Sports Notebook
3/8/2006 1:30 PMTwo former Gopher gymnasts continue to excel, albeit in different venues. Guillermo Alvarez, who competed for the Gophers from 2002–05, earned a spot on the U.S. Men’s Senior National Team with a third place finish at the 2006 Winter Cup Challenge last month. The top six finishers qualified. Alvarez, who graduated in 2005, is still involved with the Minnesota program as a volunteer coach.
Alicia Opsahl Saari, a two-time all–Big Ten honoree and four-year varsity letterwinner for the Gophers (2001–04), won a role in Stick It, a film that follows a rebellious 17-year-old who is forced to return to the regimented world of elite gymnastics. She will play Lacey, one of the competitors at a gymnastics academy. The film stars Jeff Bridges and Missy Peregrym and is scheduled for release in April.
The entire 1980–81 Gopher women’s basketball team was inducted into the inaugural class of the Gopher Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame on January 21.
The 1980–81 Gophers still own the distinction of winning more games in a season than any other in Minnesota women’s basketball history. The roster contained three players—Linda Roberts, Debbie Hunter, and Laura Gardner—who finished their collegiate careers as 1,000-point scorers. Roberts’s career rebounding and Hunter’s career assists and steals remain on top of the Gopher record book. Minnesota finished that season with a record of 28–7 after losing to Jackson State in the AIAW National Tournament. The Big Ten did not sponsor women’s basketball until the following season.
Five individuals—all of whom already reside in the University M Club Hall of Fame—were also inducted: head coach Ellen Mosher Hanson (1977–87), Roberts (1977–81), Hunter (1977–81), Laura Coenen (1981–85), and Carol Ann (Shudlick) Smith (1990–94).
Gopher football legends Murray Warmath and Richard “Pinky” McNamara have been chosen to serve as honorary co-chairs of the “Back to Campus” football stadium fund-raising campaign. McNamara is also making a $1.25 million gift to the campaign. They will join overall campaign co-chairs John and Nancy Lindahl to raise private contributions for the new stadium.
Warmath, football coach from 1954–71, led the Gophers to a national championship in 1960, two Big Ten championships in 1960 and 1967, and two back-to-back Rose Bowl appearances, including a victory in 1962. McNamara, a successful businessman and former University Regent, played for Warmath from 1954-56. —Cynthia Scott
 | | | |  | | Quotebook | | “Minnesota was close, but it doesn’t help them that they don’t have an on-campus stadium. It’s not a football school. If I was a hockey player, Minnesota would be my first choice. They’re just not a big-time [football] program.”
—Nationally ranked offensive lineman Matt Carufel from Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul, explaining why he chose Notre Dame over Minnesota.
“Man, it was fun. I saw [Killingsworth] play against Duke, and he had like 32 points, so ever since then I’ve wanted to go at him. I’m glad I got the opportunity.”
—Gopher men’s basketball forward Zach Puchtel, who limited Marco Killingsworth, the Big Ten’s third leading scorer, to 15 points in the Gophers’ 61–42 upset of the Hoosiers on January 29. |
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