U women's, men's teams fare almost completely opposite over weekend

Like following a women's sports team at the U of M? Your probably a happy fan today. Your team won. Maybe in dramatic fashion.

Or do you follow a Gophers men's team? You're probably a little down today. Your team lost.

Here's a look at the highlights and lowlights of this past odd weekend:

Women's hightlights:

1. Swimming and diving team. Gophers became first women's program at U to win four consecutive Big Ten titles when they finished strong in the conference meet at Columbus, Ohio. Junior Kierra Smith won two breaststroke titles, sophomore diver Yu Zhou won the 1- and 3-meter events. Indiana took the lead briefly on last day, but Gophers splashed ahead.

2. Softball team. Went 5-0 in Diamond Devil Invitational in Tempe, Ariz. One win was 4-1 over host Arizona St., ranked No. 19. Gophers were No. 15, could move up couple spots after improving record to 13-1. Their start matches the best-ever in program history, which was last season. Gophers have top three hitters in Big Ten as judged by batting average.

3. Basketball team. Gophers beat Michigan 91-88 in 2 OTs at Barn for first five-game win streak in nine years. Three players had 20 points or more -- Amanda Zahui B. 27, Shae Kelley 23 and Carlie Wagner 21 -- for only fifth time in program history. And Zahui had 27 rebounds, which would have been a Big Ten record except that she broke the record the game before, getting 29 against Iowa last Tuesday.

4. Hockey team. Swept Bemidji State 3-2 and 4-2. Win on Friday came on a goal with under two minutes in the third period by Rachael Bona. Beavers had been 1-0-1 this season vs. Gophers, so this road sweep couldn't be taken for granted.

5. Gymnastics. Gophers beat Iowa State in Ames on Friday and three small-college teams -- Winona State, Hamline and Gustavus -- on Sunday. Junior Lindsay Mable won all-around in both meets, so her streak of all-around titles in a row grows to nine.

Low spots: Tennis team lost to Dartmouth 6-1, in between wins over Drake 5-2 and South Dakota St. 7-0. ... Gophers won only four of the 18 track and field events in the Parents' Day Open.

Men's lowlights:

1. Wrestling. Gophers' string of National Duals titles in a row ended at three when the lost to Cornell 19-17 in quarterfinals in Iowa City. Dylan Ness, unbeaten and ranked No. 1 at 157, also loses his first match of the season.

2. Baseball. Playing on their second weekend of the season, the Gophers go 0-4 against national power Texas. They lose first game 13-2, then get shut out in next three games, 5-0, 5-0, 8-0. Not good for the psyche.

3. Basketball. Richard Pitino's club falls to No. 5 Wisconin 63-53. The loss was not surprising, but a win could have helped the Gophers' postseason chances.

4. Hockey. The Gophers got a split at Penn State when they really needed a sweep. Won first game 2-1, but lost second 4-3 in overtime. It was first loss ever to Nittany Lions and created a logjam at top of Big Ten standings with four teams within two points at the top. Also their seven-game unbeaten streak came to an end (6-0-1).

5. Tennis. After a 7-1 start to their season, Gophers lost to Vanderbilt 4-3 and to Harvard 5-2.

Bright spots: Gymnast Ellis Mannon won the pommel horse competition in the Winter Cup Challenge -- a huge event for college, postcollege and junior gymnasts -- in Las Vegas. ... Gophers won 10 track and field events in Snowshoe Open, last home meet of indoor season.