No. 13 Minnesota Hosts No. 20 Huskers in B1G Home Finale

MINNEAPOLIS -- The No. 13 Minnesota women's gymnastics team closes out its regular season Big Ten home slate on Saturday, Feb. 22 against the No. 20 Nebraska Cornhuskers. The meet will begin at 4 p.m. on B1G+ at Maturi Pavilion. Gophers alumni Lexy Bergeland (Ramler) and Tiarre Sales will be on the call. The Gophers (6-1, 4-1 B1G) lone loss came on Feb. 8 at defending Big Ten Champion and No. 7 ranked Michigan State. They hold top-20 victories this season over No. 16 Penn State and No. 20 Ohio State.

MEET INFORMATION
No. 13 Minnesota vs. No. 20 Nebraska
Saturday, Feb. 22
4 p.m. CT
Maturi Pavilion
Minneapolis, Minn.
TV/Stream: B1G+
Commentators: Lexy Bergeland and Tiarre Sales
Live Stats: GopherSports.com

PARKING ADVISORY
Suggested parking for fans arriving on campus include: 4th Street, Washington Avenue, or Oak Street parking ramps near Maturi Pavilion. All space is subject to availability. Please note, event rate parking will be $12 all day Saturday.

PROMOTIONS AND THEMES

Student Appreciation Night: UMN Students- Gopher Gymnastics wants to see you #PackThePav. Grab a slice of free pizza at the marketing table.
Social Equity Meet and Black History Month.

EVENT ROTATION ORDER
Minnesota: Vault-Bars-Beam-Floor
Nebraska: Bars-Vault-Floor-Beam

SCOUTING MINNESOTA

No. 16 Minnesota earned its third road win of the season Sunday with a 197.375-195.800 victory over No. 20 Ohio State Sunday afternoon at the Covelli Center. The score was a season-best for Minnesota, topping the 197.325 score on Jan. 26 at Iowa.
"I think the team was really looking forward to the weekend," Hanson said. "It was a long week of practice and we couldn't wait to get out here and perform. Our best performances today were our upperclassmen leaders, which you always want to see. Sarah did a gorgeous vault, Mya was amazing, Brooklyn had a great beam routine. You could go up and down the lineup, but I'm happy for our team."
The Gophers (6-1, 4-1 B1G) earned 49.375 on vault, 49.175 on bars, 49.375 on beam and 49.450 on floor.
Mya Hooten took home a solo event title on vault after tying her season-high with a 9.950. She also tied with Jordyn Lyden for the bars title with a 9.900 and took home a solo floor event title with a 9.925. This was her first time winning event titles on vault, bars and floor in the same meet since the 2024 Big Ten Championships. Brooklyn Rowray earned her third beam title this year with a season-best 9.950.
Ohio State named Mya Hooten as the meet's overall MVP, while OSU's Tory Vetter won the all-around title with a 38.575.
The Gophers are coming off a 2024 season that saw them go 20-11 (6-3 Big Ten) and finish second at the B1G 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.
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.

SCOUTING NEBRASKA

The Huskers (2-9, 1-4 B1G) are led by sixth-year head coach Heather Brink. Brink has led NU to NCAA Regionals appearances in three of her five years in charge. She has coached nine All-Big Ten honorees and one All-American during her six years as the head coach after being named interim head coach in February of 2019.
So far in 2025, Nebraska holds wins over Northern Illinois and Maryland. They've had a challenging schedule, suffering defeats to Oklahoma, Auburn, BYU, Michigan State, Florida, Illinois, Iowa and Michigan.
Gymnasts Sophia McClelland and Whitney Jencks were named Big Ten Gymnasts to Watch by the conference. The Huskers were picked to finish seventh in the annual preseason poll. Emma Spence and Lauren Homecillo earned weekly awards Jan. 28, being named Big Ten Gymnast and Event Specialist of the Week, respectively.

HISTORY VS. NEBRASKA

Saturday's meet will be the 57th matchup between Nebraska and Minnesota. NU holds a 36-19-1 lead in the series.
The last time the two teams faced off was at Big Five's in the 2024 season. Minnesota earned a 196.900-195.725 victory over Nebraska and finished third in the meet. The last time they met in a dual meet was in 2021, with the Gophers taking home a 197.400-196.100 victory in Minneapolis.

EVENT TITLES APLENTY FOR THE 'U'

Overall in 2025, Minnesota has won 30 event titles in seven meets. This includes eight vault (by four individuals), seven bars (three individuals), eight beam (four individuals) and seven floor (two individuals).
Mya Hooten leads the team with 10 event titles (six floor, three vault, one bars) while Jordyn Lyden has six (four bars, two beam). Freshman Ava Stewart ranks third with five (three vault, two beam).
Eight different Golden Gophers hold at least one event title this season.

NEW FACILITY OPENED ON JAN. 16

After starting construction in June, the $15.5 million Minnesota Gymnastics Facility project was officially opened Jan. 16, 2025.
The new performance center is 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.
"It's hard to believe this day is finally here," said head coach Jenny Hansen. "We have worked a long time to make this day a reality for our student-athletes and we're so grateful to everyone who made this a reality. To Mark Coyle, Marc Ryan and all our senior administrative staff, thank you. You believed in our program and saw the need. We now have the ability to train in a world class facility and the possibilities are endless for this program. We're so excited for our team to train at a facility of this level and we can't wait to get started."
The team's old practice facility, Peik Gymnasium, has been proposed for future demolition by campus leadership.
"It's just pure excitement and pure joy," said junior Sarah Moraw. "We have so much honor and gratitude to those that came before us and made this possible. Everyone who was involved in this process had a vision and made it come to life. I couldn't be more grateful for that."

HOOTEN BY THE NUMBERS

Mya Hooten is an 11-time All-American (7-time WCGA, 4-Time NCAA Championships), six-time Big Ten Champion (three floor, two vault, one bars), four-time All-Big Ten selection (3-time first team), four-time Big Ten All-Championships Team honoree, four-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, two-time Academic All-American and an NCAA Regional Champion. She's also tallied nine perfect 10's on floor.
In her career, she's participated in 179 total routines (59 bars, 58 vault, 56 floor, five beam). She's been 9.900-or-better on 90 of those routines (50.3%).
Hooten has gone 9.900-or-better on 28 of 58 vaults (48.3%) and 48 of 56 floor routines (85.7%).

WCGA AND ROAD TO NATIONALS RANKINGS

After week seven, the Gophers come in at No. 13 in the Road to Nationals rankings. They rank No. 8 on vault, 20 on bars, 11 on beam and 10 on the floor. The team's NQS is 196.730 and average of 196.496. Minnesota's team-high score is 197.375.
Minnesota finished the 2024 season at No. 12 n 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 began the 2025 season ranked No. 18 in the WCGA Preseason poll.

ROAD TO NATIONALS INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

On vault, Mya Hooten (9.886 avg.) ranks 10th nationally (4th in B1G) while Sarah Moraw (9.836 avg.) comes in at 30th (9th in B1G). Ava Stewart (9.850 avg.) places 13th in the Big Ten.
Jordyn Lyden (9.871 avg.) comes in at No. 23 nationally (5th in B1G) on bars.
Jordyn Lyden (9.850 avg.) ranks 29th in the country and 9th in the Big Ten. Ava Stewart (9.839 avg.) places 14th in the conference.
Mya Hooten (9.904 avg.) ranks third in the Big Ten and 12th nationally on the floor.

KOCH KEEPS COOKIN' IN YEAR FIVE

A fifth year senior from Bloomington, Minn., Emily Koch competed in all 14 meets last season as a staple on both the balance beam and floor teams. She posted career-best 9.950 scores on both beam and floor on senior day at the Pav. She's competed in all seven this season, including seven beam routines and five floor appearances.
Last year, she went 9.850-or-higher five times on beam and 13 times on the floor - winning two event titles, including one each on beam and floor. The four-year letterwinner is a four-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, two time WCGA Academic All-American and a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar.
Koch's best performance of the season on beam was a 9.850 on Feb. 8 at Michigan State. In her five floor performances, she hit 9.850-or-better four times, including a season-best 9.900 Feb. 16 at OSU.

STEWART PROVIDES HUGE BOOST AS A FRESHMAN

Bowmanville, Ontario native Ava Stewart came to the Gophers in 2025 after competing for Team Canada in both the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics. This past Olympics, Stewart placed 19th in the Artistic Women's All-Around Final. Stewart competed in all for events for Canada, where her vault score was 13.333, bars was 12.633 and she earned scores of 13.166 on beam and 12.500 on floor. Her total score was 51.632.
In her first meet as a Gopher, Stewart started on the beam team, where she took home an event title with a 9.875 on Jan. 4 vs. CMU. She earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Jan. 7.
In Stewart's third meet vs. Penn State, she shined once again, winning an event title on vault with a stellar 9.925 run. She also hit 9.825 on balance beam, helping Minnesota comeback to defeat the Nittany Lions after trailing through two rotations.
Stewart ranks third on Minnesota with five event titles (three vault, two beam) this season. She's hit 9.900-or-better three times on vault and once on bars this season. She's gone 9.875 on beam twice and over 9.800 in all seven meets.

UP NEXT
Minnesota travels to College Park, Mary., for the Big 4 Meet on Saturday, March 1. The meet is set to begin at 5 p.m. CT on BTN.

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Players Mentioned

Mya Hooten

Mya Hooten

Emily Koch

Jordyn Lyden

Jordyn Lyden

Sarah Moraw

Sarah Moraw

Brooklyn Rowray

Ava Stewart