Gophers gymnasts advance to regional team finals on Saturday

Led by fifth-year seniors Lexy Ramler and Ona Loper, the No. 8 Gophers gymnastics team finished in first place in the afternoon session on the second day of the Oklahoma Regional on Thursday in Norman, to advance to the team finals at 5 p.m. Saturday along with No. 9 California.

They will be joined in the team finals by the No. 1 Sooners (198.175) and Arkansas (196.975), the top two teams from the evening session.

Minnesota had a team score of 197.825 — the fourth best in program history — followed by Cal (197.375) and Utah State and Boise State, who didn't break 197.

Ramler and Loper tied for first in the all-around (39.675) and vault (9.950). Ramler also won beam (9.950), Loper bars (9.925) and sophomore Mya Hooten floor exercise (9.950).

"It was a fantastic day, really on every event," coach Jenny Hansen said. "Floor [49.550] we just do what we do there and vault [49.525] was fantastic. We stuck a couple of really big vaults today and there was a lot of energy that we were able to carry into the rest of our events."

The vault team score was the third best ever by the Gophers.

The star for Oklahoma was Jordan Bowers. Looking at scores from both sessions, she had the best score in bars (9.975), tied Ramler and Loper for the best vault (9.950), and Hooten for the best floor exercise routine (9.950).

Oklahoma was the national runner-up in the NCAA meet last year and has won 11 regional titles in a row.

The all-around champion in the evening session was Arkansas senior Kennedy Hambrick (39.575) — a score .100 points lower than the Gophers' duo of Ramler and Loper had.

The Gophers baseball team will begin Big Ten play this weekend with a three-game series at Rutgers.

Minnesota (8-15) is coming off a three-game sweep of Western Illinois — the team's first weekend sweep since May 4-5, 2019 against Ohio State. Rutgers (18-6, 2-1 Big Ten) opened conference play last weekend by winning two of three games at Penn State.

The Gophers have been led by pitcher Sam Ireland (3-0, 2.41 ERA), third baseman Jack Kelly (.405, five homers, 25 RBI) and catcher Chase Stanke (eight homers and 20 RBI).

Minnesota and Rutgers split two games last season at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Gophers coach John Anderson is two wins away from becoming the first coach in Big Ten history to win 600 conference games.

JOEL RIPPEL

The Gophers softball team (15-12-1, 2-1 Big Ten) plays its home opener vs. Illinois (14-12, 1-1) at 4 p.m. Friday at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium.

Minnesota won two out of three games at Rutgers last weekend. The Gophers are last in the conference in earned-run average (4.94), but have scored 142 runs, the third most, and have hit 42 homers, the second most,

The Illini are hitting a Big Ten-high .316 and have two pitchers with nearly identical stats: Tori McQueen (6-4, 2.81) and Sidney Sickels (6-5, 2.83).

North Dakota senior goalie Zach Driscoll, an Apple Valley native, signed an amateur tryout agreement for the remainder of the season with the Toledo Walleye of the East Coast Hockey League.