Auburn's Suni Lee, a freshman from St. Paul, debuted a dazzling vault and won all four event titles to claim the all-around title Friday as the No. 7 Tigers won 197.175 to 196.300 over Georgia — it was only their second victory in Athens, Ga.
Gymnast Suni Lee keeps raising the bar as Auburn freshman
The Olympic all-around champion from St. Paul performed a vaultFriday never done in Division I gymnatics.
February 20, 2022 at 5:16AM
On vault, Lee introduced a half-on front layout, a vault that had never been attempted before in NCAA gymnastics, earning a 9.925.
The freshman Olympic all-around gold medalist also became the first Auburn gymnast since Caitlin Atkinson in 2016 to sweep all four events.
"I knew I wanted to come to Auburn to make history and give all the other girls an opportunity to be great, too," said Lee, who won her fourth consecutive all-around with a 39.775. "It feels really good to do that.
"I get bored really easily, and I have really high expectations of myself," Lee said. "I know if I want to do something, I'm going to do it."
Five Ms. Hockey finalists set
The five finalists for the Ms. Hockey Award have been named. They are forward Danielle Burgen, Chisago Lakes; forward Claire Enright, Lakeville South; defenseman Vivian Jungels, Edina; forward Madison Kaiser, Holy Family, and forward Sloane Matthews, Wayzata.
The winner will be named Feb. 27, the day after the girls' hockey state tournament ends.
All are going to play Division I hockey next season: Enright and Jungels at Wisconsin, Kaiser for the Gophers, Burgen at Minnesota Duluth and Matthews at Ohio State.
U softball rallies late
The Gophers softball team rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and scored two more in the eighth on Chloe Evans' two-run homer to edge Illinois State 7-5 in the Littlewood Classic in Tempe, Ariz. The Redbirds remained winless, now 0-7.
Megan Dray hit a solo homer — her second of the game — and Makenna Dowell had a two-run double for the Gophers (5-4) in the seventh to send the game to extra innings.
Earlier, senior Natalie DenHartog hit a solo homer, too — her third of the season — for Minnesota. DenHartog has 42 homers now for her career, which is the fourth most in program history.
U baseball routed
Florida Atlantic turned the tables on the Gophers in baseball, beating them 8-2 in the second game of the series in Boca Raton, Fla.
The Owls, who lost 9-1 on Friday in the season opener for both teams, scored four runs in the fourth and three in the eight.
Minnesota (1-1) got its two runs on Drew Stahl's two-run triple in the seventh.
Etc.
The Gophers women's tennis team (11-1) bounced back from its first loss of the season by beating Memphis 4-0 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Minnesota won the doubles point and got singles wins from Dalila Said, Maria Rizzolo and Anfisa Danilchenko at No. 6, 3 and 5 singles, respectively, to win the match. The Tigers fell to 7-4.
• The Gophers gymnastics team finished third (196.500) in the Big Five Meet at the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio. Lexy Ramler won the all-around title (39.575) and tied for first on the balance beam (9.950), while Mya Hooten claimed the top spot in floor exercise (9.975).
• Sophomore Megan Van Berkom placed second in the 200-yard butterfly (1 minute, 53.89 seconds) to help the Gophers finish sixth (838.5 points) for the third straight year in the Big Ten Women's Swimming and Diving Championships in Madison, Wis.
STAFF and WIRE SERVICES
Two offensive linemen from Lakeville, Bryce Benhart and Riley Mahlman, are standouts for Big Ten rivals of Minnesota.
