Jesse Bull of Golden Valley Golf and Country Club shot his second consecutive 2-under 70 to take a two-shot lead after the second round of the Minnesota Golf Association State Amateur Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club.
With his 140 total, Bull, the 2014 champion, vaulted ahead of first round co-leaders Van Holmgren of Baker National GC, second at 142, and Jacques Wilson of Chaska Town Course, third at 143.
Ex-Gopher Ben Greve of Olympic Hills was fourth at 144.
RB commits to Gophers
The Gophers received a verbal commitment over the weekend from three-star athlete Cameron Wiley of Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas. Wiley, 6-2 and 191 pounds with 4.56-second speed in the 40-yard dash, projects as a running back in college.
Wiley had offers from 12 other schools, including Arizona, Oregon, Utah and Washington State of the Pac-12, along with TCU, BYU and Kansas. Wiley's pledge gives the Gophers 20 verbal commitments for the Class of 2019, and coach P.J. Fleck's class ranks 24th nationally and sixth in the Big Ten in the 247Sports.com composite rankings of major national recruiting services.
• Gophers senior running back Rodney Smith was named to watch list for the Maxwell Award (college football's player of the year), while junior linebacker Thomas Barber was named to the watch list for the Bednarik Award (defensive player of the year).
• Gophers senior kicker Emmit Carpenter was named one of 169 nominees for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. The award celebrates student-athletes who dedicate themselves to community service.
• Smith, Barber and junior linebacker Carter Coughlin, along with Fleck, will represent the Gophers at Big Ten football media days Monday and Tuesday in Chicago.
Olympian back home
Two-time Olympian Alise Post Willoughby will return to her home track, St. Cloud's Pineview Park BMX, to race in the Land O'Lakes Nationals Friday through Sunday.
Post Willoughby, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist and 10-time U.S. champion, is No. 1 in the national rankings in the women's pro class.
BMX riders from several countries are expected to compete at the event, which includes races for men and women at the pro and amateur levels and in multiple age groups.
Races start at 1 p.m. Friday, 11:30 a.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. Sunday.
Rachel Blount
Etc.
• Andover named Blake Nichols its girls' basketball coach. Nichols, who played college basketball at Bethel, was New Prague boys' coach last season. Nichols replaces Robb Belschner, who resigned after five seasons and two state tournament appearances.
• Centennial girls' hockey coach Kristina King resigned after five seasons as the Cougars coach. Centennial was the Class 2A runner-up last season.
• St. John's named Reed Fujan its swimming and diving coach. The 2017 graduate of Notre Dame served as a volunteer assistant at Indiana last season.
• Derick Lyngholm, the women's soccer coach at Bethany Lutheran in Mankato, will coach the men's team starting with the 2019 season after Rob Pipal's retirement.
