A sore wrist and an injured arm didn’t stop junior Zach Liebler from leading the Gophers to a season-high victory Saturday night.
Liebler had the highest individual score in No. 5 Minnesota’s match with No. 7 Nebraska — a 15.800 on the floor exercise. Behind the Pine Island, Minn., native, the Gophers scored a record 75.500 on the floor and defeated the Cornhuskers 435.150-428.100.
“As their belief in their own ability starts to kick in and they start performing what I know they’re capable of and they start seeing what they can do, it’s kind of a snowball effect,” head coach Mike Burns said. “It’s just fun to be a part of right now. They’re an exciting group of guys.”
Lieber’s performance put the Gophers in the lead despite an issue with a skill in last weekend’s routine.
“I thought it went well for the team as a whole and myself personally,” Liebler said. “[The skill] kind of hurt my arm, and this week it was bugging me. That was the first time I’ve done it since last Saturday, and it went well, and I was able to finish my floor routine well.”
Sophomore Alex Wittenberg took third place in the event with the third-highest score of the meet, a 15.500.
The Gophers fell behind on the pommel horse, but senior Paul Montague won the still rings with a score of 14.600.
Freshman Justin Karstadt won the vault with a score of 15.050, and Liebler took second with a 14.950.
The team scored a season-high 72.850 on the parallel bars before sophomore Jalon Stephens closed out the meet with a winning score of 14.850 on the high bar.
“We had a couple of misses tonight, but we were able to spread them out over the course of the whole meet pretty well,” Burns said. “There were a few stumbles, but overall, there aren’t too many areas where we need to spend a lot of time going back to the drawing board.”
Women defeat Ohio State
Senior Lindsay Mable’s all-around title and junior Bailie Holst’s career-high score in the uneven bars helped the No. 18 Gophers defeat Ohio State 196.075-194.900 on Saturday at St. John Arena.
The victory marks Minnesota’s fourth this season, remaining undefeated.
Mable earned the all-around crown with a total score of 39.150. She was followed by sophomore Ciara Gardner, who finished second with a 39.025.
Holst won the team’s first event of the day, the uneven bars, with a career-high score of 9.975. It was also the Gophers’ highest individual score of the day.
Senior Madeline Hanley took second in the event with a 9.875.
“Our bars [were] great tonight, and we need to show that consistency more in our upcoming meets,” head coach Jenny Hansen said.
Sophomore Abby DeMuse took second on the vault, scoring 9.850, and won the floor exercise with a score of 9.875.
Mable tied for first place on the beam with a 9.900, her highest individual score of the day.
“Our goal is to get better each and every week, and we are doing just that,” Hansen said. “It was our first meet on the road this year, and they adjusted well and really stayed together well as a team.”