If you follow the University of Minnesota State Gymnastics, you should know Mya Hooten by now. How could you not? She’s the star who doesn’t just land routines but ignites arenas! The kind of gymnast who makes fans rise to their feet before she even finishes her final pass. And in her final home meet, she proved why. Sick. No practice since Tuesday. Any other athlete might have played it safe. Not Hooten. She stepped onto the floor, locked in, and delivered yet another show-stopping routine which had a 9.950!. Her 10th event title in 10 floor routines this season. And with that, she lifted Minnesota to a 197.150-196.700 win over Iowa.

But here’s the thing: Hooten isn’t just a one-night wonder. She’s been creating a history of her own since she first set foot on a collegiate mat! Nine career-perfect 10s on the floor and her latest on March 17, 2024. Multiple Big Ten titles: floor champion in 2022, 2023, and 2024, uneven bars and vault champion in 2024. An NCAA All-American, both at the championships and with the WCGA.

The accolades don’t stop at her athletic ability, but she’s a standout in academics too, earning Academic All-Big Ten honors for five straight years and being named a CSC First Team Academic All-American.

And the amazing part? She’s still adding to her legacy. AAI Award nominee, Big Ten Gymnast to Watch, Big Ten Event Specialist of the Week, and her trophy case is overflowing. But before you go searching for her highlight reel, here’s a question you might not have thought to ask. Do you know who her parents are?

Who is Mya Hooten’s father?

Meet Phil Hooten, pure energy in human form! A born bartender, a natural athlete, and a man who swears by hard work and self-confidence. According to his Facebook, he grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota, attending Harding Senior High School, where he graduated in 1995. But ask him what truly shaped him? Fatherhood.

“I was the most selfish person in the world,” Phil admitted to The Minnesota Star Tribune. Then his son Blake was born and everything changed.

Mya is his middle child, sandwiched between her older brother, Blake, and younger sister, Mariah. Phil never had a handbook for parenting—“You’re learning on the go,” he said—but one thing was certain: he knew how to instill confidence.

And when it comes to love? Phil, who is married to Kari Conroy, jokes, “I’ll give you a secret—she didn’t marry me because I could cook.” Well, we have got to meet Phil Hooten, Mya’s father? Let’s meet her mother Kari Conroy now.

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Who is Mya Hooten’s Mother?

Meet Kari Conroy, the woman who unknowingly set Mya’s gymnastics journey in motion. But was it about talent? Not at first. “I put her in it ‘cause I thought it was cute,” Kari laughed. “Cute little girl in gymnastics! In a leotard doing some flips.” Those little flips didn’t stay little for long. Mya was a natural, and soon, 25-hour training weeks became the norm. Gymnastics demands relentless repetition, and Kari watched as her daughter took on the sport’s brutal grind.

But beyond the routines, Kari admired something bigger, Mya’s voice. When her daughter used her floor routines to send powerful messages, Kari stood behind her. “She’s strong in what she believes,” Kari said.

What is Mya’s parents’ nationality?

Phil Hooten and Kari Conroy are proud Americans from Woodbury, Minnesota who have shaped Mya Hooten’s journey.