Gophers gymnast Lexy Ramler is on quite a roll. A perfect roll.
On Saturday evening, the junior from St. Michael scored a perfect 10 on the balance beam against Illinois in Minnesota's first home dual meet. It was the first 10 by a Gopher ever at the Maturi Pavilion but Ramler's second on the beam in back-to-back meets. She had a 10 on Saturday of last week in a four-team meet at Rutgers. Her feat is a bit like pitching consecutive no-hitters in baseball.
Only two other Gophers, teammate Ivy Lu and alum Hanna Nordquist, have had 10s on the beam.
Led by Ramler — also first on uneven bars (9.950), second in vault and in all-around — and junior Ona Loper, the No. 7 Gophers (4-1) beat the Illini 196.300 to 195.225. No. 17 Illinois is 4-2 now.
Ramler went into this dual meet as the nation's top-ranked individual on the beam and the Gophers were the No. 1 ranked team, coming off a program-record score of 49.700 at Rutgers. The team had a score of 49.400 on the beam this meet.
Loper won the all-around (39.250) primarily by finishing first in floor exercise (9.925) while Ramler finished 12th. Loper also took first in vault (9.925).
