Gophers gymnastics’ redshirt junior Maddie Quarles has competed only on vault throughout her collegiate career. However, Sunday evening, she got the opportunity to compete in a different event for the first time, and she did not disappoint.
9.900. That was the massive score Quarles scored in her collegiate debut on floor to help the No. 5 Gophers dominate Illinois Sunday evening en route to a 197.125-195.725 victory.
“She nailed it. It was awesome. She hasn’t trained floor consistently over the last few years and we really gave it a shot this year,” Hansen said. “Her tumbling is so big and so high. It was really fun to see her out there today.”
Outside of Quarles’ strong floor score, junior Halle Remlinger helped bolster the Gophers’ victory after scoring a career-high 9.925 on floor to win the event title.
Sunday’s win also marked the collegiate debuts for freshman Marissa Jencks, who scored a 9.800 on vault, and sophomore Gianna Gerdes, who competed for the first time on floor and beam.
In the win, the Gophers swept all five of the event titles. Each of their lineups also defeated all of Illinois’.
“We’re just really proud of how the team performed today. We had some new people step up and do a great job,” Hansen said. “Coming back from having the weekend off, we’re just really proud of how the team did.”
Fifth-year Lexy Ramler took home the all-around title after scoring a total of 39.575, highlighted by tying her career-best score of 9.975 on beam to win the event title, while fifth-year Ona Loper was just behind her with an all-around score of 39.500 and a vault title (9.900).
“They [Ramler and Loper] just keep doing what they do — being those steady rocks for our team,” Hansen said. “They had great days as well.”
Minnesota started the meet on bars as Loper and Ramler earned matching team-highs of 9.875s, tying Illinois’ Amelia Knight for the event title. Their fifth-year counterpart, Hannah Willmarth, helped boost the Gophers’ bars team, which totaled 49.075, as she scored 9.825.
Outside of Loper’s event-leading score and Jencks debut on vault, Ramler and Quarles scored matching 9.875s, while Gerdes tied her career-best score of 9.850 to round out Minnesota’s vault team that totaled 49.300.
As the meet progressed, the Gophers stayed hot as both their beam and floor teams totaled matching 49.375s.
Besides Remlinger’s career-high and Quarles’ collegiate debut on floor, Loper, Ramler and sophomore Emily Koch scored 9.875, 9.850 and 9.825, respectively, to round out the rotation.
Freshman Haley Tyson earned her career-best on beam after scoring 9.825. Outside of Ramler’s huge 9.975, Koch tallied a 9.875, while Loper and senior Abbie Nylin matched each other with 9.850s.
Minnesota has great depth this season. They will need their depth gymnasts when some of their best do not have their strongest meets.
“We knew our depth was one of our strengths this year as a team, really on every event,” Hansen said. “We’ve got people that can step in and score well. It was great for us to see that today. We put some new people in and they did a good job, and that gives us a lot of confidence going forward.”
The Gophers will return home next weekend when they host Ohio State on Saturday, Feb. 12, at 4 p.m. at Maturi Pavilion.
