The fifth-ranked Gophers finished third overall and had three second-place individual finishes Sunday at the Big Ten wrestling meet in Evanston, Ill.

Penn State went 5-0 in title bouts and won its first Big Ten title with 139 points, one more than Iowa. The Gophers scored 109 1/2, six points ahead of Wisconsin.

Mike Thorn (141 pounds), Kevin Steinhaus (184) and heavyweight Tony Nelson paced the Gophers with runner-up finishes. In addition, two-time All-America Zach Sanders finished third at 125 pounds.

Cody Yohn (165) finished fourth, Sonny Yohn (197) and Scott Glasser (174) finished fifth, Danny Zilverberg (149) finished sixth and David Thorn (133) finished seventh in their weight classes. The Gophers earned nine automatic bids to the NCAA championships, which is in two weeks in Philadelphia.

Mike Thorn fell 8-4 in the 141 final to national No. 1 Kellen Russell of Michigan. Steinhaus, a redshirt freshman, lost 4-3 to Penn State's Quentin Wright, who was chosen the meet's outstanding wrestler. Nelson, also a redshirt freshman, lost 5-2 to Blake Rasing of Iowa.

WCHA ticket packages on sale Ticket packages for the first round WCHA playoff series between the Gophers and Alaska Anchorage this weekend at Mariucci Arena will go on sale at noon Monday. The best-of-three series starts at 7 p.m. Friday and tickets for all games cost $63.

To order tickets, go to www.mygophersports.com, the Mariucci Arena box office or call 612-624-8080. Any remaining single-game tickets will be made available at 5 p.m. Wednesday on the tickets website.

U drops title game to Oklahoma State The Gophers gave up 10 runs in the first five innings and lost 16-2 to Oklahoma State in the championship game of the Dairy Queen Classic in Tucson, Ariz.

The Gophers (4-5) scored in the bottom of the first inning on Nick O'Shea's sacrifice fly, but the Cowboys (8-3) went ahead 2-1 in the second, then broke it open with four runs each in the third and fifth innings.

Losing pitcher Austin Lubinsky gave up eight earned runs and 10 hits in four innings.

The Cowboys were led by tournament MVP Gabe Weidenaar, who went 4-for-6 with two doubles.

Matt Puhl's RBI single in the fifth drove in the other Minnesota run.

Etc. • Malisa Barnes went 3-for-4 and Alex Davis had four RBI for the Gophers in a 7-4 softball victory over Idaho State at the Wildcat Invitational in Tucson. The Gophers (11-8) went 4-1 in the tournament.