Three NCAA Tournaments…no NCAA titles.
It was a busy weekend for the Minnesota Golden Gophers with three different NCAA Tournaments going on, the WBIT, regular season baseball, softball and tennis, and outdoor track as well. Here is a full recap of the weekend that was:
Wrestling:
Minnesota ended up in a tie for 5th place as a team at the 2025 NCAA wrestling Championships, but missed out on bring home the individual NCAA title they had hoped for. Gable Steveson was upset in the Championship match by #2 seed Wyatt Hendrickson of Oklahoma State in the last few seconds of their match. Steveson lost for the first time in 70 matches, but his second place finish was still the top finish for any Gopher.
Max McEnelly showed out at his first NCAA Championships earning a third place finish and All-American honors. He would fall in the semifinals in overtime to 2024 NCAA Champions and 2025 runner-up Parker Keckheisen of Northern Iowa. He would come back on Saturday morning and defeat #8 seed Jaxon Smith of Maryland 4-1 with a takedown in Sudden Victory overtime to advance to the third place match. he then defeated #4 seed Dustin Plott of Oklahoma State 6-5 to earn third. He has lost two matches in his career—to the 2024 and 2025 NCAA Champions, both in overtime. The future is bright for Max.
Minnesota earned a third All-American spot when Vance Vombaur finished in 8th place at 141 pounds. He won his first two matches before losing to NCAA Champion Jessie Mendez of Ohio State in the quarterfinals. He would win once in the consolation bracket before losing twice to fall to 8th place.
No other Gopher wrestler ended up on the podium.
Women’s Swimming and Diving:
Minnesota earned a pair of All-American honors at the 2025 NCAA Championships this past weekend. 2024 NCAA Platform diving champion Viv Del Angel could not repeat her title this season but did earn her fourth and fifth All-American honors in her third NCAA appearance, headlined by a third place finish in the platform finals with a score of 371.50. She would also earn an All-American honorable mention after finishing 15th in the 1-meter, her first such recognition in the event. She was joined by Senior Eliot Kennedy in her second NCAA Championships appearance where she earned an All-American honorable mention after placing 14th in the 1650 free finals with a time of 15:56.51.
No other Gophers made the finals of any events.
Women’s Hockey:
The Gopher women’s hockey team had a 6th crack at the Wisconsin Badgers in a NCAA Frozen Four semifinal at Ridder Arena on Friday night, but unfortunately the results were the same as the other five times. Wisconsin would pick up a 6-2 win to advance to the NCAA title game on Sunday against Ohio State for the third consecutive season.
Minnesota scored first on a goal by Peyton Hemp, after they killed off a five-minute major penalty on star Abbey Murphy. Wisconsin would tie the game at 1 on a shorthanded goal late in the first period, and would stretch the lead to 3-1 midway through the second. Minnesota cut into the lead on a goal by Josefin Bouveng to make it 3-2, but did not got any help from the referees the rest of the period. Murphy was checked from behind by Badger star Caroline Harvey, but was only given a two-minute penalty instead of the five from checking form behind it appeared to be. Then after a Gopher was interfered with behind the play, the Badgers scored with two seconds left in the period to take a 4-2 lead. They would add the daggar halfway through the third period and add an empty netter to get the win.
Abbey Murphy was named a Second Team All-American on Saturday. Murphy is the first Gopher to earn an All-American nod since Taylor Heise and Grace Zumwinkle in the 2022-23 season.
Wisconsin would go on to defeat Ohio State 4-3 in overtime Sunday afternoon for their 8th NCAA title.
Women’s Basketball:
The Gopher women went 2-0 this week in the WBIT winning on the road at Toledo and Missouri State to advance to the Quarterfinals. A full recap is here. Minnesota will host Gonzaga in the WBIT Quarterfinals at Williams Arena Thursday night with the winner advancing to the Final Four at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis next week.
Gymnastics:
The Gophers competed in the Big Ten Championships this weekend in Ann Arbor. Minnesota was in the final session with the three other top teams in the conference in UCLA, Michigan State and Michigan. Minnesota would finish in third place with a team score of 197.425. No. 5 UCLA (198.450) placed first while No. 9 Michigan State (198.150) was second and No. 17 Michigan (197.325) placed fourth.
The Gophers earned 49.150 on vault, 49.325 on bars, 49.525 on beam and 49.425 on floor. The beam score was a season-best and tied for the eighth-best beam score in program history. It was their second best beam performance in the last five seasons. Jordyn Lyden tied for the bars event title in Session III with a score of 9.950 with Frida Esparza of UCLA. She was the only Gopher to make the Big Ten All-Championships Team.
Minnesota will find out which NCAA Regional they are headed to, when the NCAA Brackets are revealed at 11 AM Monday.
Track and Field:
The Gopher track and field teams headed to South Florida for the University of South Florida Invite this weekend. The highlight was the hammer throw of Gopher grad student Kostas Zaltos. The Greek national broke his own school record and now sits at No. 13 all-time in the event in NCAA history and is currently No. 8 in the world this year with a throw of 76.85 meters. Behind Zaltos in the runner-up position on Friday was fellow Greek and Gopher sophomore Angelos Mantzouranis who’s 72.44m throw goes down as a season’s best for the reigning NCAA Championships bronze medalist.
Baseball:
The Gopher baseball team took two out of three games in a series aginst High Point at US Bank Stadium this weekend. Minnesota picked up a 12-1 win on Friday and a 8-2 win Sunday sandwiched between a 11-7 loss on Saturday night.
On Friday the Gophers were led by senior Drew Berkland’s two home runs and five RBI. Senior Parker Knoll added to Berkland’s awesome power-hitting performance by going 2-for-3 with a double, a home run and four RBI. The Gophers pitchers were on point as well with starter sophomore Cole Selvig picking up the win going six innings, giving up one run on four hits, allowing one walk and striking out six. Sophomore Will Whelan came in for relief and closed out the gam with three scoreless innings while allowing no hits, with no walks and four strikeouts.
Saturday the Gophers could not overcome a poor pitching start from Kyle Remington. He allowed three runs in just 2.2 innings of work ,and Joe Sperry who came in in relief wasn’t any better giving up five runs in three innings and putting the Gophers in a hole. They cut the lead to 8-7 after six innings could could not find any more offense.
The offense retuned on Sunday with Knoll going 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI and Easton Richter adding a home run. Senior Justin Thorsteinson picked up the win by tossing five shutout innings while giving up one hit, striking out 11 and walking three for Minnesota.
The Gophers stay home for their Siebert Field season debut next weekend when this host Iowa for a three game series.
Softball:
Not a good weekend for the Gopher softball team who was swept in a three-game series at Nebraska. Minnesota lost 8-0 Friday, 8-3 Saturday and 8-2 on Sunday.
The Gophers fall to 13-18 on the season and 2-5 in Big Ten play. They open up their home season at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium next weekend hosting Big Ten power Northwestern for three games.
Tennis:
The Gophers lost a pair of home matches this weekend. Friday Minnesota was swept 4-0 by #32 ranked Iowa, and Sunday the Gophers lost 4-1 to #71 Nebraska.
Minnesota stays home next weekend to host Rutgers and Maryland.