Minnesota will look to advance to Saturday’s Region Finals with a top two finish Thursday
The Minnesota Golden Gophers gymnastics team will begin their 2025 NCAA Championships run on Thursday in the opening session of the Salt Lake City Regional. The #12 seeded Gophers will compete with #5 UCLA, Southern Utah and Boise State in the opening session of the eight team regional. The top two finishers in that session will advance to the Region Finals on Saturday at 6 PM to compete against the top two finishers from the evening session which includes #4 seed Utah, #13 seed Stanford, Denver and BYU. The top two finishers in the final, as well as the top event finisher not on an advancing team will head to the NCAA Championships in Fort Worth on April 17-19.
The Gophers enter the NCAA regionals as the #10 ranked school in the country, but as the #12 seed. They finished the regular season with a 15-3 (8-1 B1G) record, good enough for a tie for second place with Michigan State behind undefeated UCLA. The Gophers hold a season-high score of 197.425, an National Qualifying Score of 197.210 and an average of 196.740. The Gophers rank 12th on vault, 16th on bars, 16th on beam and 11th on floor. Minnesota had three athletes in the individual national rankings including Mya Hooten who ranks No. 21 on vault and 14th on floor, Jordyn Lyden who ranks 20th nationally on the uneven bars and Ava Stewart who ranks 24th on vault.
Under head coach Jenny Hansen the Gophers have advanced to regionals in all 11 of her seasons with the exception of 2020 where there was no postseason. The Gophers have advanced out of regionals three times, making nationals in 2016, 2021 and 2022 with second place finishes. The Gophers went on to finish sixth at nationals in 2022, their best finish in program history. Minnesota last advanced to the Region Final in 2023 and lost in the Semifinals in 2024.
Minnesota’s biggest competition in the early session will be #5 UCLA. The Bruins were both the Big Ten regular season and Big Ten Championship Champions. UCLA ranks 7th on vault, 8th on bars, 4th on beam and first on floor in 2025.
The Gophers will need to make sure they finish ahead of Southern Utah and Boise State to advance to Saturday. Southern Utah ranks 21st on vault, 29th on bars, 33rd on beam and 18th on floor this season. Their only losses have come to Rutgers, Arizona, Utah, Stanford and Boise State.
Boise State finished second in the Mountain West this season and have a season high score of 195.950.
Thursday’s opening session will begin at 2 PM and will stream on ESPN+. If the Gophers advance to Saturday’s final that will begin at 6 PM and stream on ESPN+.