Gophers sophomore Justin Karstadt was honored as Big Ten Co-Gymnast of the Year along with Ohio State's Jake Martin, the league office announced Monday.
"This is truly a great honor for Justin and the entire Gopher program," coach Mike Burns said.
During the regular-season finale at Nebraska, Karstadt became only the fourth gymnast in the nation to break an 87.000 mark on all-around, and the first in the Big Ten. His 87.050 was a personal record.
The Toronto native has won nine event titles and has placed in the top three 20 times this season. He is ranked No. 2 in the conference on all-around, and No. 7 in the country, just behind Martin. In addition to all-around, Karstadt, a member of the Canadian national team, also is ranked in the top 10 nationally on pommel horse and rings.
The Gophers will compete in the Big Ten championships Friday and Saturday in Champaign, Ill., looking for their first conference title since 1995.
It's Lindaman again
For the third week in a row, Gophers catcher Kendyl Lindaman was named Big Ten softball freshman of the week.
In three games at Illinois, she had three home runs, eight RBI and a slugging percentage of 2.000. She is hitting .404 with a team-high 11 homers.
The Gophers have won six out of eight possible Big Ten weekly freshman awards. Lindaman has won four and MaKenna Partain two.
