Senior second baseman MaKenna Partain will return next season for a fifth year, the Gophers softball program announced Monday.
Partain, of Bend, Ore., was second on the team in batting average (.349), homers (four) and RBI (19) and first in doubles (seven), steals (six) and runs (22) while batting leadoff.
She is a two-time All-Big Ten selection and the fifth senior on this year's team to commit to returning next season after the NCAA granted spring sports athletes an extra year of eligibility because of the pandemic cutting their seasons short.
Two U golfers honored
Gophers golfer Angus Flanagan, a junior from Woking, England, was a unanimous pick for the All-Big Ten first team.
Teammate Connor Glynn, a freshman from Waconia, was picked for the second team.
Etc.
• Carleton's Alyssa Akiyama received the Division III Juli Inkster Award, presented to the senior golfer with the highest ranking in the nation. Akiyama averaged 74.2 strokes in winning three of five tournaments last fall, including the MIAC Championships for the second consecutive year with a record total of 220. She was ranked No. 4 by Golfstat.
• Tony Holcomb was named the coach of the St. Cloud Icebreakers girls' hockey team — a co-op team with players from St. Cloud Tech and Cathedral. Holcomb is a longtime youth coach and former high school assistant at Owatonna and Bloomington Jefferson. He replaces Mark Chambernick, who left to be AD at Warroad.
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