University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Windy City Invitational
Gophers Finish Third at Windy City Invite
1/17/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
CHICAGO - The University of Minnesota men's gymnastics team placed third out of six teams at the 46th annual Windy City invitational at the UIC Pavilion with an overall score of 424.500.
Illinois was the overall team winner after a final score of 425.950. Ohio State earned second place with a 425.700. The Iowa Hawkeyes collected a score of 419.650 for fourth place, followed by Michigan and UIC, who notched a 413.700 and 378.450, respectively.
"I'm a little disappointed we didn't hit a little better today," said head coach Mike Burns. "We ran into some adversity along the way that kept us from winning the meet - and I know we had potential to win the meet today. One thing I felt really good about though was how the team fought through the trouble spots and never gave up. This team is much better than the third place finish we wound up with and it's my job to get a better performance out of them."
The Maroon and Gold collected high event scores throughout the meet, scoring 71.650 on Rings, 72.700 on Vault, 71.100 on Floor and a 71.550 on High Bar.
Individually, sophomore Tristan Duran earned top honors on the High Bar with a score of 15.400 and junior Zach Liebler claimed first place on Floor after tallying a 15.650, the only gymnast to score into the 15's on the event.
"I feel that my performance today went well," said Liebler. "I was put into our Rings lineup on short notice and was able to do a decent routine with a stuck dismount. Vault went well, I was happy with that performance. I could not have done my floor routine better, I stuck every pass and set a career high of a 15.650."
The Gophers started the day on the Still Rings. Senior Paul Montague Jr. posted a team high 14.750 and finished in a three-way tie on the event with Andrew Botto of Iowa and Colin Mahar of Michigan for third place. Duran tallied a 14.500 and sophomore Shashank Yallamraju earned a 14.350.
On Vault, sophomore Yaroslav Pochinka tallied a 15.100 to finish fourth overall on the event. Liebler scored a 14.950 and sophomore co-captain Joel Gagnon, notched a 14.300.
In the third event for the Maroon and Gold, the Parallel Bars, freshman Justin Karstadt made his collegiate debut on the event and earned a 14.200, good enough for a fifth place finish. Montague followed with 14.100 while freshman Shaun Herzog and sophomore Jalon Stephens both scored 13.700.
Halfway through the meet, Minnesota was in second place behind Illinois with a score of 213.250.
Moving to the Horizontal Bar, three Gophers finished within the top ten overall. Duran earned the event crown with a score of 15.400. Stephens finished third after earning a 15.000 and Montague earned sixth place with 14.800.
The Maroon and Gold continued to find success on Floor, with Liebler earning top honors for the event with a score of 15.650. Stephens finished tied for fifth with Michigan's Anthony Stefanelli, with identical marks of 14.600. Karstadt finished within the top 25, with a 13.800.
The Gophers finished the day on Pommel Horse. Montague earned the highest score on the apparatus for Minnesota with 14.500, earning fourth overall. Duran tied for seventh with Del Vecchio Orozco with 14.3s. Freshman Ryan Wangler tied for ninth with Tristan Burke of Ohio State after tallying a 14.150.
In All-Around, Duran came in third overall with a score of 85.250. Karstadt earned a 82.250 to tie for seventh place with Tom Gibbs of Illinois.
"This next week in the gym will revolve around solving the problems we had on the competition floor today," said Burns. "Our hit percentage was too low to win a meet with this caliber of teams in attendance. If we want to win - and we do want to win - we need to perform a lot better. We hit 80% of our counting routines tonight with rings and vault being our best events in terms of hit percentage. If we can raise the other events up to that level we'll be in good shape. I believe this group of guys will address the issues and find a solution. I look forward to competing at home next weekend and I hope we can pull in a great crowd of eager Gopher fans to see our guys in action!"
LOOKING AHEAD
Next weekend, the Maroon and Gold will return home to the Sports Pavilion to take on Penn State in the first conference match-up of the season. Action is set to begin at 1:00 p.m.
FOLLOW THE GOPHERS
Are you following the Gophers on the road or from home? Make sure to follow @GopherWGym on Twitter and use the team's hashtag #WhyNotUs. You can also check for updates on Facebook and Instagram by "liking" Minnesota Men's Gymnastics on Facebook or following the Gophers on Instagram.
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