Coming off their best three scores in program history in as many meets, the Gophers gymnastics team finished in fourth place at the Big Ten Championships Saturday evening after scoring 196.725 behind No. 3 Michigan (198.200), No. 12 Michigan State (197.050) and No. 23 Iowa (196.950)
“There were a lot of really great things happening tonight. Unfortunately, we had some struggles on beam that kept us from having the meet we had hoped for,” Gophers head coach Jenny Hansen said. “Certainly, [there were] a lot of highlights and this just gives us an opportunity to reevaluate going into Regionals.”
Fifth-year Lexy Ramler led Minnesota as she finished in second place in the all-around (39.675) while earning a share for the Big Ten Bars and Beam Titles after scoring 9.950s. She rounded out her final Big Ten Championships with a 9.900 on floor and 9.875 on vault.
One of the best gymnasts to come through Minnesota’s program, Ramler, has seven individual Big Ten Championships event titles (two all-around, two bars, three beam). Her seven titles tie for the fourth-most in the conference and tie former Gopher Marie Roethlisberger for first in program history.
“She had a great night,” Hansen said of Ramler. “For her to finish [her career] with a couple more individual Big Ten Championships is much deserved.”
Alongside Ramler’s title shares, sophomore Mya Hooten took home a share of the floor title with a score of 9.950. She closed out her strong performance with another 9.950 on vault and tied her career-high of 9.875 on bars.
Minnesota’s floor team tied Michigan’s for the highest-scoring lineup in the 10-team championships with 49.575, which ties for the fifth-highest total in program history.
All five scoring floor routines scored over 9.900. Outside of Hooten, sophomore Gianna Gerdes scored a career-high 9.925, while Ramler, fifth-year Ona Loper and junior Halle Remlinger earned matching 9.900s.
“Knowing that every [woman] in your lineup can go 9.900, I think just gives them a ton of confidence on that event,” Hansen said of the floor team. “We think we are one of the best floor teams in the country, so that gives us a lot of confidence going into the postseason.”
Loper performed in the all-around alongside Ramler for the Gophers, where she finished in sixth place with 39.375. She matched her floor score of 9.900 on bars while adding 9.850 on vault and 9.725 on beam.
The Gophers’ bars team opened up the meet, scoring 49.525, which ties the third-best score in program history. Four of their five scoring routines earned 9.900 or better.
Outside of Ramler, Loper and Hooten’s scores on bars, fifth-year Hannah Willmarth tied her season-best at 9.900. At the same time, senior Tiarre Sales matched Willmarth and Loper, and Remlinger rounded out the lineup matching Hooten with 9.875, which ties her career-best.
With the beam team back to form in recent weeks, they struggled outside of Ramler’s conference-winning routine, totaling 48.225.
The total marks their second-lowest team score this season. Three routines scored in the 9.7s (sophomore Emily Koch, Loper, and senior Abbie Nylin), while two routines (Gerdes and Sales) saw mishaps that earned 9.900 and 8.675 from the judges.
Minnesota’s vault team closed out the meet as they collectively scored 49.400. Senior Maddie Quarles and Gerdes tallied 9.900 and 9.825 outside of the routines from Hooten, Loper and Ramler.
The Gophers will find out where they will compete when the NCAA Selection Show announces early next week which teams will compete and where for NCAA Regionals.
“We still have some opportunity to grow,” Hansen said. “We’ll put them in more pressure situations. We might be testing out different lineups. We’ll put our best team forward when it comes around to Regionals.”
