U athletes set school record for spring grades

Despite a turbulent conclusion to the 2019-20 academic year because of COVID-19 health concerns, University of Minnesota student-athletes combined to average a school-record 3.65 GPA for the recent spring semester, according to information released Friday by the John & Nancy Lindahl Academic Center.

All of Minnesota's 23 programs carried a cumulative team GPA of 3.0 or better.

Because of the distance learning adjustment this semester, students could change their grading basis once they received their final grade for a course.

Many did to a satisfactory/non-satisfactory grading basis, which did not impact their GPA.

• The Big Ten Conference named 182 athletes in 10 programs at the university as Academic All-Big Ten selections for the spring and at-large seasons.

The Women's track and field team had the most honorees with 48.

A win by Drop of Golden Sun, a 5-year-old Minnesota bred gelding owned and trained by Tony Rengstorf, provided the largest win price ever in Canterbury Park's Thursday night Pick 5 wager, a five-race series in which no favorite won.

The resulting $56,264 payout for a 50 cent wager is a Canterbury Park record for this pool.

Two winners split the $124,041 pool with one of the winners placing the wager through Canterbury's curbside walk-up wagering. Canterbury's Pick 5 has an industry low 10% takeout.

• Trevor Mbakwe, a former Gopher, was named an assistant boys' basketball coach at Benilde-St. Margaret's.

• Sara Waters was named the Cretin-Derham Hall volleyball coach. Waters, who played the sport at Division II Augustana, was the coach at Nova Classical Academy.

• Anneliesse Bruns was named the coach for the Concordia (Moorhead) women's swimming and diving program. She was the aquatics manager at Concordia as well as the Moorhead High School boys' swimming and diving head coach from 2014-19.