The Gophers gymnastics team placed second on Thursday in the Salt Lake Regional semifinals to advance to Saturday’s regional finals.
The Gophers finished with a score of 197.200 to advance to a regional final for the fourth time in the past five seasons.
UCLA also advanced to the regional finals with a score of 197.75. Southern Utah (196.475) and Boise State (195.175) also competed in the semifinal session.
Jordyn Lyden and Ava Stewart of the Gophers tied UCLA’s Frida Esparza and Emma Malabuyo for first place in the uneven bars with 9.900 scores. Brooklyn Rowray (9.900) tied for second on the balance beam while Mya Hooten (9.925) was third in the floor exercise. UCLA’s Jordan Chiles, who took first in the vault, balance beam and floor exercise, had the top All-Around score (39.6).
The Gophers earned scores of 49.150 on vault, 49.375 on bars, 49.325 on beam and 49.350 on floor.
“This is a great accomplishment for the team,” Gophers coach Jenny Hansen said in a statement. “This day is always a little nerve-racking because you want to move forward, but you gotta do your job. For us, we did the job and were very consistent. We hit all of our routines and I’m just really proud of the team. They looked calm, relaxed and really confident.”
Utah, Stanford, Denver and BYU competed in Thursday’s second semifinal session. The top two teams from that group also advance to Saturday’s regional finals.
The top two teams in Saturday’s finals will advance to the NCAA Championships on April 17-19 in Fort Worth, Texas. The Gophers will try to advance to the NCAA finals for the first time since 2022.
