Gophers Weekend Quick Hits

Jan 27, 2023 - 5:10 PM

Welcome to Weekend Quick Hits—a look at other other Gophers action happening this weekend other than the basketballs and hockey's of the world. Plenty of Minnesota teams are in action and here is a quick preview of it all and how you can catch the action.

Wrestling:

The Minnesota Gophers wrestling team hosts their Senior Day on Saturday afternoon when they host #18 Illinois at the Pav at 1PM. Minnesota is coming off of a pair of wins over Illinois and Purdue last weekend. The #11 ranked Gophers will honr eight graduates who have either used up their eligibility or have not determined if they will come back form a final 5th season next year. They include: Jake Bergeland, Michael Blockhus, Michial Foy, Jake Gliva, Keaton Kluever, Jared Krattiger, Bailee O’Reilly, and Marcos Polanco.

Illinois will bring in several ranked wrestlers and the dual could see as many as 17 ranked wrestlers and seven ranked matchups throughout the dual. The most anticipated matches on Saturday include Minnesota’s #15 Aaron Nagao against Illinois’ two-time NCAA All-American # 10 Lucas Byrd at 133 pounds. Jake Bergeland will look to win at 141 pounds against a top-10 ranked Danny Pucino. Either Andrew Sparks or Cael Carlson will look for a ranked win at 165 pounds for Minnesota against # 19 Danny Braunagel. Bailee O’Reilly will look to halt #10 Edmond Ruth’s 20-match win streak. at 174 pounds. Isaiah Salazar will look for his eleventh win in a row against ranked foe Dylan Connell at 184 pounds and at 197 pounds, Michial Foy will battle #10 10 Zac Braunagel.

The action will begin at 1PM and will air live on BTN.

Women’s Track:

The Gophers will host their biggest home meet of the year in the U of M Fueldhouse with the Jack Johnson Classic this weekend. Most of the action begins at 9:30 Saturday but Friday will feature competition in the pentathlon and heptathlon as well as the women’s pole vault. It’s been a great indoor season this far for the Gophers as they are ranked # 1 in the Midwest Regional USTFCCCA rankings that came out this past week. Individually the Maroon and Gold have six top 30 marks in the NCAA this season and have six different marks that are inside the Big Ten’s top three so far this season. Nyalaam Jok (high jump) and Amira Young (60m, 200m) both have the best height and or time in the conference so far this season in their events.

Admission is free to the meet this weekend. Live results can be found HERE.

Gymnastics:

The Gopher gymnastics team heads to Iowa for their first road Big Ten meet of the season Friday night. The Gophers and Hawkeyes will face off at 6:30 Friday night with the action streamed live on BTN+.

Minnesota opened the conference season last weekend with a home victory over Penn State 196.225 to 195.525. Minnesota junior Mya Hooten earned Big Ten Event Specialist of the Week for her performance against Penn State, scoring 9.900 on vault, 9.925 on bars and 9.950 on floor. Minnesota now ranks #18 in the nation in the RoadToNationals rankings after week three. By event, the Gophers rank No. 18 on beam, No.13 on bars and No. 9 on floor.

Swimming and Diving:

The Gophers mens and women’s swim and dive teams are back in the pool this weekend in a large Big Ten Quad meet for the women and Tri meet for the men. Northwestern will host the meet that features Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue and Iowa on the women’s side and the Gophers, Northwestern and Purdue on the men’s side.

Both the Gopher men and women are ranked #25 in the nation in the most recent poll. The Minnesota women enter the meet 6-1 in duals this year (2-1 B1G), including a 218-82 victory over Iowa in November. The Gopher men are 4-1 in dual meets, though 0-1 in Big Ten action following a loss at Wisconsin in early November.

Friday’s schedule begins at 5 p.m. The event schedule for the opening day consists of the 200 medley relay, 1000 free, 200 free, 100 back, 100 breast, 200 fly, 50 free, 200 IM, 800 free relay, men’s 1-meter diving and women’s 3-meter diving.

Saturday’s action begins at 11 a.m. with the200 free relay, 400 IM, 100 free, 200 back, 100 fly, 500 free, 200 breast, 400 free relay, women’s 1-meter and men’s 3-meter. No streaming coverage is available.

Women’s Basketball:

The Gophers host #13 Michigan at the Barn on Sunday afternoon at 2PM. Minnesota enters the weekend with a 9-11 record and 2-7 in Big Ten play. The game will stream live on BTN+

Tennis:

The Gopher tennis team begins the spring portion of their season this weekend with the ITA Kickoff at Oklahoma. The Sooners are ranked #17 in the nation and have played in five matches in January while the Gophers have not seen the court since November. Action will begin at 3PM Saturday and Sunday from Norman and can be streamed for free HERE.

Good luck to the Gophers in action this weekend.