Kaitlyn Long won the weight throw to become only the second national champion in Gophers women's track and field history on Saturday at the NCAA Indoor Championship in College Station, Texas.
Long's winning mark of 76 feet, 5½ inches came on her sixth and final throw after being in fifth place; she won by a half-inch. Heather Dorniden, the 2006 indoor 800-meter champion, is the program's other national champion.
Long, who transferred from Winona State for her senior year, was a two-time NCAA Division II national champion. She won the weight throw in 2015 and 2016 with the Warriors.
Arizona State's Maggie Ewen, a senior from St. Francis, was fourth (73-½) in the weight throw after winning the shot put the day before.
U baseball loses
The Gophers baseball team lost to Creighton 7-3 on Saturday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Bluejays broke a 3-all tie with two runs in the eighth inning and two in the ninth.
Ben Mezzenga was 3-for-4 for the Gophers (10-6) and Jack Wassel 2-for-4 with one RBI.
Minnesota starter Nick Lackney pitched five innings, giving up three runs on seven hits. Reliever Jackson Rose took the loss, giving up two runs and one hit in two-thirds of an inning.
U softball sweeps
The Gophers softball team won twice in the GCU Invitational in Phoenix.
