Minnesota Opens 2025 Season vs. Central Michigan

MINNEAPOLIS -- The No. 18 Minnesota women's gymnastics team opens its 2025 season against the Central Michigan Chippewas on Saturday, Jan. 4 at Maturi Pavilion. The meet begins at 4 p.m. CT and B1G+ will stream. The meet will officially kick off the 51st year of Golden Gophers gymnastics, including the 11th season under head coach Jenny Hansen.

MEET INFORMATION
No. 18 Minnesota vs. Central Michigan
Saturday, Jan. 4
4 p.m. CT
Maturi Pavilion
Minneapolis, Minn.
TV/Stream: B1G+
Live Stats

PARKING ON CAMPUS
Fans are encouraged to arrive early and park in the University Avenue ramp. Gopher women's hockey has a game beginning at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday while men's hockey plays at 5 p.m.

EVENT ROTATION ORDER
Minnesota: Vault-Bars-Beam-Floor
Central Michigan: Bars-Vault-Floor-Beam

SCOUTING MINNESOTA

The Minnesota women's gymnastics team comes in at No. 18 in the WCGA Preseason rankings. The Gophers were also picked to finish fifth in the Big Ten Preseason Poll.
The 'U' is coming off a 2024 season that saw them go 20-11 (6-3 Big Ten) and finish second at the Big Ten Championships. The Gophers went to the NCAA Regional Finals for the third time in the last four seasons and their No. 12 final ranking was the highest finish of any Big Ten team.
Heading into 2025, Gophers seniors Mya Hooten and Lauren Pearl were named Big Ten Gymnasts to Watch. Hooten, a fifth-year, has earned 11 All-America honors in her career. Pearl earned All-Big Ten Second Team and All-Big Ten Championships Team honors in a breakout junior year.
The Gophers finished fourth in the B1G regular season standings with a 6-3 league record. Minnesota then finished second at the Big Ten Championships on March 23 with a score of 197.500, missing winning the conference crown by .100 to Michigan State (197.600). It was the second-best finish at Big Ten's since 2006 (won Big Ten title in 2021).
Minnesota made its 43rd NCAA Regionals appearance all-time in 2024 in year 50 of program history. The Gophers have made regionals for the past 28 seasons (not including 2020 COVID year).
The 'U' made nationals three times (2016, 2021, 2022) in the past 10 seasons, finishing second each time in their regional. Their two regional titles in program laurels came in 1980 and 1982.
Four Gophers (Gianna Gerdes, Mya Hooten, Lauren Pearl, Ella Sirjord) were named All-Big Ten in 2024. Hooten (bars, floor, vault) won three Big Ten individual titles while Sarah Moraw (beam) won her first ever B1G championship.
Mya Hooten was named a WCGA regular season First Team All-American on both floor and vault. It was her fourth straight first team honor on floor and third straight on vault (two-time second team honoree).
The Gophers best performance of the season came in their senior day quad with a dazzling 197.725. They went over 197 four times in 2024.

SCOUTING CENTRAL MICHIGAN

The Central Michigan Chippewas are led by sixth-year head coach Christine MacDonald. She was named MAC Coach of the Year in 2022, and has guided Central Michigan to three Mid-American Conference titles in the last four seasons (2022 regular season, 2022 championship, 2023 championship).
Last year, CMU went 11-8 (4-2 MAC) and finished fourth at the conference championships. Three CMU individuals, Luciana Alvarado-Reid and seniors Elizabeth Cesarone and Hallie Hornbacher, won MAC Championship medals and competed as individuals at the NCAA Fayetteville Regional.
Alvarado-Reid returns for her junior year to lead the 20 student-athlete roster. The team has six seniors, one junior, five sophomores and eight freshmen.

2025 ROSTER CONSTRUCTION

Minnesota enters the 2025 season with 22 student-athletes on its roster. The Gophers most experienced student-athletes are fifth years Mya Hooten and Emily Koch. Hooten competes in vault, bars and floor while Koch is a staple on beam and floor.
The Gophers have three 'true' seniors on the roster in Anahit Assadourian, Marissa Jencks and Lauren Pearl. Jencks and Pearl both competed in every meet last year, with Pearl being named Second Team All-Big Ten and to the Big Ten All-Championships Team.
Four juniors are rostered by the 'U' in 2025. The class is led by 2024 Big Ten Balance Beam Champion Sarah Moraw. Seria Johnson competed in every meet last year, partaking on both the bars and floor teams. Brooklyn Rowray tallied a 9.975 on beam in the team's first meet of the season in 2024 before tearing her achilles. She is set to return to full form in 2025. Megan Steensland has competed in exhibitions in the past and is expected to take a leap this year and become a regular in the lineup.
Minnesota's biggest class is its sophomore group, with seven student-athletes. Jordyn Lyden (bars), Leah Gonsiorowski (floor) and Sophia Nguyen (vault and bars) got the most time last year as rookies. Lyden was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week three times for her performances on bars last year, including tying the school record at Penn State for highest bars score (9.975).
Five true freshmen joined the Gophers this season. Ava Stewart highlights the group after competing in the 2024 Summer Olympics for Team Canada last year. Teryn Crump, a Pfluegerville, Texas, native, won the level 10 uneven bars and floor state championships in Texas in 2023.

SCHEDULE TO FEATURE FIVE HOME MEETS, ONE AT MINNEAPOLIS ARMORY IN 2025

The 2025 slate features five home contests, two neutral site events and four away meets. All home meets will begin at 4 p.m. CT and B1G+ will stream. The Gophers host Central Michigan, Penn State, Washington, Nebraska and Illinois State at home.
Road matches for Minnesota include contests at New Hampshire, Iowa, Michigan State and Ohio State. The 'Big 4', which changed this year from the Big 5 after the additions of UCLA and Washington to the Big Ten, will be held in College Park, Md.
For the first time in program history, Minnesota will compete in a neutral site meet at the Minneapolis Armory on Saturday, March 15. Iowa, Pitt and Centenary will also take part in the quad meet.

NEW FACILITY TO OPEN ON JAN. 13

After starting construction in June, the $15.5 million Minnesota Gymnastics Facility project is set to be completed by Jan. 13, 2025.
The new performance center will be in the Athletes Village footprint, which will allow for student-athletes to study, train, eat and recover all in one location. The facility is being constructed on the south side of the department's indoor football field.

HOOTEN RETURNS FOR FIFTH SEASON IN 2025

A fifth year senior from Woodbury, Minn., Hooten elected to use her fifth year (due to COVID) and return to Minnesota in 2025. She's an 11-time All-American, including a four-time WCGA First Team All-American on floor (2021-24), a First Team All-American on vault (2024) and a two-time Second Team All-American on vault (2022, 2023). Hooten earned two NCAA Championships First Team All-America honors on floor (2021, 2022) and two NCAA Championships Second Team accolades on vault (2021, 2022).
In 2024, Hooten posted three perfect 10's on floor (vs. EMU, Jan. 13; vs. Michigan, Feb. 10); (Senior Day, March 17). She's done so nine times in her career. Also last season, she earned Big Ten Event Specialist of the Week five times (11 times in her career), and won 20 event titles (10 floor, seven vault, three uneven bars). She made SportCenter's top-10 plays for her floor performance on Jan. 13 vs. Eastern Michigan. She ranked first in the Big Ten and second in the country on floor last season.
An AAI Award nominee, Hooten made the Big Ten All-Championships Team for the fourth consecutive season after winning Big Ten Championships on the floor (9.950), uneven bars (9.925) and vault (9.975). It was her third Big Ten floor title, second vault title and first UB title.

WCGA AND ROAD TO NATIONALS RANKINGS

Minnesota finished the 2024 season at No. 12 in the Road to Nationals rankings. They ranked 19th on vault, 21st on bars, eighth on beam and 11 th on the floor.
Individually, Mya Hooten ranked eighth nationally on vault and second on the floor, earning WCGA All-America honors in both.
Minnesota begins the 2025 season ranked No. 18 in the WCGA Preseason poll.

COACHING STAFF BACK FOR YEAR 11

Head coach Jenny Hansen is in her 11th season at the helm of the program. Associate head coach Rich Stenger and assistant coach Geralen Stack-Eaton also enter their 11th years with the team. Fellow assistant Kiki Parenteau was promoted to assistant coach last summer after serving as a volunteer assistant for the past two years. She will be entering year four in 2025.
During her time with the Golden Gophers, Hansen is 128-55-1 (65-30-1 B1G) in meets.
Also under her watch, Gophers took home the 2021 Big Ten title, their first conference championships crown since 2006 and the program's sixth ever. They also won the 2016 Big Ten regular season title, the programs third (2013/2014). In 2022, Minnesota set a program-record by finishing sixth (197.1125) at the NCAA Championships.

PEARL PUT GYM WORLD ON NOTICE AS A JUNIOR

A highly recruited athlete out of Milford, Mass., junior Lauren Pearl has had her best season as a Gopher in 2024. The Second Team All-Big Ten honoree held a 9.887 average on the floor (second on the team) along with a 9.829 beam average (third on the team).
An All-B1G Championships Team selection, Pearl totaled 9.900-or-better seven times last year on floor. On beam, she went 9.850-or-higher eight times, including a career-high 9.950 on senior day March 17. On vault, Pearl hit 9.875 twice, a career-high tally for her.
Pearl returned to Minnesota for her senior year in 2025 and was named a Big Ten Gymnast to Watch.

UP NEXT
Minnesota heads to New Hampshire for a road meet next Saturday, Jan. 11 at 5 p.m. CT.

Upcoming Events

Players Mentioned

Anahit Assadourian

Teryn Crump

Gianna Gerdes

Leah Gonsiorowski

Mya Hooten

Marissa Jencks

Seria Johnson

Emily Koch

Jordyn Lyden

Sarah Moraw

Sophia Nguyen

Lauren Pearl

Brooklyn Rowray

Ella Sirjord

Megan Steensland

Ava Stewart