Brett Pfarr and Ethan Lizak of the Gophers each won two matches Friday to advance to the finals of the NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis.
Pfarr, the second seed at 197 pounds, defeated Kollin Moore of Ohio State 13-9 in the semifinals. Lizak, the sixth seed at 125, beat Jack Mueller of Virginia 7-0.
Tommy Thorn at 141 and Michael Kroells at heavyweight also were still alive for Minnesota in Day 3 wrestlebacks.
Defending champion Penn State was ahead in the team competion with 121 points, and Ohio State was a distant second with 89.5.
The Nittany Lions' Mark Hall, a freshman from Apple Valley, was in the 174-pound final.
U softball sweeps
The No. 8 Gophers softball team swept host Pacific 10-0 and 12-1 Friday to finish its nine-games-in-nine-days road trip with a 7-2 record.
Tori Finucane, a senior transfer from Missouri, pitched a two-hitter in the shortened five-inning first game. She struck out seven in the Gophers' third consecutive shutout. Minnesota scored five runs in the first inning and five in the fifth.
In the second game, the Gophers (25-2) scored 10 runs in the third inning. Sydney Dwyer and Kendyl Lindaman both hit three-run homers. Dwyer has 40 RBI this season.
U diver wins
Senior Yu Zhou of the Gophers won the 3-meter diving event the NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday in Indianapolis. She had a score of 392.75; Zhou also won the event in 2015. Teammates Lexi Tenenbaum and Sarah Bacon placed fourth (362.00) and sixth (347.25), respectively.
The Gophers' Lindsey Horejsi, a freshman from Albert Lea, Minn., finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke (58.03 seconds). Minnesota is in seventh place with 134 points.
Ex-Vikings voice dies
Dan Rowe, the steady, likable Vikings radio play-by-play announcer during the team's playoff runs to the NFC title games in 1998 and 2000, died Friday morning after a long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Lou Gehrig's Disease, WCCO Radio reported Friday afternoon. Rowe became the voice of the Vikings in 1991 and worked through the 2000 season as the Vikings switched radio homes from WCCO to KFAN.
Etc.
• Northwestern of St. Paul football coach Kirk Talley resigned after 16 seasons as the Eagles coach. Talley, who had a 112-51 career record and was the UMAC coach of the year five times, accepted a position as the associate head coach and defensive coordinator at Warner University in Lake Wales, Fla. Assistant head coach and offensive coordinator Bryan Johnson was named interim head coach.
• Host Adrian edged Gustavus Adolphus 3-2 in overtime in the NCAA Division III hockey semifinals. Laura Johnson and Marina Chapman scored power-play goals for the Gusties.
