University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Big Ten Championships
8 Gophers Advance to B1G Event Finals
3/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The No. 6 University of Minnesota men's gymnastics team finished fourth at the 2015 Big Ten Championships on Friday evening. The Golden Gophers combined for a team score of 433.750.
"I'm so proud of this team and how they fought through the entire competition," said Minnesota head coach, Mike Burns. "It was one of the most exciting meets I've ever been a part of and there was an amazing amount of intensity throughout the entire night. In my 30 plus years of coaching I can't remember a team that was as mentally tough as this group of guys."
The championship host, Penn State, earned its third title in program history by scoring a 436.700 while Illnois (436.100) and Michigan (434.750) rounded out the top three teams.
Eight Gophers advanced to Saturday's individual event finals. Senior Steve Jaciuk (still rings and parallel bars) and junior Paul Montague, Jr. (pommel horse and parallel bars) are the two Gophers who will participate in two events on Saturday evening while senior Ellis Mannon will try to defend his Big Ten pommel horse title. Seniors Sean Bauer (floor) and Jack Metcalf (still rings) will represent the Gophers in the final league championships of their careers. Freshman Joel Gagnon (floor), Jalon Stephens (parallel bars) and Yaroslav Pochinka (vault) will make their individual championship debut after successful rookie campaigns.
"The senior leadership of Steve, Ellis, Sean and Jack (Metcalf) combined with the talent and hunger of the rest of the underclassmen has created an amazing atmosphere that's a real treat to be a part of every day," said Burns. "These guys are really hungry and the results from tonight will only file that hunger for subsequent competitions. We have 10 routines in the event finals and I'm really looking forward to how they perform tomorrow night. There's still a lot of gymnastics to do this weekend!"
For the second year in a row, Mannon placed sixth as the lone Minnesota representative in the all-around competition. He compiled a final score of 85.40. Penn State's Matthew Felleman took home the all-around crown as he produced a score of 87.200.
The Maroon and Gold began the night on still rings where seniors Metcalf and Jaciuk led the way for the Gophers earning scores of 15.05 and 14.95, respectively, en route to an opportunity to compete in tomorrow evening's individual event finals. Redshirt freshman Mitchell Soukup and Bauer added 14.400's to the Gophers final team score of 72.850 while Montague earned a 14.050.
Minnesota transitioned to vault where Pochinka continued a stellar freshman campaign by placing third overall with a 15.100.
In the third rotation, the Gophers assembled their highest event score of the evening on parallel bars (74.050). Minnesota paced the seven team field on the event with solid scores from Jaciuk (15.350) who earned a second-place position in the standings while Stephens and Montague both scored a 14.950 to tie for sixth place. The event marked the Gophers lone team event win of the competition.
Jaciuk led the Gophers in the fourth rotation on high bar scoring a 14.45 to finish in a tie for eleventh place. The high bar will be the only event where the Gophers will not have a representative in tomorrow's individual event finals. Junior Danny DiBenedetto scored a 14.350 and Montague scored a 14.300 to round out the top three Gopher scores on the event.
Gagnon had a strong showing on floor exercise in the fifth rotation of competition as he placed second in his Big Ten Championships debut. The freshman scored a 15.350 to pace the Maroon and Gold on the event while Bauer tied for eighth place with by adding a 15.000 to the Gophers' final floor score of 73.45.
Before their final event of the evening, the Gophers had a bye in the sixth rotation to collect themselves before competing on the pommel horse.
Minnesota's final event would prove to be one of the most tasking of the evening as the squad posted its second-lowest score of the evening. Defending Big Ten champion Mannon contributed a 15.00 to land in second place going into tomorrow's event finals. Montague added a 14.600 to qualify for the individual event finals with his fifth place finish on the apparatus.
The Big Ten Championships will continue tomorrow evening with eight Gophers competiting in the individual event finals on Saturday live from Penn State University in University Park, Pa. The competition will begin at 6 p.m. CT and fans can watch live on the Big Ten Network or follow @GopherMGym on Twitter for live updates.
###
Players Mentioned
