University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Opens 2015 with Victory
1/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
 | ||
 | Sports Pavilion January 11, 2015 | |
| 194.950 | 193.475 | |
Jan. 10, 2015
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Final Meet Results 
// 
Photo Gallery
MINNEAPOLIS - No. 17-ranked Minnesota opened its 2015 campaign with a victory over No. 25 Iowa State on Saturday evening at the Sports Pavilion with a final team score of 194.950. The Golden Gophers won each of the four events to overtake the Cyclones who posted a 193.475 in the first competition of the season.
In Jenny Hansen's head coaching debut, the Maroon and Gold excelled as juniors Lindsay Mable and Madeline Hanley as well as senior Jenny Covers stepped up to earn event titles for the Gophers. The Gophers led the Cyclones for the entirety of the meet.
Minnesota started with a strong showing on vault, tallying a team score of 48.725. Covers and Mable earned the top two spots with scores of 9.850 and 9.825 respectively. The Gophers earned four of the top six spots as Ciara Gardner and Bailie Holst contributed solid scores to the Maroon and Gold's total.
Hanley impressed on the uneven bars notching an impressive 9.875 to open the season. Her career-high score for the event was set on March 1, 2014 when the Gophers last met the Cyclones. Mable and Covers rounded out the top three posting scores of 9.850 and 9.825. Bailie Holst also earned a top-five score to help give the Gophers their highest team score of the meet with a 48.950.
The Maroon and Gold continued to dominate by posting an event total of 48.500 on the balance beam. Mable scored a 9.875 followed by Iowa State's Caitlin Brown and Alex Marasco. Hanley and junior Hanna Nordquist both earned a score of 9.700 to tie fourth place.
Minnesota capped off its first competition of the season with a team score of 48.775 on floor exercise led by Mable who earned her highest score of the meet (9.900). Covers tallied a 9.825 to finish in a tie for second-place with Iowa State's Haylee Young. Kaitlin Rahon also finished in the top-five with a score of 9.750.
After winning two event titles and finishing in second place in the other two events, Mable received the competition's all-around honors with a score of 39.450.
The Gophers will return to action on Thursday, Jan. 15 as they open Big Ten competition against conference newcomer, Maryland. The meet is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. CT and will be streamed live from College Park, Md. on BTN Plus. Minnesota will return home on Saturday, Jan. 17 to host No. 2 Oklahoma at 4 p.m. CT.
###
