The Gophers men's swimming and diving team was in fourth place with 54 points after the first day of the Big Ten championships at Wednesday in Bloomington, Ind.

Minnesota's 200 medley relay team of Luke Bushman, Jared Anderson, Sandy Whitaker and Derek Toomey came in at 1:26.41 to finish sixth. In the 800 free relay, Sean Nesheim, Ben Bravence, Logan Redondo and Hrvoje Capan placed fifth with a time of 6:25.60. Michigan led the championships with 80 points after setting meet records in both of Wednesday's events.

Handel's homer leads Gophers past NDSU Michael Handel atoned for an error that led to two unearned runs when he hit a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning as the Gophers rallied to beat North Dakota State 4-2. Handel added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI double. His first-inning error helped the Bison jump to a 2-0 lead on a double by Kirk Kenneally off Gophers starter Kyle O'Shea that drove in Tim Colwell and Jon Hechtner. Drew Ghelfi picked up his first victory of the season, pitching 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

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