No. 20 Minnesota Travels to Iowa for B1G Road Opener

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The No. 20 Minnesota women's gymnastics continues Big Ten competition on Sunday in a meet at No. 31 Iowa. The meet is set for 2 p.m. CT on B1G+ and will be set inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Minnesota is coming off a home victory over No. 16 Penn State last weekend while Iowa is looking to bounce back from a defeat at Ohio State.

MEET INFORMATION
No. 20 Minnesota at No. 31 Iowa
Sunday, Jan. 26
2 p.m. CT
Carver-Hawkeye Arena
Iowa City, Iowa
TV/Stream: B1G+
Live Stats: GopherSports.com

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

SCOUTING MINNESOTA

The No. 20 Minnesota women's gymnastics team defeated No. 16 Penn State on Saturday in its Big Ten opener at Maturi Pavilion, 196.325-195.700. The Gophers (3-0, 1-0 B1G) earned 49.175 on vault, 48.700 on bars, 49.200 on beam and 49.250 on floor.
"I can see us making improvements and getting better each and every week," said head coach Jenny Hansen. "I felt great about our play overall, even our exhibitions. We made lots of improvements and I can't wait for us to keep this going."
Mya Hooten had her best performance of the year on the floor, going 9.925 for an event title vs. PSU. Ava Stewart set a career-high with a 9.925 on vault, posting an event title. Jordyn Lyden (9.875) took home her third straight bars event title while Brooklyn Rowray (9.875) won the title on beam. It was a season-best performance from Rowray.
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).
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.
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).

SCOUTING IOWA

The Iowa Hawkeyes (1-2, 0-1 B1G) are led by first-year head coach Jen Llewellyn. She was named the fifth head coach in program history on June 6, 2024. She came to Iowa after speNding three years as the head coach at Washington, where she helped them to three straight NCAA regionals.
Iowa enters week three with a No. 31 ranking, placing at 17 on vault, 34 on bars, 38 on beam and 47 on the floor. UI opened the season with a second place finish at ISU, scoring 194.575. The Hawkeyes fell at Ohio State on Jan. 18, posting a score of 195.200. In the Big Ten Preseason Poll, UI was chosen to finish 10th. Adeline Kenlin and Karina Muñoz were named B1G Gymnasts to Watch.
The Hawkeyes boast a roster full of returners, including 2024 NCAA Regional qualifiers Emily Erb, Ilka Juk and Karina Muñoz. Aurelie Tran comes in as the No. 31 all-around gymnast in the country with an average of 39.200. She ranks 23rd on bars with a 9.875 average.

HISTORY VS. IOWA

Against the Hawkeyes, Minnesota holds a 23-8-1 series record. In 2024, No. 15 Minnesota defeated then No. 20 Iowa with a 196.850-196.150 victory at Maturi Pavilion on Jan. 22. Mya Hooten took home two event titles, posting scores of 9.950 in both the vault (season-high) and on the floor.
Under Jenny Hansen, the 'U' is 7-3-1 when matching up with the Hawkeyes. The tie came in 2023 in Iowa City.

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 THRIVING IN 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.
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 performance on the floor so far this year Jan. 18 vs. Penn State, going 9.925 to win an event 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 began the 2025 season ranked No. 18 in the WCGA Preseason poll.
After week three, the Gophers come in at No. 20 in the Road to Nationals rankings. They come in at No. 18 on vault, 25 on bars, 14 on beam and 32nd on the floor. Individually, Hooten ranks 6th nationally on vault and 29th on floor. Ava Stewart ranks 16th on vault.

LYDEN LOOKING TO BUILD OFF STRONG YEAR ONE

Gophers sophomore Jordyn Lyden had a standout rookie season in the Maroon and Gold in 2024. She was a mainstay in the uneven bars lineup, where she posted a 9.867 average, including a career-high 9.975 on Feb. 3 at Penn State. Her score tied the school record for best uneven bars score. She earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors three separate times as a freshman last season.
Lyden started her second year in the Maroon and Gold with an event title on the uneven bars. She went 9.850 on Jan. 4 in the opener vs. CMU. She won event titles on both bars (9.875) and beam (9.825) on Jan. 11 at UNH.
The Stillwater, Minn., native won her third straight bars title with a 9.875 on Jan. 18 against Penn State.

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 four 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.

STEENSLAND STARTING OFF STRONG

A Chaska, Minn., native, Megan Steensland has emerged into the starting lineup on vault and floor after spending the first two years of her career mainly on exhibitions. She posted career-highs on both vault (9.775) and floor (9.825) on Jan. 11 at New Hampshire.
She earned a 9.675 in her first non-exhibition vault on Jan. 4 versus Central Michigan. Steensland again tied her season-high on vault with a 9.775 Jan. 18 vs. Penn State.

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.

UP NEXT
Minnesota continues Big Ten play on Saturday, Feb. 1 against Washington at Maturi Pavilion. The meet is set to begin at 4 p.m. CT on B1G+.

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Players Mentioned

Teryn Crump

Mya Hooten

Jordyn Lyden

Sarah Moraw

Lauren Pearl

Brooklyn Rowray

Megan Steensland

Ava Stewart