people packed into the building...

Before the start of the second day of the men's NCAA swimming and diving championships Friday night at the University Aquatic Center, freshman Gophers swimmer Bill Bishop fake jabbed at his teammates...

Almost simultaneously, the two hands touched the wall through a spray of water on Mar. 21 at the women's NCAA swimming and diving championships in Indianapolis. Immediately, junior swimmer Gretchen Hegener...

Gophers women's swimming coach Jean Freeman's words about her team's performance at the NCAA championships summed up the story of the meet. She was clearly pleased, but the occasional cracking of her...

Minnesota's women's swimming and diving squad is in the midst of perhaps the best season in school history. This week in Indianapolis the No. 8 Gophers have an opportunity to set or tie the all-time team...

Call it karma, fate or whatever. No matter what word you use, the fact remains that something unexpected has seemed to happen the past two years to prevent the Gophers men's swimming and diving team from...

Junior Gophers men's swimmer Manolis Lentaris wore an elated look on his face as he held up his left arm after last season's improbable upset of defending national champion Michigan at the Big Ten championships...

Three years ago, when a trio of untested freshmen divers took to the pool for their first NCAA Zone Diving competition in Cleveland, Ohio, they had much different aspirations than they do now. Laurie...

When sophomore Gophers men's swimmer Martin Zielinski stands next to his teammates, he looks like he doesn't belong on the squad. He is 5-foot-9, 170-pounds and only bench-presses 145 pounds, whereas...

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- One look at the Gophers bench Saturday night at the Counsilman/Billingsley Aquatics Center told the story of the Big Ten Men's Swimming and Diving Championships. Minnesota's swimmers...

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Gophers men's swimming and diving team had an air of confidence about them this weekend at the Big Ten championships that was not there a year ago. Minnesota's improbable upset...

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- As the championship finalists of the 50-yard freestyle were announced Thursday night at the Councilman/Billingsley Aquatic Center, Minnesota's benched reacted in a wild, frenzied...

A year ago, an overachieving Gophers men's swimming and diving team shocked the Big Ten and themselves by beating a heavily-favored Michigan squad at the Big Ten championships. This time around, however,...

Even though the current Gophers basketball team is enjoying one of its best seasons in recent history, Clem Haskins's crew will always be compared to another Gophers squad that might have been the best...

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Big Ten Women's Swimming and Diving Championships was a reunion of sorts for Gophers distance freestyler Kim Wilson. The junior from South Bend, Ind., wasn't only competing in her...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Rows of school banners, logos and hand-made signs adorned the sides of the walls separating the crowd from the pool Thursday at the Indiana University Natatorium. A deafening roar emanated...

Three years ago an overwhelmed 19-year-old college freshman named Olga Splichalova stood inside the University Aquatic Center for the first time, in awe. The junior distance freestyler was agape at the...

Minnesota's women's swimming and diving team will be looking for revenge this weekend at the Big Ten championships in Indianapolis, Ind. A year ago, when the Big Tens were held at the Gophers' home pool,...

Perhaps the most intriguing storyline surrounding the Minnesota Challenge swimming meet during the weekend involved two athletes who aren't even members of either Gophers swim teams. Not yet, anyway. The...

After winning the 500-yard freestyle event Friday night at the University Aquatic Center, Gophers men's swimmer, Bryan Carlson, decided he needed to rest up for the next day's competition. Carlson, a...

Gophers junior swimmer Brian Stroshane's emotion is contagious. He seems to be everywhere, cheering with his boisterous voice and keeping his teammates loose on the sideline with his quick wit. He is...

Before Saturday's swim meet against Iowa at the University Aquatic Center, Gophers women's swimming coach Jean Freeman allowed all of her seniors sign up for one event in which they wanted to compete....

Most of the attention surrounding the No. 8 women's swimming and diving team's 14-0 start has centered around the team's top guns Olga Splichalova, Jenny Hennen, Tanya Schuh and Gretchen Hegener. But...

Illinois women's swimming coach Jim Lutz paraded around the pool deck, his face turning a bright red color from the loss of oxygen as he wildly cheered for his team. A handful of Illinois swimmers followed...

Tanya Schuh emerged from the pool, dripping wet, with a wide smile on her face. She covered her mouth, still grinning, as she looked up at the scoreboard in astonishment. Her name and the time :54.24...

Senior men's swimmer Matt Schlessman's personality is as varied as the slow ballads of classical music and the ripping jams of a Rage Against the Machine song. "He's got two sides to him," said student...

Friday night's dual meet between ninth-ranked Minnesota and Ohio State at the Aquatic Center was bittersweet for A-Lisa Miles. The Buckeyes freshman swimmer was competing in her first meet in her home...

The ninth-ranked Gophers men's swimming and diving team's 210-89 thrashing of the visiting Iowa Hawkeyes at the Aquatic Center Saturday night was more than just another win -- it was revenge. Iowa has...

Something separates Gophers sophomore swimmer Jonathan McLeod from the rest of his teammates. Others celebrate their performances and joke loosely during practice. McLeod remains a picture of concentration. His...

Before Saturday night's game against St. Cloud State at Mariucci Arena, the Gophers held a players-only meeting where they decided it was time for them to stop losing points in the WCHA standings. The...

Minnesota's women's swimming and diving squad expected this weekend's meet at Northwestern to be its toughest test until the Big Ten championships on Feb. 20-22. The team wasn't disappointed. The tenth-ranked...

She is always animated as she runs around, waving her arms enthusiastically and shouting out instructions to her swimmers along the edge of the University Aquatic Center pool. After 28 years in the Gophers...

One word pretty well summed up the women's swimming and diving team's weekend meets -- confidence. Only three events into Friday night's home dual meet against No. 19 Kansas, most of the swimmers on No....

The No. 9 Gophers men's swimming and diving squad hopes to turn back the clock this weekend. A year ago, Minnesota defeated Kansas 139-104 on the road for its sixth dual meet victory of the season. That...

Minnesota's women's swimming program is no stranger to success. The Gophers have posted winning records in dual meets every season for the past 15 years. During that same span the team has finished lower...

The voice on the other side of the phone wavered for a second. "I'm not really sure," Gophers women's swimmer Jessica Grass responded, searching for the right words to describe her disappointing sophomore...

In the morning shadow at the east end of the University Aquatic Center on Dec. 31, Gophers women's swimming assistant coach Terry Nieszner led several athletes in stretching exercises. At the opposite...

It was a strange sight. Gophers men's swimming assistant coach Clark Campbell and student coach Kenji Sudoh stood side by side in silence at the University Aquatic Center, twirling their stopwatches in...

The 22-year-old looks like he has just gotten out of bed, as he slowly strolls around the pool at the University Aquatic Center during practice. He is barefoot and clad in yellow shorts and a white 1996...

The goals of most male college students for winter break include, sleeping, watching sporting events on TV and eating a lot of turkey. Not the Gophers men's swimming and diving teams, though. "One of...

Women's swimming coach Jean Freeman sat down this week with her team and made some goals for the rest of the season. All athletes wrote down their own expectations as well. The team expressed more ambitious...

After three and a half months of juggling school, practices and meets, the men's swimming team has finally earned itself a vacation. No. 8 Minnesota will travel to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., on Dec. 15 for...

A loud cheer emanated from the stands in the University Aquatic Center at the Minnesota Invitational on Nov. 24 as swimmer Jenny Hennen's name was announced. Even though she is only in her first year...

After crossing the finish line at the 1996 NCAA Women's Cross Country Championships in Tucson, Ariz., on Monday, Gophers runner Anna Gullingsrud bent over and started to cry. She had hoped to finish in...

Anna Gullingsrud's collegiate cross country career has followed a long and winding road with a disappointing pit stop along the way. But she's back where she wants to be. The sophomore will compete in...

A hand printed sign on the door of the women's swimming and diving team's locker room at the Aquatic Center on Sunday read, "this is Gopher territory." Both the men's and women's swimming teams lived...