Antonio Montero, who led Eden Prairie to the Class 6A football state championship and was the Star Tribune's Metro Player of the Year in 2017, announced via Twitter that he has committed to Rice.

"I want to thank my teammates, the EPHS coaching staff/faculty, and every person that believed in me throughout this process,'' Montero tweeted. "… #RiceUniversity #Committed''

Montero who played both running back and linebacker for Eden Prairie, along with kicker and punter, projects as a linebacker in college. He led the Eagles with 105 tackles, including 14 for loss, and recovered three fumbles. On offense, he scored 24 touchdowns and kicked six field goals and 52 extra points. He was named Minnesota's Mr. Football by the state coaches association.

Montero, who visited Rice on Jan. 20, also had scholarship offers from Air Force, San Diego State and North Dakota State. Montero, who has a three-star ranking from 247Sports.com, was recruited by the Gophers as a preferred walk-on.

Randy Johnson

Three at U to watch

Three Gophers were named to USA Softball's 50-player watch list for Collegiate Player of the Year on Wednesday.

The three are sophomore catcher Kendyl Lindaman, the Big Ten player of the year last season; junior outfielder Maddie Houlihan and senior third baseman Danielle Parlich, both first team All-Big Ten picks a year ago.

•Fastpitch News ranked the Gophers No. 5 in its preseason national rankings.

16 quarter horse stakes

Canterbury Park announced Wednesday that it will hold 16 stakes races for quarter horses during the 2018 season, highlighted by the $165,000 Mystic Lake Northlands Futurity and the Quarter Horse Derby, with a purse expected to top $75,000, on July 8.

Quarter horse races will run from May 19 to Sept. 2 for total purses of $1.8 million, the most in the Shakopee track's history, including stakes purses of $665,000.

Rachel Blount

Auggie honored

Augsburg defenseman Taral Clayton was named to D3hockey.com's team of the week. She had a hat trick and two assists in the Auggies' 9-1 win over St. Olaf last Saturday. The senior from Anchorage, Alaska, had one career goal.