The Augsburg wrestling team won five of its eight opening-round matches, including four by bonus-point margins, to stand in third place after the first day of the NCAA Division III national championships on Friday in La Crosse, Wis.

Augsburg trailed Wartburg (Iowa) and Wisconsin-La Crosse.

No. 1-ranked 149-pounder Tony Valek improved to 30-0 with a 9-1, major-decision victory over Mike Willey of Plymouth State (N.H.).

Concordia (Moorhead) was tied for 13th place, St. John's was in 11th and St. Olaf tied for 27th.

The top-ranked St. Cloud State wrestling team ended the first day of competition at the NCAA Division II Chapionships in second place with 41 total points from seven Huskies wrestlers. They trail Nebraska-Kearney.

Heavyweight Jake Kahnke won both of his matches Friday to improve to 35-2 this season and will face James Malechek of Wisconsin-Parkside in the semifinal.

Derek Skala (184 pounds) and Andy Pokorny (133) also won both their matches.

Minnesota State Mankato was in 13th place, Southwest Minnesota State was in 26th and Minnesota State Moorhead was tied for 34th.

Hassan Mead of the Gophers men's track team finished seventh overall in the 5,000 meters with a time of 13 minutes, 51.98 seconds at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, earning All-America honors.

David Pachuta ran a 1:49.02 to finish eighth in the 800 meter-race and qualified for Saturday's finals. Harun Abda ran a 1:49.17 to take 10th and Travis Burkstrand finished with a time of 1:50.29.

The Gophers softball team split two games at the Embassy Suites Classic at Florida Atlantic University. they beat Western Kentucky 1-0 in extra innings, then fell 4-3 to Providence. The Gophers moved to 15-5 on the season.

Against the Toppers, the game was scoreless until the ninth inning. Erika Smyth was placed on second, was sacrificed to third, then scored on a swingin bunt by Tyler Walker. In the bottom of the ninth, Erica Meyer caught a sacrifice fly in left field and threw out Shawna Salder at home.

• Gophers divers Kris Jorgensen finished in seventh place in 1-meter diving while Mikey Ross came in ninth on the second day of NCAA Zone diving at the University of Iowa Campus Recreation and Wellness Pool. Both will compete Saturday in platform diving on the final day of competition.

• The Minnesota State Mankato men's track team was in 17th place after the first four events of the NCAA Division II indoor track and field championships being held in Mankato. Augustana was in fourth place. On the women's side, Winona State was in 15th place after four events.

• The Gophers men's tennis team beat Drake 5-2 at the Rochester Athletic Club in Rochester. Rok Bonin, Leandro Toledo, Julian Dehn and Mathieu Froment won their singles matches, while in doubles, the teams of Bonin/Dehn, Phillip Arndt/Jack Hamburg and Toledo/Eric Frueh swept the doubles matches.

• The defending North American Soccer League champion Stars FC finished their first preseason road trip with two games against the Chicago Fire. The Stars fell 3-1 to the Fire's first team and tied 1-1 with the Fire reserves. The Stars open the regular season at home on April 7.