University of Minnesota Athletics
B1G Weekend On Tap for Gophers
4/6/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
| B1G CHAMPIONSHIPS | |||||||||||
| Date | April 7-8 (7:00 p.m.) | ||||||||||
| Location | State Farm Center | Champaign, Ill. | ||||||||||
| Meet Info | Championships Central | ||||||||||
| Live Scoring | Available Here | ||||||||||
| Television | Big Ten Network | ||||||||||
| Live Stream | Day 1 | Day 2 | ||||||||||
| Social Media | @GopherMGym | Facebook | Instagram | ||||||||||
No. 5 Minnesota will compete at the 2017 Big Ten Men's Gymnastics Championships this Friday, April 7 and Saturday, April 8 at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill. Both days will start at 7:00 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network, BTN2GO and the BTN2GO mobile app.
Team and all-around finals will be contested on Friday. Individual event finals will take place on Saturday, featuring the top 10 qualifiers from Friday.
SCOUTING THE B1G
• Each of the seven conference programs are ranked among the top-10 teams in the nation.
• The reigning conference champions, Ohio State, lead the pack ranked No. 3 behind Oklahoma and Stanford. The Buckeyes have the top all-around competitor, Jake Martin, who was named the Big Ten Co-Gymnast of the Year with our own Justin Karstadt. Alec Yoder also leads the conference on pommel horse. As a team, Ohio State also leads the conference on pommel horse and parallel bars.
• No. 4 Illinois has the conference's top competitors on floor (Sebastian Quiana) and on rings (Alex Diab). Brandon Ngai won the national title last year on pommel horse as a freshman. The Fighting Illini also lead the Big Ten on high bar.
• Penn State, ranked No. 6, has the third best all-arounder in the conference, Sam Zakutney. The Nittany Lions' strongest event is pommel horse, where they are ranked third in the nation. Penn State returns one All-American in Leroy Clarke, Jr. The program won the conference title in 2015 and finished fourth last year.
• Behind Minnesota's 426.950, Nebraska holds the second highest score in the conference during the regular season with a 425.550. The Cornhuskers are ranked No. 7 and return All-Americans Austin Epperson and Anton Stephenson.
• The Iowa Hawkeyes went 6-10 during the regular season, and 2-9 in conference competition. Iowa's best event is vault, where they are ranked No. 4 in the country.
• While Michigan is the lowest ranked team in the conference, Wolverine Anthony McCallum is tied with Minnesota's Yaroslav Pochinka as the top competitor on vault in the Big Ten. McCallum is also the reigning national champion on vault.
CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY
Minnesota has won 21 Big Ten Championships in program history, but is looking for its first championship crown since 1995. The Gophers finished third last year, and notably missing from the lineup was three-time All-American Zach Liebler, who couldn't compete due to illness.
REGULAR SEASON FINALE
Last time out, Minnesota notched the highest score in the Big Ten Conference this season, and became just the third team to break the 425.000 mark. The Gophers topped Nebraska, 426.950-425.550. Within the Gophers' statement meet were scores of 72.800 on floor and 73.600 on vault, both which lead the conference this season. Peaking at the right time is extremely important in the sport of gymnastics, and the Gophers' upward trend is promising as the team enters postseason.
KARSTADT NAMED B1G CO-GYMNAST OF THE YEAR
Sophomore Karstadt was named Big Ten Co-Gymnast of the Year along with Ohio State's Jake Martin. At Nebraska, Karstadt became just the fourth gymnast in the nation, and first in the conference, to break the 87.000 mark on all-around with a 87.050. During the regular season, he had 22 podium finishes, including ten event titles.
GAGNON PERFORMS THE GAGNON
Junior captain Joel Gagnon's unique parallel bars skill was one of eight approved by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) for 2017, and the skills are named after the gymnasts that performed them. The Gagnon is a skill on parallel bars that is described as a basket roll backwards with tuck salto half to upper arm hang. He performed the element successfully at the 2016 Szombathely World Challenge Cup, his first ever World Cup event, where he represented Canada. The FIG describes the selection as a way of achieving immortality in gymnastics. The gymnast who has an original skill named after them in the Code of Points assures that his or her name will live on in the sport, years after they have taken their final bows on the international stage.
LIEBLER NAMED NISSEN-EMERY AWARD FINALIST
Gopher Zach Liebler is one of eight finalists for the prestigious Nissen-Emery Award. It is given annually to the given annually to the nation's outstanding senior gymnast and is the most coveted award in collegiate gymnastics.
WELL REPRESENTED IN THE TOP 10
Team (National)
• #2 Vault (72.600)
• #3 Floor (70.933)
• #3 Still Rings (69.933)
• #5 Team (Poll/Average)
• #5 Parallel Bars (69.767)
• #6(t) High Bar (68.133)
• #7 Pommel Horse (67.750)
Team (Conference)
• #1 Floor (70.933)
• #1 Still Rings (69.933)
• #1 Vault (72.600)
• #3 Team (Poll/Average)
• #3 Parallel Bars (69.767)
• #4 High Bar (68.133)
• #5 Pommel Horse (67.750)
Individuals (National)
• #2(t) Pochinka, Vault (14.917)
• #7 Karstadt, All-Around (82.583)
• #7 Wittenberg, Floor (14.567)
• #9 Karstadt, Pommel Horse (14.400)
• #9 Kan, Vault (14.733)
• #10 Karstadt, Rings (14.450)
• #10(t) Liebler, Vault (14.700)
Individuals (Conference)
• #1(t) Pochinka, Vault (14.917)
• #2 Karstadt, All-Around (82.583)
• #3 Wittenberg, Floor (14.567)
• #4 Karstadt, Pommel Horse (14.400)
• #4 Karstadt, Rings (14.450)
• #5 Kan, Vault (14.733)
• #5 Kan, Floor (14.483)
• #5 Pochinka, Rings (14.300)
• #6 Liebler, Vault (14.700)
• #7 Stephens, High Bar (14.050)
• #8 Liebler, Floor (14.367)
• #9(t) Gagnon, Vault (14.650)
• #10 Duran, High Bar (13.950)
Players Mentioned
