Catch up on what the Gophers did this weekend
It was a busy weekend of Minnesota Golden Gophers sporting events. We know you are busy and can’t always keep up on everything so here is a recap of how the Gophers faired.
Wrestling:
It was a great weekend for the Gopher grapplers wo picked up a pair of big wins. Minnesota upset #4 Ohio State in Columbus on Friday night 20-17 with four Gophers picking up bonus points in their individual matches. Redshirt Freshman Max McEnelly clinched the win with a 15-5 major decision at 184 pounds to remain undefeated on the season. A full recap is here.
Sunday the Gophers came home to host Purdue and easily took down the Boilermakers 35-6. The Golden Gophers prevailed in eight of the 10 matches and posted six bonus-point victories.
Minnesota has one final regular season duel left and it’s a big one as #2 Iowa Hawkeyes come to the Pav on Friday night. The meet starts at 8 PM and will air live on Big Ten Network.
Women’s Basketball:
The Gopher women picked up a much needed win over Indiana 66-56 on Sunday afternoon. Amaya Battle led the Gophers with 16 points, with her final free throw of the game giving her 1,000 points for her career in the maroon and gold. She also added seven rebounds and five assists. The Gophers dominated the Hoosiers inside and got a pair of great games from Sophie Hart and Mallory Heyer. Hart scored 14 points and added eight rebounds while Heyer recorded her third double-double this season, collecting 10 points and 13 rebounds. Minnesota ruled the boards ending the game with a 43-25 edge. The Gophers pulled away with a 7-0 run in the third quarter that pushed a two point halftime lead to a nine point third quarter lead that the Gophers would never relinquish. Minnesota led by as much as 15 in the fourth quarter before a 9-0 Hoosier run cut the led to just six at 60-54 with 1:19 to play. Minnesota would finish 6-8 from the free throw stripe down the stretch to finish off the win.
Minnesota moved back above .500 in Big Ten play at 7-6. It will be tough to stay there as the Gophers next head to Columbus to face #8 Ohio State on Thursday night, before returning home to host a crucial game against Oregon on Sunday.
Tennis:
The Gopher tennis team returned home for three matches this weekend and swept all three defeating Missouri 5-2 on Friday afternoon before sweeping a Saturday double header dominating Colorado State 7-0 before handling St. Thomas 5-2.
Sophomore Mia Leipert went 3-0 on the weekend and now has won five consecutive matches—a career high. Minnesota moves to 6-2 on the season and will head to Alabama this weekend for a neutral site matchup against East Tennessee State on Friday before matches at Alabama-Birmingham on Saturday and against the Crimson Tide on Sunday.
Track and Field:
Minnesota hosted the Minnesota Classic this weekend. The Gophers dominated a local field winning 20 events in the meet. Minnesota really showed their dominance in the women’s weight throw. Anthonett Nabwe is one of the best in the nation and showed it again with a throw of 23.21 meters, which is now the second best throw in the nation this spring and the first in the Big Ten. The reigning Big Ten Champion will look to defend her title in the Big Ten Championships in three weeks.
But it wasn’t just Nabwe. Redshirt sophomore Streit moved up to No. 11 nationally in the same event. Streit threw her lifetime best toss of 22.12m which improved her previous best mark by three feet to push to the No. 5 spot in program history. With the throw Streit puts herself in serious contention to make the NCAA Indoor Championships, which take the top 16 for the weight throw after the indoor conference championships are contested.
Lexy Berger won the women’s pole vault with a season best leap of 4.12m.
While the Gopher men do not have an indoor team, several Gophers men’s athletes competed as uncommitted athletes and showed out. That showcased itself in the men’s 60m hurdles, where Minnesota swept the top three positions in the final, led by Michael Buchanan’s lifetime best 7.72. Just behind Buchanan were teammates Spencer Brown (7.76) and Christian Martin (7.77) who all posted personal bests in the race as well. Buchanan in the process broke a decade-long Fieldhouse record in the 60m hurdles, held by Myles Hunter of Minnesota State (7.74).
The Big Ten’s returning outdoor champions Charles Godfred and Jak Urlacher both were victorious at the University of Minnesota Classic. Chales Godfred posted a distance of 7.92m to win the long jump Jak Urlacher cleared 5.17m to win the pole vault. Godfred’s mark breaks a 31-year-old Fieldhouse record held by Tyrone Minor (7.75m) back in 1994.
Minnesota heads to the Windy City Invite in Chicago next weekend.
Swimming and Diving:
The Gophers hosted the First Chance meet over the weekend. With no diving or team scores at this meet, it has provided an opportunity for swimmers to improve their times ahead of Big Ten Championships. 19 different Gophers recorded personal bests this weekend.
The Golden Gophers now turn their attention to Big Ten Championships. The women are set to compete Feb. 19-22 at Ohio State. The men will compete at home Feb. 26- March 1.
Gymnastics:
The #16 ranked Gopher gymnasts took their first loss of the season falling at #5 Michigan State 197.475-196.800. The Spartans defeated the Gophers on all four apparatuses, with only Mya Hooten wining an individual event with a 9.925 on the floor. Minnesota tied a season-best with a 49.250 on uneven bars with a trio of Gophers scoring 9.90’s.
Minnesota heads to #18 Ohio State next Sunday.
Men’s Basketball:
The Gophers fell at home to #23 Illinois 95-74. The Gophers got season best scoring games from Lu’Cye Patterson who scored 24 points and Femi Odukale who had 22 but you won’t win many games when you let your opponent shoot 63.2 percent from the field. The Illini killed the Gophers on the boards as well outrebounding Minnesota 38-26.
The Gophers are off until Saturday when they head to Southern California to face USC at 3PM.
Softball:
It was a rough start to the season for the Gopher softball team. Minnesota went 1-3 at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Arizona over the weekend. On Friday the Gophers opened the season against Utah and fell 2-0 in the first game. Minnesota could only muster four hits and were 1-7 with runners in scoring position.
They lost their nightcap as well 9-4 to California. All four runs came off the bat of freshman Tinley Easton who it a grand slam. All three pitchers the Gophers put in the circle got rocked by the Bears, and Minnesota could not dig out of a 8-0 hole.
Saturday Minnesota picked up their lone win getting a 4-3 win in extra innings. Minnesota knocked off 2024 MAC Champion Miami, Ohio on a walk-off single by Breezy Burnett. Junior transfer Presley Hosick was dominant in the circle, striking out nine hitters over eight innings of work. Minnesota was scheduled to face host Arizona State later Saturday night, but the game was classed off after delays earlier in the day pushed the schedule too late.
Minnesota finished their weekend by facing Utah against on Sunday afternoon, and again fell to the Utes 9-8. Hosick gave up four runs in just one inning on Sunday taking the loss.
Minnesota heads to Boca Raton Florida next weekend for a tournament.
Women’s Hockey:
The #3 Gophers took a shorthanded roster into Madison to face the #1 ranked Wisconsin Badgers and it went about as expected. The Badgers thrashed the Gophers winning 8-2 on Saturday before picking up a 6-1 win on Sunday. The six goal win on Saturday ties the largest margin of victory for any team in the history of the series.
The Gophers looked completely outclassed all weekend long and just did not have the horses to keep up with the highly skilled Badger team.
Minnesota was missing forwards Josefin Bouveng and Emma Kreisz who were in Europe competing with their national teams to try and qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Bouveng and her Sweden squad did qualify going 3-0 in their tournament and clinched their spot a with a 5-0 win over Denmark. Unfortunately Kreisz’s Hungary squad fell just short losing to Germany 2-1 on Sunday.
The Gopher women are back in action this weekend. with a home and home against St. Cloud State.