University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Michigan
Epic Comeback Punches Gophers' B1G Ticket
3/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
MINNEAPOLIS - The No. 20 University of Minnesota women's gymnastics team finished third overall at the Minneapolis Big Five qualifier to advance to the second session of the Big Ten Championships next weekend. The Gophers, who tallied a final score of 196.450, battled back from a shaky first rotation to narrowly edge No. 25 Iowa on Saturday afternoon.
No. 5 Michigan claimed the Big Ten Championship with their win on Saturday evening. The Wolverines earned a 197.000 followed by Penn State in second place with a score of 196.650. The top three teams, including Michigan, Penn State and Minnesota will compete at the Big Ten Championships alongside Illinois, Nebraska and Ohio State next Saturday in the afternoon session that beings at 3:30 p.m. CT live on the Big Ten Network.
The Gophers began the meet with an uncharacteristically unstable team performance on the balance beam as the Maroon and Gold encountered two falls. Junior Madeline Hanley led the Golden Gophers on the event with a score of 9.850 which allowed the Danielsville, Pa. native to finish in a four-way tie for fifth place on the apparatus. Fellow junior Hanna Nordquist returned to the balance beam line up after being absent for the past few weeks and earned the second highest Gopher score of the evening finishing in a two-way tie for ninth place as she tallied a 9.825. As a team, the Gophers entered a 48.575 for their first team score of the evening.
Minnesota had to wait a full rotation on the bye before they could return to the floor for competition in the third rotation.
After a fall in the first rotation, junior Lindsay Mable came out of the bye on fire as she tallied a 9.925 to lead the Maroon and Gold on floor exercise and earn her first event title of the evening. Senior Cierra Tomson tied a career-high 9.900 to earn a third place finish. Freshman Kaitlin Rahon recorded a 9.775 for the third highest Gopher score. The squad would head into their third event of the evening after combining for a 48.975.
The Maroon and Gold continued its comeback with a season-high team performance on vault where all six Gophers tallied a 9.800 or above. Mable led the way with a season-high 9.950 followed by senior Jenny Covers who entered a season-high of her own with a 9.925. Mable earned her second event title of the evening, finishing in a three-way tie for first place with Michigan's Nicole Artz and Schai Sugiyama. Covers finished in fourth place while Tomson and sophomore Rachel Haines tied for ninth. The team's 49.450 on vault is the highest team score of the season.
Minnesota would close the final stanza of its epic comeback with a program-best team performance on the uneven bars led by seniors Covers and Tomson who both scored a 9.925 to win the event title for the Gophers. The team score allowed the Gophers to collect their lone team title of the evening and helped Minnesota narrowly edge Iowa to advance to the afternoon session of the Big Ten Championships. Mable and Hanley had the next highest scores for the Gophers as they both turned in a score of 9.875 to end the evening.
With two event titles on the evening, Mable has now won 27 on the season to break her recorded-setting 25 earned just a year ago.
Fans can watch the Minneapolis Big Five qualifier on the Big Ten Network on Sunday, March 15 at 2:30 p.m. CT.
Next weekend the Maroon and Gold will travel to the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. to compete for the conference title at the Big Ten Championships. The Gophers will participate in the second session of competition which will begin at 3:30 p.m. CT and can be watched live on the Big Ten Network.
Players Mentioned
