Minnesota Set for Seventh Nationals Appearance

FORT WORTH, Texas -- The No. 13 Minnesota women's gymnastics team heads to nationals for the seventh time in program history in 2026. The Gophers are set to compete in the night session on Thursday, April 16 at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2. They'll take on No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 UCLA and No. 9 Arkansas with the top two scores destined for a spot in the finals on Saturday, April 18. Saturday's meet will be at 3 p.m. CT on ABC.

On the other side of the bracket is No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Florida, No. 6 Georgia and No. 7 Stanford. They'll compete in the first semifinal at 3 p.m. CT on ESPN2.

The Gophers (25-8, 7-2 B1G) finished second in the Big Ten regular season standings and took third at the 12-team Big Ten Championships before placing second (197.625) behind UCLA (197.750) at the Regional Finals to punch their ticket to nationals.

MEET INFORMATION
No. 13 Minnesota vs. No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 UCLA and No. 9 Arkansas
Thursday, April 16
8 p.m. CT
Dickies Arena
Fort Worth, Texas
TV/Stream: ESPN2
Commentators: John Roethlisberger (Play-By-Play), Aly Raisman (Analyst), Samantha Peszek (Analyst), Mary Jo Roehrig (Rules) and Taylor Davis (Sideline)
Live Stats: GopherSports.com

EVENT ROTATION ORDER
Minnesota: Beam-Floor-Vault-Bars
Oklahoma: Vault-Bars-Beam-Floor
UCLA: Bars-Beam-Floor-Vault
Arkansas: Floor-Vault-Bars-Beam

2026 SEASON SYNOPSIS

The Minnesota gymnastics team enters nationals with a 25-8 (7-2 B1G) record. They've competed against a difficult schedule far, but have posted a 13-6 record against top-25 ranked teams.
After going 1-1 in their first meet at No. 5 Utah and vs. Iowa, Minnesota took down consecutive top-10 ranked opponents in No. 10 Arkansas and No. 5 Michigan at home. They also won Feb. 14 at No. 16 PSU for their first road win.
Following a loss at NU on Jan. 24, Minnesota won consecutive 197+ performances with a 197.050 win over Iowa and a 197.275 in a defeat to No. 5 UCLA.
The Gophers defeated Washington in their meet on Feb. 20, winning 196.950-196.300 to earn their second straight road win.
Minnesota had its second-best performance of the season March 1 at the Big 4, scoring a Big Ten-best 197.700. Bars, beam and floor had their best scores of the season and Arianna Ostrum won the all-around, bars and floor titles.
The 'U' fell at North Carolina on March 6, 197.200-196.925. Ostrum won the all-around title while Lyden won on beam. Minnesota struggled on vault and floor during the meet but had a great beam performance (49.475).
March 15 was the performance of the season with a 197.825. Arianna Ostrum hit a perfect 10 on vault and won vault, floor, AA titles, Lyden won on bars/beam and Slevin tied for the bars title with a 9.950.
In Friday's regional semifinal, Minnesota came from behind to finish second behind UCLA. They trailed Iowa by almost two tenths before going 49.450 on beam to punch their ticket to Sunday's regional final.
The 'U' holds 45 event titles this year across 14 meets, led by and freshman Arianna Ostrum with 14 and junior Jordyn Lyden with 13.
Minnesota ranks 13th overall in the Road to Nationals rankings, placing 15th on vault, 17th on bars, 12th on beam and 14th on the floor.
The 'U' is 9-1 at home this year, 2-3 on the road and 14-4 at neutral sites.

NATIONALS HISTORY

Minnesota has made nationals seven times in the history of the program. Those years were 1997 (10th, 194.775), 2002 (9th, 195.700), 2013 (8th, 196.375), 2016 (12th, 194.988), 2021 (8th, 197.1875), 2022 (6th, 197.1125) and 2026 (TBD).
The Gophers set their program-best with a sixth place finish in 2022, topping 2013 and 2021 eighth place finishes. In that NCAA Semifinal, the 'U' went up against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 Utah and No. 5 Alabama. The 'U' overtook Alabama (197.1000) and Michigan (196.2875) to take 6th.

NCAA REGIONALS RECAP

The No. 13 Minnesota gymnastics team placed second at the NCAA Regional Finals on April 5 with a score of 197.625, punching their ticket to nationals for the seventh time in program history.
The Gophers score trailed UCLA (197.725) but defeated No. 12 Utah (197.500) and No. 5 Alabama (197.175). Minnesota is heading back to nationals for the first time since the 2022 season, when they finished sixth, a program-best. The Gophers ended Utah's streak as the Red Rocks had been to nationals 49 straight times before this year.
The Gophers earned scores of 49.375 on vault, 49.275 on bars, 49.525 on beam and 49.450 on floor.
Event winners on the night were Minnesota's Arianna Ostrum, Utah's Makenna Smith and UCLA's Jordan Chiles on vault (9.950). Utah's Avery Neff and Minnesota's Jordyn Lyden won on bars (9.950) and Lyden (9.950) won on beam.
"I'm so proud of this team," said head coach Jenny Hansen. "Our team came in confident and excited for this opportunity. They had tremendous belief when they walked in the building that we could do something really special tonight."
Brooklyn Rowray's 9.925 beam score helped her win the regional title outright in the regional semis on April 3.

2026 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

The No. 13 Minnesota gymnastics team finished in third place with a score of 196.900 at the 2026 Big Ten Championships on March 21.
The Gophers scored 49.300 on vault, 49.375 on bars, 48.575 on beam and 49.650 on the floor. The floor score was a season best and tied for the sixth-best in school history.
Arianna Ostrum was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year at the conclusion of the meet. She led the Gophers with a 9.950 on vault, tying for a Big Ten Individual Championship. She was Big Ten All-Championships Team on vault, floor and all-around.
Emma Slevin and Jordyn Lyden also tied for the Big Ten title on bars at 9.950. It was each of their first Big Ten titles.

OSTRUM MAKING A B1G IMPACT AS A ROOKIE

Named one of College Gym News' Freshmen to Watch, Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., native Arianna Ostrum has become one of the biggest rising stars in the nation this year on her way to All-Big Ten First Team, Big Ten All-Freshman Team and Freshman of the Year accolades. She was also named WCGA Second Team All-America on vault and all-around, just the third Gopher freshman in history to earn All-America nods.
Ostrum leads Minnesota with 14 event titles in 2026, including six on vault, four on floor, three all-around and one bars. She ranked 15th nationally (39.275 avg.) all-around, 3rd on vault (9.850 avg.) and 30th on floor (9.846 avg.).
In the Big Ten, she ranked 3rd on vault, 7th on floor, sixth all-around and 16th on beam. She became the second Gophers freshman and eighth all-time to earn a perfect 10 on vault when she did so on March 15. She earned 9.875-or-higher nine times in 14 vaults this year.
On bars, she posted a season-high of 9.925 to win an event title on March 1. On beam, Ostrum twice reached a high of 9.925. Her floor performances had her reaching 9.900-or-better seven times, including the last four meets of the year. Ostrum hit a career-best 9.975 on the event Sunday. 11 times in 14 meets Ostrum competed all-around, including the last nine meets of the year. She hit a season-best of 39.675 on March 15, winning all-around, vault and floor titles. Her 39.675 all-around score is the best in program history for a Minnesota freshman.

ROWRAY RED HOT ON BEAM

Senior beam specialist Brooklyn Rowray has been a team leader on the balance beam during her career, espeically during the last month. In her last seven beam routines, she's earned 9.925 scores six times, including both nights at regionals. She's hit 9.900-or-better eight times in 2026.
Rowray earned the Corvallis Regional Beam Title with a score of 9.925 on Friday, April 3.

SLEVIN STEPS IT UP

Newcomer Emma Slevin (Galway, Ireland) is the first Irish gymnast in NCAA history. She committed to Minnesota in July of 2025 after cold emailing coach Hansen about being interested in NCAA Gymnastics in June. She was scheduled to visit Chicago with her friends and Hansen quickly got her on a visit combined with that trip.
She is off to a strong start to her Minnesota career. Slevin has hit 9.900 six times on the uneven bars and has hit 9.850 once on vault. She made her season debut on beam April 5, going 9.875. Slevin ranks 33rd in the nation and sixth in the Big Ten on bars (9.837 avg.).
On senior day, she had her best bars performance of the season, earning a career-best 9.950 to tie with Jordyn Lyden for her first event title in college. She had hit 9.900 three times before that. She tied that performance with a 9.950 at the B1G Championships, tying for first.
Slevin is listed as a junior on Minnesota's roster this season, despite it being her first season in college. The Gymnastics Ireland Gymnast of the Year in 2025, Slevin was the first Irish female gymnast to qualify for a senior all-around final at the European Championships and at the World Championships, doing both in 2021.
She was also the 2022 and 2024 Northern European all-around champion and a medalist on bars, beam and floor in 2024. She also earned the bars title at the Irish National Championships in 2025.

UP NEXT
If the 'U' finishes in the top two again on Thursday they will compete in the Final Four on the Floor in Fort Worth on April 18. The meet is at 3 p.m. CT on ABC.

Upcoming Events

Players Mentioned

Jordyn Lyden

Arianna Ostrum

Brooklyn Rowray

Emma Slevin