University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Iowa/ASU
Minnesota Picks Up Two Wins
3/11/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
The No. 5 Golden Gophers earned wins over No. 8 Iowa and No. 15 Arizona State on Saturday night at the Sports Pavilion. Minnesota scored a 411.200, Iowa posted a 406.850 and Arizona State totaled a 391.700. The Gophers earned top honors on every event but parallel bars.
"It's really nice to be home," head coach Mike Burns said. "After four weekends on the road, the guys couldn't believe they were back competing in their home gym, and with our fans."
By event, Minnesota scored a 68.450 on floor, 66.750 on pommel horse, 70.220 on rings, 66.150 on vault, 66.150 on parallel bars and 67.050 on high bar. The Gophers' rings score was a season-high, and the first time the team has broken 70.000.
Alex Wittenberg took home gold on floor with a 14.750, which was a season best and matched the top Gophers' score of the season. Senior Zach Liebler returned to the floor lineup after several weeks of injury recovery. Liebler claimed second with a 14.550. Vitali Kan rounded out the top finishers for the team, with a fifth-place mark of 14.200.
Kan and Justin Karstadt shared the pommel horse title after each scored a 14.350. The score was a personal record for Kan. Tristan Duran finished fourth with a 13.900.
Minnesota swept the podium on rings. Yaroslav Pochinka earned gold with a 14.300. Karstadt and Kan followed with scores of 14.200 and 14.000, respectively.
Pochinka claimed his second event title of the night on vault, scoring a 14.800. Liebler picked up bronze with a 14.750, while Kan tied for fifth with a 14.500.
"Vitali had a great meet and hit each of his routines," Burns said. "his pommel horse routine was a highlight for us… it was a routine that we knew was capable of scoring big and it all came together."
Jalon Stephens suffered an injury at the start of his parallel bars routine, and was unable to complete it. The Gophers opted for the injury replacement clause, which put Joel Gagnon into the lineup, but deducted one point from the team's score. Gagnon went on to lead Minnesota with a silver finish, scoring a 13.850. Duran tied for third with a 13.650, while Ryan Bergman picked up fifth with a 13.500.
"The team did a great job rallying together after Jalon got injured," Burns said. "It's always hard to see a teammate go down, and they got back on track."
Sophomore Shaun Herzog won the high bar competition with a 14.200. Gagnon finished fourth with a 13.850, followed by Duran for fourth with a 13.800.
Karstadt once again earned the all-around title, scoring an 82.550 over Iowa's Botto.
"We aren't quite at our championship lineup," Burns said. "It was nice to see Liebler back on floor after six weeks, he did a really nice job. Over spring break we are going to focus on rest, recovery and final preparation for the end of the season."
Minnesota will be back at home next Saturday, March 18 at 3:00 p.m. as they host the University of Illinois at Chicago Flames. The Gophers will also honor the programs two seniors, Liebler and Mitchell Soukup. Tickets are available at mygophersports.com.
Players Mentioned
