Gophers Keep Winning

Just when the Gophers got done rearranging their trophy case to make room for the women's Big Ten Indoor trophy they earned last weekend, three Minnesota individuals delivered more hardware to the University.

Jumper Derek Gearman, thrower Liz Alabi, and women's coach Matt Bingle were honored by the Big Ten for their performances.

Gearman was named Big Ten Men's Field Athlete of the Championships. He helped the Gophers to a second-place team finish by scoring in three events. Gearman was second in the high jump at 7-1 3/4, third in the long jump at 24-7 1/4, and fifth in the triple jump with 50-6 1/4. He has provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in all three events.

Alabi was named Women's Field Athlete of the Year. At Big Tens she was crowned champion in both the shot put and the weight throw. Alabi threw 52-10 3/4 in the shot and 69-0 3/4 in the weight, setting career bests in both events. She has provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in both events.

Bingle, in his first year as the women's head coach, was named Coach of the Year for guiding his squad to its first-ever Big Ten Indoor Championship. Minnesota scored 121.5 total points, soundly defeating second-place Michigan with 108.5 points.