Gophers men's track sending Matthew Wilkinson, sprint and hurdles standouts to NCAA championships

Matthew Wilkinson will compete in the NCAA championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for the second year in a row, after the Gophers standout recorded a qualifying time of 8 minutes, 26.33 seconds at the West Regional qualifier in Sacramento on Friday night. Wilkinson posted the regional's third-best time.

The Gophers men also will be sending their 4x100 team to Austin, Texas, after the foursome of Carlon Hosten, Kion Benjamin, Finn Schirmer and Devin Augustine posted an automatic qualifying time of 39.02 seconds. It's the first time the Gophers have qualified for the NCAA championships in the event.

Benjamin also qualified in the 100, winning his heat in 10.11 seconds, and Hosten earned a spot in the 200 with a time of 20.49 seconds. In the 110 hurdles, Gophers sophomore Michael Buchanan qualified with a time of 13.66 seconds.

Matt Fleischhacker drove in three runs, including two on a two-out single in the eighth inning, and Minnesota State Mankato held on to beat Augustana 5-4 in the first game of an NCAA Division II baseball super regional in Sioux Falls.

Lefthander Dylan Gotto pitched 6 ⅔ innings in relief to improve to 12-2 for the Mavericks (43-16), who will have two chances to beat Augustana (45-19) this weekend for their ninth trip to the College World Series.

Fleischhacker's single gave the Mavericks a 5-0 lead. The host Vikings scored all four of their runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, but the Mavericks' Spencer Wright, who had forced in a run with a four-pitch walk, preserved the victory by striking out Ragan Pinnow on a full-count pitch with the bases loaded.

One pitch was the difference in Friday's super regional opener as the No. 11th-ranked Bethel softball team saw its 26-game winning streak end with a 1-0 loss to No. 4 Linfield in McMinnville, Ore., in the first game of the NCAA Division III super regionals.

The host Wildcats (45-4) got a home run on the first pitch of the bottom of the fourth inning from Katie Phillips for the game's only run. That was the only blemish for the Royals' Kayla Simacek, who gave up three hits and walked none while striking out six.

Linfield's Tayah Kelley improved to 32-1 by pitching a one-hitter. She walked three and struck out seven.

Bethel (36-4) needs to beat Linfield twice on Saturday to win the super regional.

The Gophers women's hockey team announced that three transfers will join the program this fall in goaltender Lucy Morgan and defenders Taylor Stewart and Solveig Neunzert.

Morgan, a former Maple Grove High School athlete, was a second-team All-America in 2021-22 as a junior at St. Lawrence, where in four years she went 42-48-17 in 110 appearances with a 1.99 goals-against average and .928 save percentage.

Stewart is from Rochester, played in high school at Shattuck-St. Mary's and spent four seasons at Minnesota Duluth, where she had six goals and 14 assists in 133 games over four seasons.

Neunzert had six goals and 17 assists in 94 games over three seasons at Princeton. Though from Passau, Germany, Neunzert represents Sweden in international play.

Lindsay Cunningham earned a national championship in the women's 10,000 meters to lead Winona State at the Division II outdoor track and field championships Thursday in Pueblo, Colo.

Cunningham won in a time of 33:55.79, more than 12 seconds ahead of runner-up Brianna Robles of Adams State. Cunningham entered the day holding the top time among NCAA Division II time in the event in 2023 (32:43.64), a mark that was the third-fastest 10K time ever in NCAA Division II history.