University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Big Ten Championships
Gophers Finish Third at B1G Championships
4/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
COLUMBUS, Ohio -The University of Minnesota men's gymnastics team finished third at the Big Ten Championships on Friday evening, while sending eight Gophers to 10 event finals Saturday at St. John Arena.
Minnesota finished with a team score of 429.100, placing just behind Illinois (429.700) and host Ohio State, who won the title with a score of 434.450. It was the highest finish for the Maroon and Gold since also placing third in 2013.
Advancing to the finals on Saturday from Minnesota will be Tristan Duran (floor, high bar), Alex Wittenberg (floor, vault alternate), Justin Karstadt (pommel horse, parallel bars), Yaroslav Pochinka (vault), Ryan Bergman (parallel bars), Danny DiBenedetto (high bar), Paul Montague (high bar, pommel horse alternate), and Jalon Stephens (high bar). Joel Gagnon will serve as an alternate for the floor exercise.
"Obviously I'm a little disappointed we didn't come out with the championship," said head coach Mike Burns. "I have to give Ohio State a lot of kudos for winning. I think being on the podium was nice - third place was not what we wanted and we came up a little short but we still have a lot of gymnastics left this weekend with several guys in the finals and the NCAAs in two weeks."
In the all-around competition, two Gophers reached the podium. Sophomore Tristan Duran placed third with a score of 86.900, his second-highest total of the season. Freshman Justin Karstadt, meanwhile, finished fifth in all-around scoring as he tallied a 85.950. Ohio State's Sean Melton won the all-around with a score of 89.750.
"Tristan had several pick-me-up routines that were instrumental - p-bars and high bar were great ones - and he was very consistent all day long," Burns said. "He really anchored the team for us and was our go-to guy."
The Gophers began the evening on rings, scoring a team total of 71.200. Leading the way was Montague, who scored 14.700, tying for 14th but not advancing to Saturday's event finals.
In the second rotation, the Gophers totaled 72.600 on the vault, including a 14.950 by Pochinka and a 14.850 by Wittenberg, good for fourth and eighth, respectively.
The Gophers' best event performance came in the third rotation on the parallel bars, scoring a team total of 73.900 which was the highest team total in that event among the seven schools. Leading the way were Duran and Bergman, who scored 15.450 and 15.250 respecitvely, the latter a career-high for Bergman.
On the high bar, Duran again led the way scoring 14.450 which was the top individual score on Friday evening. Joining him in the finals will be Stephens, whose score of 14.200 ranked fourth, along with Montague and DiBenedetto who placed eighth at 14.050.
In the fifth rotation, the Gophers scored 70.550 on floor exercise, highlighted by Wittenberg's 15.100 which was third. Duran earned a spot in the finals with a score of 14.750, good for eighth.
Following a bye in the sixth rotation, the Gophers concluded the evening on pommel horse. Karstadt led the way with a score of 15.150, tying for fourth.
"It was a lot of really good stuff tonight overall," Burns added. "The guys really stayed together and fought through the tough spots. That's one thing I really love about this team - they never give up. Pommel horse was a tough event for us to finish on but it was a pretty good score for us which was good to see.
The Big Ten Championships continue Saturday evening, with individual event finals for the top-10 performers from Friday competing starting at 7:00 p.m.
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Players Mentioned
