Stanford freshman Regan Smith won the 200-yard backstroke and finished second in the 200 butterfly and as a member of the 400 freestyle relay Saturday at the NCAA women's swimming and diving championships in Atlanta.
Stanford's Regan Smith, of Lakeville, won 200 backstroke in NCAA swimming and diving meet
She was in the top three in six events either as an individual or as part of a Cardinal relay.
March 20, 2022 at 5:17AM
It was the first NCAA title in an individual event for Smith, of Lakeville, who finished her first NCAA championship meet with top-three finishes in six events.
Smith swam a pool-record time of 1 minute, 47.76 seconds in the 200 back, surging over the final 50 yards to beat Wisconsin's Phoebe Bacon. In the 200 fly, Smith rallied from eighth place at the final turn to finish in a dead heat for second place with Olivia Carter of Michigan in a time of 1:51.19, .40 of a second behind winner Alex Walsh of Virginia.
A three-time medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, Smith also was part of Stanford's winning 800 free relay and was third in the 100 back and 400 medley relay. Stanford finished third behind Virginia and Texas in the team standings.
Rachel Blount
Gophers gymnasts fourth
The Gophers finished fourth in the Big Ten women's gymnastics meet on Saturday afternoon in Columbus, Ohio, with a score of 196.725.
No. 8 Minnesota, which was the defending meet champion, finished behind No. 3 Michigan (197.325), Michigan State (197.050) and Iowa (196.950).
Lexy Ramler, a fifth-year senior, led the Gophers by finishing second in the all-around (39.675) — .025 behind Michigan's Abby Heiskell — and tying for first on the beamand bars . Sophomore Mya Hooten tied for first in floor exercise and for second in vault). Ramler and Hooten had the same 9.950 score in all those events.
Ona Loper, another fifth-year senior, was sixth for Minnesota in all-around (39.375).
St. Kate's swimmer excels
Senior Jordyn Wentzel of St. Catherine won the 200-yard breaststroke (2:10.06) in a division record time and was second in the 200 individual medley (1:57.76) at the four-day NCAA Division III national meet in Indianapolis.
She broke the previous division record with her time in the 200 IM, too, but finished .06 seconds behind the winner.
Wentzel also was second in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.72). Classmate Maggie Menso was third in the 1,650 freestyle (16:43.96).
Gustavus Adolphus junior Ellen Hofstede was sixth in the 100 freestyle (50.57).
Field day for U in Orlando
Kostas Zaltos won the men's hammer throw (215 feet, 7 inches) for the Gophers in the Black & Gold Invitational in Orlando.
Nyalaam Jok took first in the women's high jump (5-10½) and teammate Amira Young in the 200-meter run (23.39 seconds).
Tiera Jones-Robinson of the Gophers placed second in the women's triple jump (41-8¾). On the men's side, Minnesota's Astian Walker was second (49-6½) in the same event and Floyd Whitaker third (49-3).
Etc.
The Gophers baseball team lost 14-7 to Creighton in Omaha, Neb. The Bluejays (8-6) scored eight runs in the fourth inning to take a 10-2 lead. Otto Grimm was 3-for-2 with a double and two RBI for Minnesota (5-14) while Jack Kelly hit a solo homer, his fifth of the season.
Senior Hanna Geistfeld of Bethany Lutheran was named to the D3hoops.com's All-America first team.
The Minnesota Frost are getting production from newcomers and their established vets, with notable improvement on special teams.
