The Gophers’ Patrick McKee (125 pounds) and Isaiah Salazar (184) advanced to the Big Ten wrestling championship finals Saturday in College Park, Md.
Gophers’ Patrick McKee, Isaiah Salazar will wrestle for Big Ten championships
The Gophers had six wrestlers qualify for the NCAA championships later this month.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
March 10, 2024 at 5:40AM
Those two are six of the Gophers who qualified for this month’s NCAA championships in Kansas City, Mo. The Gophers sit in seventh place with 66 points going into Sunday’s final day.
The fourth-seeded McKee scored a takedown of Rutgers’ Dean Peterson 20 seconds into overtime to win his semifinal. Salazar, the top seed at 184 pounds, beat Michigan’s Jaden Bullock 4-1 with a takedown with 2 seconds remaining.
At 174 pounds, Gophers ninth-seeded senior Andrew Sparks lost his semi to Illinois’ Edmond Ruth 4-1 in overtime. Vance VomBaur (141), Blaine Brenner (165) and Garrett Joles (197) also earned NCAA trips, and 149-pound Drew Roberts can join them with two victories Sunday
Smith scores another record
Lakeville native Regan Smith broke her own Pro Swim Series record in the women’s 200-meter backstroke, clocking in 2:03.99 in Westmont, Ill.
Smith recorded the third sub-2:04 time of her career. It’s the three-time Olympic medalist’s third record in two days, after she won the 200 butterfly and 100 backstroke Friday.
Etc.
• Gonzaga took advantage of three Gophers errors to score four unearned runs in a 5-3 baseball victory in Spokane, Wash. The Bulldogs took two of three in the series.
• Bri Enter pitched 5⅔ shutout innings as the Gophers softball team beat Fordham 4-2 in Clemson, S.C.
• Aiva Schmitz beat Li Hsin Lin in a third-set tiebreaker at No. 3 singles and the Gophers tennis team opened Big Ten play by winning at Indiana 4-3.
Junior Mara Braun rebroke the same bone in her foot as last season, so the 6-0 Gophers will be without their leading scorer and top overall player.
