Top-seeded Brett Pfarr's second-place finish Sunday was the best for the Gophers wrestling team, which placed fifth at the Big Ten Championships in Bloomington, Ind. Pfarr and eight Gophers teammates will advance to the NCAA meet March 16-18 in St. Louis, the largest Gophers contingent at the national meet since 2014.

"I thought we wrestled a good tournament, but today was a tough day because we lost some close ones," Gophers coach Brandon Eggum said Sunday. "Over the weekend, each of our guys won some matches, showed some heart and showed some fight, but everyone is still disappointed. Everyone's goal was to win an individual Big Ten title."

Pfarr got to the 197-pound final after winning three major decisions before losing 15-11 to Ohio State's Kollin Moore, only the second loss for Pfarr this season.

After a last-second loss in Saturday afternoon's quarterfinals, Ethan Lizak rebounded to win four straight matches to close out a 5-1 run to third place at 125. Heavyweight Michael Kroells reached the Big Ten third-place bout for the second straight year, rebounding from a loss to 2016 Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder of Ohio State to win 4-0 over Collin Jensen of Nebraska, before losing 2-0 to Nick Nevills of Penn State for a fourth-place finish.

Joining Pfarr, Lizak and Kroells at nationals will be Mitch McKee (133 pounds), Bobby Steveson (184), Chris Pfarr (174), Tommy Thorn (141), Jake Short (157) and Nick Wanzek (165).

Gophers rally, finish sweep at LSU tourney

The Gophers softball team overcame a rain delay and a one-run deficit going into the sixth inning to beat Ilinois State 7-3 in their finale at the LSU Tournament in Baton Rouge, La.

The Gophers (18-0) trailed 3-2 in the sixth before tying it on Sam Macken's RBI single and taking the lead on Kendyl Lindaman's base hit. They added three runs in the seventh.

Bemidji State advances

Bemidji State scored two goals 34 seconds apart early in the first period and beat Northern Michigan 3-1 in the finale of their WCHA playoff series. The Beavers (22-14-3) will host Bowling Green in the next round.

U baseball wins

The Gophers won 6-3 over Iowa in the finale of the DQ Classic at U.S. Bank Stadium.The Gophers (6-4) gave up a three-run homer in the first inning but tied it in a three-run third before going ahead for good on Jordan Smith's homer in the fourth.