Minnesota Readies for No. 5 Michigan State

MINNEAPOLIS-- The No. 16 Minnesota women's gymnastics team looks to stay unbeaten this weekend with a competition against the No. 5 Michigan State Spartans. The meet is set for 6 p.m. CT on B1G+ inside Jenison Field House. Minnesota currently sits in a tie for first place in the Big Ten standings with No. 8 UCLA (3-0). MSU fell to UCLA by just .100 last weekend and are one of three Big Ten teams with 2-1 league records. The Spartans are the reigning Big Ten champions, both regular season and conference championships.

MEET INFORMATION
No. 16 Minnesota at No. 5 Michigan State
Saturday, Feb. 8
6 p.m. CT
Jenison Field House
East Lansing, Mich.
TV/Stream: B1G+
Commentators: Oliviah Klinski (Play-By-Play), Sarah Sageman (Analyst) and Nora Fleming (Sideline)
Live Stats: GopherSports.com

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

SCOUTING MINNESOTA

Minnesota moved to 5-0 with a 196.825-195.425 victory over Washington on Saturday at Maturi Pavilion. The Gophers are now 3-0 at home and in conference competition this season.
"We're making progress every week," said Jenny Hansen. "Certain people are making it known that we can count on them and new people are showing what they can do. We've had several athletes prove in exhibitions they're ready to compete and have made their way into the lineup. More and more people are fighting for spots and that makes us better."
The Gophers (5-0, 3-0 B1G) earned 49.100 on vault, 49.250 on bars, 49.175 on beam and 49.300 on floor. The bars score was a season-best.
Ava Stewart earned her second vault title of the year with a 9.875 and tied with Jordyn Lyden and Lauren Pearl for the beam title (9.875). The beam score was a career-best for Stewart and season-best for Pearl. Fellow freshman Teryn Crump won her second straight uneven bars title with a 9.875 outing while Mya Hooten won on the floor with a 9.925. It was her third floor routine going 9.900-or-better in four tries this season.
Minnesota holds victories over CMU, New Hampshire, Penn State, Iowa and Washington so far this winter. The Gophers are one of two Big Ten teams, joining No. 8 UCLA, to hold 3-0 Big Ten records.
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.
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).

SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE

The No. 5 Michigan State Spartans (5-2, 2-1 B1G) are led by eighth-year head coach Mike Rowe. In 2024, he was named Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Coach of the Year for the third-straight year after his team went 29-7 for the most wins in program history. MSU earned its second-straight Big Ten regular season title and first Big Ten Championship title. Skyla Schulte and Nikki Smith both earned All-America honors.
Heading into 2025, Schulte and Smith were both named Big Ten Gymnasts to Watch and the Spartans were named as the preseason B1G favorite. MSU returns all but one routine from last season's team that advanced to the NCAA Gainesville Regional Final and eclipsed the 198.000 team score mark on two occasions. A program-record seven Spartans were named All-Big Ten.
Michigan St. holds wins over WMU, NIU, Nebraska, Michigan and Ohio St. so far this season. They've lost to Florida and No. 6 UCLA.

HISTORY VS. MICHIGAN STATE

Minnesota last competed against Michigan State at the 2024 Big Ten Championships, where the Spartans edged out the Gophers by just .100, 197.600-197.500, to win the championship in East Lansing. Prior to that, they competed at the Big 5 meet in 2023, 2022 and 2020. The Spartans outscored the Gophers at the 2023 and 2022 B1G Championships. The 'U' last defeated MSU at the 2020 Big Five Meet in Toledo, Ohio.
Minnesota's last true head-to-head meet against MSU was in 2019, a 196.725-194.459 win at the Pav. The last time they met in East Lansing came in 2017, a 193.875-193.000 win for the Gophers.

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."

SCHEDULE CHANGE AND ADDITIONAL HOME MEET

The 2025 slate features six home contests, two neutral site events and four away meets. All home meets besides the last one (2 p.m.) will begin at 4 p.m. CT and B1G+ will stream. The Gophers host CMU, Penn State, Washington, Nebraska, Ill. State, Iowa, LIU and Centenary at home.
Minnesota was originally scheduled to compete at the Minneapolis Armory on March 15, but that meet got moved to March 16 at the Pav. They will host Iowa, LIU and Centenary College.
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.

HOOTEN STARTS HOT IN FIFTH SEASON

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.
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.
Hooten started her fifth year with event titles in both vault (9.900) and floor (9.825) on Jan. 4 in the CMU meet. She then went 9.950 on vault and 9.900 on the floor at UNH, winning event titles on both again. She was named Big Ten Event Specialist of the Week on Jan. 14. She delivered her best performances on the floor this year Jan. 18 vs. Penn State and Feb. 1 vs. UW, going 9.925 to win event titles.

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 began the 2025 season ranked No. 18 in the WCGA Preseason poll.
After week five, the Gophers come in at No. 16 in the Road to Nationals rankings. They come in at No. 15 on vault, 23 on bars, 11 on beam and 20th on the floor.

ROAD TO NATIONALS INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

On vault, Mya Hooten (9.880 avg.) ranks 16th nationally (5th in B1G) while Ava Stewart (9.881 avg.) comes in at No. 12 (4th in B1G).
Jordyn Lyden (9.863 avg.) comes in at No. 31 nationally (6th in B1G) on bars.
Ava Stewart (9.845 avg.) and Jordyn Lyden (9.845 avg.) rank 46th nationally on beam and 8th in the Big Ten.
Mya Hooten (9.894 avg.) and Emily Koch (9.875 avg.) and rank 4th and 10th in the Big Ten on floor. They rank 15th and 26th nationally.

PEARL PUTS PAST BEHIND HER

A highly recruited athlete out of Milford, Mass., senior Lauren Pearl 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.
Named a Big Ten Gymnast to Watch in 2025, Pearl had her best weekend of the season at Iowa Jan 26. She competed on vault (9.825), beam (9.850) and floor (9.900), achieving then season-bests on all three events. She won her first event title (9.875, beam) Feb. 1 vs. Washington.

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. Stewart started on vault, bars and beam on Jan. 11 at UNH.
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 second on the team with five event titles so far in 2025. She won both vault (9.875) and beam (9.875) Feb. 1 vs. Washington.

SEASON-HIGH AT IOWA RANKS AMONG NATIONS BEST

No. 16 Minnesota posted season-highs on all four events on Jan. 26 at Iowa. Their score of 197.325 is a number only seven other teams in the country have reached in 2025.
Those teams: Florida (198.125), Oklahoma (197.950), Utah (197.950), LSU (197.650), Oregon St. (197.600), UCLA (197.550), Michigan St. (197.500).

CRUMP CONTINUES GREAT START TO CAREER

A Pfluegerville, Texas native, Teryn Crump came to Minnesota as the Texas level 10 uneven bars and floor state champion last year. In her Minnesota debut on Jan. 4. Crump was in the lineup on vault, bars and floor. Her best performance came on the uneven bars, where she earned a 9.750, which ranked tied for third on Minnesota.
Crump posted season-highs of 9.825 on vault and 9.750 on floor Jan. 11 at UNH.
The rookie had her best meet in college at Iowa on Jan. 26. She won two event titles, posting career-bests on vault (9.900) and bars (9.875). She was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Jan. 28 for her efforts. Crump won her second event bars title on Feb. 1 vs. UW (9.875).

UP NEXT
Minnesota travels to Columbus, Ohio for a road meet at Ohio State next Sunday, Feb. 16. The meet is set to begin at 1 p.m. CT on B1G+.

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Players Mentioned

Teryn Crump

Mya Hooten

Emily Koch

Jordyn Lyden

Sarah Moraw

Lauren Pearl

Ava Stewart