Gophers gymnastics finishes second in Big Ten championship

Mya Hooten and Sarah Moraw earned conference event titles, and the Gophers gymnastics team finished second at the 2024 Big Ten championships with a score of 197.500, finishing behind host Michigan State’s 197.600.

Hooten tied for Big Ten titles on vault (9.975, second of her career), floor (9.950, third of her career) and uneven bars (9.925, first of her career) while Moraw won her first Big Ten title with a 9.925 on balance beam.

Michigan (197.225) finished third and Ohio State (197.050) fourth. The Gophers now await the NCAA regionals selection show Monday.

Gophers sophomore Vivi Del Angel dove to national champion status on Saturday in Athens, Ga., scoring 327.90 in five dives to take the crown.

Del Angel finished more than 23 points ahead of her next closest competitor. The Mexico native is the first Gophers woman to win a national championship on the platform.

The Gophers women finished in 20th at the national championships.

Gophers senior Isaiah Salazar finished in sixth place at 184 pounds, and sophomore Vance VomBaur earned eighth place at 141 at the NCAA wrestling championships in Kansas City, Mo.

Salazar lost to South Dakota State’s Bennett Berge 3-2 in the consolation semifinals and then lost to Penn State’s Bernie Truax in a 12-0 major decision for fifth place. That match was a rematch of the 184-pound Big Ten final, won by Salazar, who finished the season with a 24-4 record.

VomBaur lost 4-3 to North Carolina State’s Ryan Jack and finished 19-11, including 3-3 in Kansas City.

The Wild announced Saturday they signed 2023 second-round pick Riley Heidt to a three-year, entry level contract beginning this fall.

The 18-year-old Heidt was selected 64th overall in last year’s NHL draft. He has 34 goals and 80 assists in 65 games for Prince George of the Western Hockey League this season, and his 114 points are third in the league. He has 10 goals and 36 assists on the power play, and he is a plus-32 on the season.

He was named WHL player of the month in December after recording seven goals and 17 assists in 11 games. In four seasons with Prince George, he has 82 goals and 195 assists for 277 points.

PWHL Minnesota will play Montreal on Sunday at Xcel Energy Center, starting at 3 p.m. This will be Minnesota’s first game since a 5-1 victory over New York on March 16 and last game until April 20, with the league pausing for the IIHF world championships.

The Gophers baseball team scored six runs in the eighth inning to rally for a 12-10 victory over host San Francisco. Boston Merila’s two-run double tied the score and pinch hitter Charlie Sutherland followed with a two-run single. Seth Clausen got the final three outs to earn the save for the Gophers, who had 18 hits, including four by Merila.