University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Iowa
Gophers Shine on Senior Night
3/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
MINNEAPOLIS (Sports Pavilion) - The six Gopher gymnast seniors - Sean Bauer, Donnie Carper, Steve Jaciuk, Ellis Mannon, Jack Metcalf and Spencer Smith ended their final homestand on a high note by defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes and the University of Minnesota Club team with a season high score of 436.25. This score marks the second highest in program history. (*Prior to the 2013 season, scoring was changed to reflect scores from five gymnasts)
"Tonight was phenomenal," said head coach Mike Burns. "The energy that the crowd provided and the rally the guys showed in their performances made for a perfect storm. I couldn't have asked for more as a coach. The seniors will remember the night forever; these are the moments in sports that you live for."
Minnesota swept the team event titles and five of the six events were won by Golden Gophers. To open the night, the Maroon and Gold took to the floor exercise and earned a team total of 73.45. Freshman Joel Gagnon earned the event title with an individual mark of 15.00. Sophomore Zach Liebler came in second after earning a 14.95.
On pommel horse, reigning NCAA and Winter Cup champion, Mannon, claimed his third consecutive individual event title with a 15.35. Junior Danny DiBenedettorounded out the top five with a score of 14.15. As a team, the Gophers tallied a 70.65.
"The confidence, comfort level and inner-drive that Ellis has shown week by week this season is really special," said Burns. "This snowball effect is setting him up just where he needs to be at this point in the season."
On the still rings, Minnesota notched a team total of 74.50. Three Gopher seniors, Jaciuk, Metcalf, and Bauer occupied the top three spots on the apparatus, tallying a 15.30, 15.00 and 14.95, respectively. Jaciuk's score of 15.30 marks his career-high score on the apparatus.
On vault, freshman Yaroslav Pochinkaearned a huge crowd reaction with his 15.35 performance. The score marked a season-high for the newcomer who won his first collegiate event title tonight. Gagnon came in second with a score of 14.70.
"The energy that Yaro provides not only on the vault but as a team member too is invaluable to this group of guys and we all know that the best is yet to come for him," said Burns. "He provides a lot of promise and I'm excited to see how he grows from this moment on."
In the fifth rotation of the night, parallel bars, Gopher gymnasts occupied the top five spots. Jaciuk earned the event title with an individual mark of 15.30. With an impressive performance, freshman Tristan Duran earned second with a 14.75 followed by Mannon (14.70), junior co-captain Paul Montague Jr.(14.65) and DiBenedetto (14.30).
Gagnon earned a 14.60 on the high bar, good for second place on the apparatus. DiBenedetto and freshman Jalon Stephens finished in fourth in fifth place notching a 14.45 and 14.40, respectively.
Next week, the Maroon and Gold will travel to Lincoln, Neb. to face the Penn State Nittany Lions, Iowa Hawkeyes and Nebraska Cornhuskers. The conference quad-meet is set to begin 1:00 p.m. CT.
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Players Mentioned
