University of Minnesota Athletics
Players Mentioned
Meet Preview: Minneapolis Regional
4/5/2018 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
April 5, 2018
| Minnesota Hosts NCAA Regionals | |||||||||||
| Date | Saturday, April 7 (4:00 p.m. with doors open at 2:30 p.m.) | ||||||||||
| Location | Maturi Pavilion | Minneapolis, Minn. | ||||||||||
| Tickets | Sold Out | ||||||||||
| Live Stream | BTN2Go (Free) | ||||||||||
| Live Stats | |||||||||||
| Championship Central | Click Here | ||||||||||
| Social Media | @GopherWGym | Facebook | Instagram | ||||||||||
Championship Central
The No. 24 Gophers host No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 12 Kentucky, No. 13 Denver, Iowa and Iowa State this Saturday at 4 p.m. for the NCAA Regionals.
Minnesota has already smashed a women's gymnastics postseason record at the Maturi Pavilion as this meet is sold out. Doors will open to the public at 2:30 p.m. The meet will be streamed for free on BTN2Go.
All-around competitors at the Minneapolis Regional will be Lisa O'Donnell (UW-Whitewater), Tori Erickson (UW-Eau Claire), Brooke Terry (UW-Stout) and Samantha Wiekamp (UW-La Crosse). Individual event specialists will be loaded with representatives from Utah State. On vault will be USU's Mikaela Meyer and Madison Ward. Beam will see Autumn Deharde and Emily Briones from USU. Bars will have USU's Brittany Jeppesen and Air Force's Anna Salamone. Ward and Deharde will also be representing USU on floor.
There will be two open practice sessions tomorrow that the public can attend at the Maturi Pavilion.
1:15 P.M. - Iowa, Iowa State, Denver (Individuals for Wis.-Stout, Utah State, Air Force)
4 P.M. - Minnesota, Kentucky, Oklahoma (Individuals for Wis.-La Crosse, Wis.-Eau Claire, Wis.-Whitewater, Utah State)
The Gophers are also encouraging fans to join for a sendoff at the Courtyard Marriot downtown on Saturday.
Send the #Gophers off in style before regionals this Saturday! Rumor has it that @GoldytheGopher will be there. It's going to be LIT! #SkiUMah #LoveTheBattle pic.twitter.com/Gf9ETUvJRQ
-- Minnesota W Gym (@GopherWGym) April 4, 2018
Host sites for Regionals along with Minneapolis include Columbus, Raleigh, Salt Lake City, State College and Tuscaloosa. Advancing from regional competition to the national championships will be a total of 12 teams and 12 all-around competitors and event specialists. The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team) from each regional will receive an automatic berth to the national championships. In addition, the event winners at each regional will advance to the national championships (in that event only) if they are not part of a qualifying team or an all-around qualifier.
Any other questions you may have can probably be answered by a visit to our Championship Central page here.
Gopher Tidbits
This is the 23rd straight year that Minnesota has qualified for NCAA Regionals. The last time they hosted a regional was in 2016 when they advanced to the NCAA Championships. The Gophers finished the season ranked No. 24 with a 196.250 RQS and a season high of 196.675. They have been hot on bars as of late and are ranked No. 10 with a 49.300 RQS.
Lexy Ramler was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Ivy Lu became the Gophers first B1G bars champion since 2002. They were both named regular season All-Americans by the NACGCW. Ramler received First-Team honors on beam and Second-Team honors on both all-around and bars while Lu notched First-Team honors on bars.
Ramler, Lu and Hannah Hitchcock were all named to All-B1G Team with Ramler and Lu earning First-Team honors and Hitchcock receiving a Second-Team nod.
Minnesota posted a 196.225 for sixth place at the B1G Championships. The meet was tight all the way to the end with third through sixth separated by just four tenths. Ramler took fourth place out of 20 all-around gymnasts in the B1G Championship all-around with a 39.375. Lu tied for the bars title with a 9.950 and Paige Williams took fourth on both vault and floor.
Bars has been on fire as of late for the Gophers. Three meets ago they tied the highest score in program history with a 49.450 and the bars squad propelled the team into third at the B1G Five meet with a 49.350, sixth highest in program history. At the Big Ten Championships both Selena Ung and Kristen Quaglia set career highs as the Gophers scored a 49.325. Lu has an RQS of 9.955, Ramler has a 9.910, Hitchcock has a 9.870 and Rachel Rowland has a 9.825.
The Gophers are ranked No. 28 on beam. Ramler is No. 6 in the country with a 9.925 RQS. Ciara Gardner has hit 9.875 on the event while Ung and Mary Korlin-Downs have each hit 9.850. Lexi Montgomery set a career high 9.800 at the Big Ten Championships and Lu hit a school record 10.000 earlier this season on the event.
Williams has provided a consistent anchor on floor all season long. She has not scored below a 9.800 and has hit three 9.900s including one at the B1G Championship. Ramler has hit 9.950, Rachel Cutler has gone 9.875 and Ung has reached 9.850. Gardner has gone 9.900 or higher three times and the Gophers have shown the ability to hit big time scores on floor as a unit. They posted the second highest floor mark in school history at Ohio State this season with a 49.550.
Make sure to follow Gopher women's gymnastics onFacebook, Twitterand Instagramto stay up-to-date throughout the weekend!