The Bruins are coming off a season-high 198.150 showing against the Huskies on Jan. 30, where they also picked up the nation’s highest floor score of 49.700. Every gymnast in the floor lineup matched or exceeded their previous career-high. No. 5 UCLA gymnastics heads to Minneapolis to face No. 17 Minnesota this Saturday. Daily Bruin contributor Sofia Celis breaks down the Golden Gophers’ talent to watch ahead of the showdown.
Minnesota
Ranking: 17th
Strength: Floor
Weakness: Team consistency
X-Factor: Jordyn Lyden
The Golden Gophers enter Saturday’s affair riding the coattails of a narrow victory.
Minnesota stole a win from Iowa on Jan. 2., logging a 197.050 score and besting the Hawkeyes by a margin of .275.
Entering the 2026 season as the eighth-ranked squad in the nation, Minnesota has since dropped and found itself oscillating between No. 14 and No. 20, indicating a lack of team consistency across its vault, bars and beam lineups.
The team scored a 49.250 on bars and 49.350 on beam, beating Michigan on Jan. 17, but both marks dropped to a pair of 48.475s the next week against Nebraska on Jan. 24.
However, the team’s performance on floor has been incrementally increasing in proficiency.
The Golden Gophers rank No. 10 in floor, boosted by freshman Arianna Ostrum and juniors Sophie Swartzmiller and Leah Gonsiorowski, all of whom have notched season-high 9.900 marks.
Swartzmiller and Gonsiorowski own team-high averages of 9.870 and 9.840, respectively, lifting the team rank that heavily relies on its floor performances.
Minnesota reached its highest final ranking of the last five years in 2022, when the squad finished No. 6 overall in the nation and No. 2 on floor. The squad held a 49.620 NQS on the event, supported by alumnus and assistant coach Mya Hooten.
Hooten carried the team’s weight – recording the squad’s highest score of the season in vault, and floor with 9.500s across the board. Hooten – the first-ever Golden Gopher to achieve perfection on floor – garnered the feat nine times throughout her collegiate career.
Sophomore Ava Stewart assisted in carrying that weight, boasting a high score of 9.925 on vault, bars and beam last season. This season, Stewart is the Golden Gophers’ top-ranked vaulter at No. 66, owning an average score of 9.825.
Graduate student Gianna Gerdes, senior Brooklyn Rowray and junior Jordyn Lyden all share the team’s top beam score of 9.925.
With Hooten out of the competitive field, Ostrum and Gerdes have stepped into the all-around, with averages of 39.200 and 39.125, respectively.
The team’s strength on bars is led by Lyden, one of five Minnesota gymnasts to notch a team-high 9.975. No athlete has reached perfection in the event in program history.
Lyden is also the leading beamworker for the nation’s No. 15 beam squad, ranking at No. 31 in the nation with an average score of 9.865 and a high of 9.925. Ostrum stands not far behind, with a 9.844 average.
Lyden’s leadership and distinct position on the event may be able to create and maintain a more stable standing and perhaps contribute to improved team scores where they are lacking.
The Gophers tied-for-lowest event rank lies with vault at No.19, with five gymnasts averaging below 9.800, giving a large window to observe higher inconsistency and imbalance in performance quality across events.
Despite lineup substitutions in the wake of Hooten’s graduation, inconsistency persists – a balance that could solidify as the season progresses.
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