Ness, Dorniden are U athletes of the year

Wrestler Jayson Ness and track and field athlete Heather Dorniden were named the University of Minnesota's male and female Athletes of the Year, announced Monday night at the second annual Golden Goldys banquet at the Radisson University.

Along with the individual awards, men's golf and women's rowing were the teams of the year.

Ness followed his 2006-07 freshman season with a stellar sophomore campaign. Ness was the 2008 NCAA runner-up in the 125-pound weight class and earned his second-consecutive All-America honor. The Big Ten runner-up at 125, Ness went 39-2 for the season, including 21-0 in dual meets. The Bloomington native led the Gophers to a second-place Big Ten finish and a 10th-place finish in the NCAA meet.

Dorniden, of Inver Grove Heights, helped both the track and cross-country teams win Big Ten titles.

Rowing head coach Wendy Davis was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year and the Central Region Coach of the Year; Tubby Smith followed with the Best Men's Team Coach of the Year honors, after guiding the Gophers basketball team to the biggest season turnaround in school history.

• USA Hockey will conduct an eight-month residency program for its U.S. women's select team at the National Sports Center in Blaine starting in September. Tom Osiecki, a Gophers women's hockey assistant last season, will coach the team which includes eight Olympians and six Minnesotans.Former Gophers on the roster are Natalie Darwitz, Erica McKenzie and Anya Miller.

• Free public parking and shuttle service will be available for next month's U.S. Women's Open at Interlachen Country Club. Shuttle service will run daily from 6 a.m. until one hour after the conclusion of play June 23-29. Wheelchair accessible parking and shuttle service also will be available at Southdale Center.

• Nicole Ohlde and Vanessa Hayden-Johnson, two Lynx veterans, practiced with the team for the first time Monday.

• Mike Guentzel, the former Gophers men's hockey assistant coach, interviewed for the head coachnig job at St. John's in Collegeville, Minn., on Monday.

• Gophers freshman Hassan Mead edged teammate Chris Rombough to win section 2 of the 5,000-meter run at Stanford's Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational and in the process clocked an Olympic "B" Standard time.

• Dominique Massie-Martel has signed a letter of intent to swim for Minnesota. The Ottawa native is ranked second in Canada (under 18) in the 100 freestyle with a time of 50.29.

FROM STAFF REPORTS