Gophers freshman Abigail Schaaffe was named the Big Ten women's track athlete of the week on Wednesday.

Schaaffe, a native of St. Mary, Jamaica, won the 400-meter hurdles (58.63 seconds) and anchored the winning 4x400 relay (3:38.40) at the Fighting Illini Big Ten Relays last weekend. Both those times are the best in the conference this season. Her hurdles time ranks eighth in program history.

Minnesota will host the program's lone home meet of this season Friday and Saturday at its track and field stadium. Competing in the M City Classic besides the Gophers will be Illinois, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

U women's tennis wins in Big Ten meet

Rachel Hanford defeated Laura Masic 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 at No. 1 singles for the deciding point in the Gophers 4-3 victory over Indiana in the first round of the Big Ten women's tennis tournament in Madison, Wis.

Minnesota (5-12), seeded 11th, will play No. 6 seed Penn State at noon Thursday in the second round.

Juliet Zhang and Zeyneb Sarioglan had straight set wins for the Gophers at No. 5 and 6 singles, respectively, and with the doubles point, Minnesota had a 3-0 lead before Indiana, the No. 14 seed, (1-16), rallied to tie the match.

Etc.

• Bloomington Jefferson graduate Ben Polland earned a berth in next month's PGA Championship by finishing fifth Wednesday in the PGA Professional Championship at Port St. Lucie, Fla. Polland, who played college golf at Campbell, had a four-round total of 3-under 284.

• Kate Smith, a fifth-year senior at Nebraska from Detroit Lakes, Minn., was named to the All-Big Ten first team in women's golf. She recently was the medalist in the Big Ten Championships.