Gophers gymnastics team sets program record, breaking 198 sparked by two perfect 10s

After several subpar meets lately, the Gophers women's gymnastics team posted a program-best score of 198.025, with two perfect 10s, to easily beat Iowa's 196.375 on Friday night at Maturi Pavilion in a Big Ten dual.

Seniuor Lexy Ramler had a 10 on the beam — the fourth of her career on that apparatus and her first this year. Sophomore Mya Hooten had a 10 in floor exercise. It was the third of her career and second this year.

"I felt really confident going into it and really soaked up the moment," said Ramler of her perfect 10. "I wanted to be aggressive and have fun. Honestly, when you watched me I was up there smiling all the way through. I smiled because it was fun and I was enjoying it.

"Then to stick that landing, I just had that feeling and there were so many emotions. It meant so much to have that in the Pav for my last year. That will be a special moment for me, lots of emotions."

Ramler also won the all-around (39.775), tying the third best score of her career and took first on bars (9.950). Hooten won vault (9.975).

"I am just so proud of the way we responded," Gophers coach Jenny Hansen said. "We had a couple of meets where we were not ourselves and we talked about it as a team. We really focused on what we could control and I feel like they did an excellent job about not thinking about anything else except to be aggressive and do their routines.

"Everything else does not matter and they did exactly that tonight. It was so fun to see them be aggressive from start to finish and have fun."

Bethany Hasz of the Gophers won the 3,000-meter run (9 minutes, 6.93 seconds) for the second year in a row at the Big Ten Track and Field Championships in Geneva, Ohio, and her twin sister, Megan, placed fourth (9:12.36).

Senior Amira Young, the defending champion in the 60- and 200-meter dashes, won her heat in the shorter race (7.37 seconds) and was third in the 200 preliminaries (23.68) to advance to Saturday's finals in both. Teammate Odell Frye (7.41) also made the 60 final.

U softball wins

Natalie DenHartog hit a two-run homer in the second inning was the difference as the Gophers edged Northern Iowa 5-4 in Charlotte, N.C., for their fifth straight victory, but then lost to No. 21 Charlotte 4-3.

DenHartog's homer was the senior left fielder's fourth of this season and 43rd of her career, tying her for second in program history. It made the score 5-0.

U's Ireland masterful

The Gophers baseball team, which has been giving up runs in bunches, got a much needed pitching gem from junior righthander Sam Ireland in a 3-1 victory over Northeastern at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Fla.

Ireland gave up only one run and five hits in 7-1/3 innings, striking out 10, tying a career-high. Sophomore Will Semb got the save. Minnesota had given up 51 runs in four straight losses.

Minnesota (2-4) scored on Joe Hauser's RBI single in the first inning, Boston Merila's sacrifice fly in the fourth and Chase Stanke's RBI double in the ninth. Brett Bateman led the Gophers at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a run scored.

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