The Gophers 5th year senior will end her career with one final floor routine
The Minnesota Golden Gophers gymnastics team saw their season come to and end in the Finals of the Salt Lake City Regional last weekend. Minnesota advanced to the finals by placing second in the Region semifinals on Thursday, but would finish in fourth place behind UCLA, Utah and Denver on Saturday. But, one Gopher gymnast will get one final chance at glory. Mya Hooten’s score of 9.925 in the semifinals on Thursday was the highest score of any floor competitor not advancing to the NCAA Championships with their team, and thus Hooten gets one of the at-large berths to the NCAA Championships in Fort Worth Texas on April 17th.
Hooten will compete in the first semifinal session and in the first rotation along with the team from Missouri in the National Semifinals on Thursday the 17th. Eight teams will compete to see which four teams advances to Saturday’s National Finals, but Thursday is also the individual apparatus finals.
Hooten has been a star on the floor for the Gophers over the past five seasons. This will be her fourth career appearance at nationals, and second as an individual. The Gophers advanced as a team to the National Semifinals in 2021 and 2022, where Hooten earned First Team All-American honors both seasons. Hooten went as an individual on vault in 2024, earning a score of 9.875. The score placed her in a tie for 17th in the event, narrowly missing out on what would have been her third career NCAA Second Team All-American honor in the event.
Hooten has been the best Gopher floor athlete ever. She has earned nine perfect 10’s in her career on floor, the most in Minnesota history. But, if she wants to place at the NCAA Championships, it might take another one to do it. She will have some steep competition including former US Olympians Jordan Chiles who has a pair of Perfect 10’s this season for UCLA on Floor and Oregon State’s Jade Carey who has three. Oklahoma has a pair of athletes in Jordan Bowers and Faith Torrez who recorded back to back Perfect 10’s in their Regional Final last Sunday.
So, it will not be easy for Hooten. But she can hopefully end her Gopher career with one last memorable performance in the maroon and gold.