Under ideal weather conditions, the 13th Annual Williams Fund Golf Outing was held at the Albert Lea Country Club Monday.

The annual event is a fundraiser for scholarships for University of Minnesota men’s and women’s athletics. Recipients of scholarships must be on the B honor roll or better.

“Approximately $ 105,000 has been raised for scholarships in the past 12 years at this event in Albert Lea, and this year’s event should be about $10,000,” said committee member Larry Petersen. “All food, beverages, etc., are donated by local businesses.”

There were 14 U of M staff members, coaches and athletes in attendance, of which 10 participated in the four-man best shot golf event. The athletes present were women’s discus thrower Nicole Kopari from Thief River Falls and men’s basketball player Jeff Hagen from Minnetonka.

&uot;We will do real well during the 2003-04 basketball season,” said Hagen, a 6-foot-11 junior center. “In the past few seasons we had weaknesses in certain team areas and these have been addressed and improved.”‘

Hagen started playing basketball in the third grade and graduated from Hopkins High School.

“I always was a Gopher basketball fan and dreamed of playing college basketball at the U of M,” said Hagen.

The U of M was ranked seventh among all Division I schools in all sport categories during the 2001-02 season and will be in the top 10 for the 2002-03 season.

Committee members of the Albert Lea Williams Fund Golf Outing included Dave Christensen, Keith Fligge, Casey Swenson, Lee Prochnow, Peterson, John Miner, Stan Thompson and Gerry Rasmussen.