On Thursday, May 31 Dagney Willey (Women’s Hockey), Nicole Carroll (Women’s Track), Kelsey Riggins (Women’s Track), Kyla Roehrig (Volleyball), and Kelly Fallon (Volleyball) dedicated their time as volunteers at a local track and field day. These athletes spent the afternoon helping Lyndale Elementary School run its annual Track and Field Day.

On Wednesday, May 23rd Colleen Powers (Softball), Leslie Knight (Women’s Basketball), and Tim Loeffler (Men’s Swimming) spoke to local students about the importance of staying tobacco free. As part of the Life Skills “Tobacco Free” Program, these athletes visited Oak Point Intermediate School to help educate young children in the dangers of nicotine and tobacco use. Tim Loeffler spoke highly of the experience saying, “It was great to be able to help teach kids the importance of developing a healthy lifestyle and making smart choices about tobacco.”

On Saturday, May 19th nearly 20 University of Minnesota athletes volunteered to participate in the Adaptive Sports Softball game. Among those who participated were football players Daron Love, Willie Dyson, Mike Sherels, Todd Meisel, and Justin Jensen and women’s track members Kelsey Riggins, Emily Brown, Kadian Douglas, Emily Hennen, Ariella DePrenger-Gottfried, Ekene Obi, and Lashawnda Dukes. Also joining in the effort were rowers Sarah Graham, Ali Fisher, Emily Baxter, and Christine O’Donnell as well as Dagney Willey and Rachel Drazan of women’s hockey and Colleen Powers of softball.

On Thursday, May 24th Mike Linnemann (Men’s Track), Colleen Powers (Softball), Leslie Knight (Women’s Basketball), and Dan Jackson (Wrestling) paid a visit to Roseville Area Middle School to speak with students about tobacco and drug use. As part of the Tobacco Free program, these athletes gave a short presentation covering the dangers of using nicotine and tobacco.

On May 10th newly named Head football Coach Tim Brewster led a group of more than twenty Golden Gopher athletes in volunteering at the local 2007 Boys and Girls Club of the Twin Cities’ Kids in the City Event. Held in Eden Prairie at the headquarters of the Minnesota Vikings, the event entertained local children by offering interactive games and activities, a silent auction, celebrity autographs, and a catered meal.

Golden Gopher student athletes represented several of the University’s athletic teams including Neel Allen, Dominique Barber, Patrick Cheney, Willie Dyson, Steve Moore, Mike Sherels, and Steve Shidell of football and Gigi Marvin, Anya Miller, Erica McKenzie, and Maggie Souba of women’s hockey. The volleyball team was represented by Meredith Nelson and Jessica Byrnes while Jamal Abu-Shamala, Ryan Saunders, Zoe Harper, Leslie Knight, and Emily Fox accounted for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Rounding out the group of Gopher volunteers were baseball players John Arlt and Taylor VanderAarde.

Monday, May 14th Natalie Darwitz (former Women’s Hockey and Olympian) spoke to middle school students at Oak Point Intermediate about her experiences with hockey and playing on two USA Olympic teams. Natalie is originally from Eagan, Minnesota. She made her first national team at the age of 15. She has a silver medal and a bronze medal from the two Olympic games that she has competed in and hopes to bring home a gold medal this next time around.

On Thursday, April 26th Lyndsey Mueller (Soccer), Rachel Drazan (Women’s Hockey), Bobbi Ross (Women’s Hockey), and Sara Clancy (Soccer) volunteered their time to interact with local preschoolers at Kinderberry Childcare. These University of Minnesota athletes spent the afternoon talking with the young children about their individual athletic experiences.

On Saturday, April 28th Leslie Knight (Women’s Basketball), Zoe Harper (Women’s Basketball), Castina Wabeke (Women’s Swimming), Rachel Drazan (Women’s Hockey), Bobbi Ross (Women’s Hockey), Whitney Graft (Women’s Hockey) helped brighten the day of local youths fighting cancer by spending the morning with them. Athletes watched movies with the children and spent time with their families.

On Friday, April 27th Ariella DePrenger-Gottfried (Women’s Track and Cross Country), Lindsay St. Martin (Women’s Swimming), Kelly Wilson (Women’s Track and Cross Country), Mike Torchia (Men’s Track and Cross Country), Elena Fruci (Soccer), Carlie Edwards (Soccer), Kaitlin Wagner (Soccer), Clare Grimwood (Soccer), Sara Johnson (Soccer), Luke Silovich (Men’s Track), Mike Linnemann (Men’s Track), Jenny Green (Soccer), and Sara Clancy (Soccer) teamed up to help local youths understand the importance of reading. These University of Minnesota athletes spen

Wrestling’s Cole Konrad and Volleyball’s Meredith Nelson garnered the Male and Female Athlete of the Year Award at the first annual Golden Goldys Student-Athlete Gala, at the Radisson Metrodome. Along with Konrad’s individual honor, the Wrestling team was named the Male Team of the Year, while the Women’s Ttrack & Field team was tabbed the Female Team of the Year.

Konrad defended his NCAA heavyweight title this year to lead the Gopher Wrestling team to its third National Championship in the last seven years. Konrad became the fifth wrestler in school history to win three individual Big Ten titles and the fifth athlete in school history to earn All-America status four times in his career. With an undefeated record of 35-0, Konrad finished his Gopher career winning his last 76 matches, a school record. He was named the Big Ten Wrestler of the Year for the second time as he guided the Gophers to their second straight Big Ten Championship. Konrad defeated Track’s Aaron Buzard, Hockey’s Alex Gologoski, Golf’s Bronson La’Cassie, and Football’s Matt Spaeth to win this honor.