Nebraska vs Minnesota: Women’s Gymnastics In Photos

I have never been to a gymnastics meet. The only gymnastics I’ve ever seen is on TV - the Olympics. Those are fascinating to watch, certainly, but there’s a huge difference between watching sport on TV and being at the event live.

I saw that Nebraska’s schedule included a match, meet, dual, whatever they call it, here in Minnesota on Sunday night. Having never been to or shot (with a camera, duh) a gymnastics meet, I thought it would be a great challenge.

I knew that there are four events in a women’s gymnastics meet; the floor routine, vault, uneven bars, and that other one... oh, yeah, the balance beam. I assumed they would run through these events one at a time, and that the meet would last 3-4 hours.

Talk about ignorance. The meet lasted two hours. They went through the events damned fast. Bada Boom Bada Bing. I was not prepared for that. Thankfully I ran into another photographer I know from having shot at the University of Minnesota who was very helpful in providing pointers regarding how the event was run, where to position myself, and recommended shutter speeds. Even with his help, I struggled.

The experience was incredible. There were a hundred things happening all at once. You become very aware of how athletic these young women are when they’re running by you on their way to the vault, or sticking a landing on the floor exercise a couple feet away. The speed, strength and beauty in the sport is phenomenal.

I’m glad I got off my butt and went. I’ll do it again, given the opportunity and I’d recommend you get out and get to a gymnastics meet too.

Unfortunately, it was not a good meet for Nebraska as Minnesota won 197.400-195.700.

Nebraska’s Taylor Houchin won the vault title with a score of 9.95. Sierra Hassel placed on the podium on balance beam and floor exercise. (I have no idea what that sentence means but that’s what the release from the athletic department stated, so I went word for word.)

Here’s a photo gallery of the event.

Grid View

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