Minnesota Scene: Gophers win seven wrestling title at Daktronics meet

The Gophers wrestling team won seven titles and had 17 wrestlers place in the top three Sunday at the season-opening Daktronics Open in Brookings, S.D.

"I was happy with the effort from the team today," head coach Brandon Eggum said. "Our energy was good when we wrestled. I thought that the guys had good passion, and it looked like they were having fun out there."

Sean Russell (125 pounds), Ethan Lizak (133), Mitch McKee (141), Steven Bleise (149), Carson Brolsma (165), Dylan Anderson (197) and Gable Steveson (heavyweight) won their weight classes.

Skyler Petry (125), Hunter Marko (141), Tommy Thorn (149), Jake Allar (165), Devin Skatzka (174), Owen Webster (184) and Rylee Streifel (heavyweight) all recorded runner-up finishes.

The Gophers resume their season with a dual Friday night at Air Force.

Minnesota State Mankato won its third consecutive NSIC women's soccer championship and automatic NCAA Division II tournament berth with a 1-0 victory over fourth-seeded Minot State in Mankato.

Dakota Wendell scored her 15th goal of the season, off a setup from tournament MVP Morgan Cottew in the 60th minute, and goalie Alexa Rabune earned her third shutout of the tournament for the Mavericks (18-2-1).

Two-time defending national champion Concordia (St. Paul) tied for third in the NSIC with Southwest Minnesota State and will be the fourth seed in this week's conference volleyball tournament.

The Golden Bears (22-7, 16-4) will play fifth-seeded Sioux Falls on Tuesday at the Gangelhoff Center. Concordia lost its finale Saturday night to Wayne State.

Minnesota Duluth shared the conference title with Northern State but earned the top seed because it beat the Wolves twice in the regular season. Wayne State is seeded sixth, followed by Minnesota State Mankato, Upper Iowa and St. Cloud State.

The top four seeds will host first-round matches, with the higher seeds hosting the later rounds. Semifinals will be Friday, with the championship match Saturday.

Justyn Levin and Eli Ogilvy took the Maroon Team Draw Championship with a victory over DePaul, capping a 4-0 weekend for the men's tennis duo at the Gopher Invitational at the Baseline Tennis Center.