University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Stanford/Cal/Japan/Canada
Gophers Finish Second Out West
3/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
STANFORD, Calif. - The No. 9 University of Minnesota men's gymnastics team resumed competition this weekend as they traveled out west for the first five-up, five-count meet of the 2015 season. The Golden Gophers, who earned their second highest score of the season, placed second in the tri-meet behind No. 3 Stanford with a 431.650.
"Our guys did a nice job on the road against some tough competition today," said head coach Mike Burns. "Finishing second behind Stanford in the Collegiate Challenge and staying ahead of Cal-Berkely was a good result for our squad today. Cal is a team that we will be battling with for a spot in the NCCA team finals in a few weeks so it was good to get a victory over them in their own backyard."
The meet also featured two international teams as Japan and Canada joined in on the action at Stanford.
"It was a real treat to be able to compete against the international teams from Japan and Canada. Our Canadian, Joel Gagnon, was able to see some of his old countrymen at the meet."No. 3 Stanford swept the team event titles as they dominated the competition the entirety of the meet.
Minnesota accumulated a team score of 72.400 on the floor exercise as Sean Bauer and Zach Leibler led the Maroon and Gold with a score of 15.000. This is the second meet in a row in which the two have tallied the same score to lead their team
The Gophers most challenging event of the evening was on the pommel horse despite Ellis Mannon earning the sole event title for the Maroon and Gold by posting a score of 15.350. The 2015 Winter Cup Challenge Pommel Horse champion paced the competition outscoring two of the best gymnasts in the country from Stanford.
Still rings proved to be the Gophers best event as the team scored a 74.850 after Jack Metcalf posted a personal best 15.500 on the event to lead the way. Senior Steve Jaciuk contributed a 15.150 after a strong set in the rotation
Yaroslav Pochinka made his Golden Gopher debut on vault as he tallied a career-high 15.150 in his first showing in the Maroon and Gold. No other Gopher scored above a 14.450 on the event.
"We were able to get Yaroslav back into competition mode for the first time since he broke his hand in November," said Burns. He really came through for his team as he posted a 15.150 on vault with a beautiful handspring double front."
Senior Ellis Mannon etched the Gophers' highest score of the meet on parallel bars as he scored a 14.900 and Jaciuk was not far behind as he tallied a 14.700 on the apparatus.
Jaciuk led the way for the Gophers on high bar as he tallied a 15.100 and stuck his dismount for the highest Gopher score on the event. As a team, Minnesota tallied an overall score of 70.400 on the event.
No. 9 Minnesota will return to the Sports Pavilion for the final home meet of the regular season as they host the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday, March 7 at 7 p.m. The meet will honor the senior class for their dedication to Gopher gymnastics for the past four years.
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Players Mentioned
