University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Iowa
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Gophers Drop Season Opener to Iowa
1/30/2021 9:41:00 PM | Men's Gymnastics
The University of Minnesota men's gymnastics team fell in their season opening matchup against the Iowa Hawkeyes 393.650-387.050 Saturday night at Maturi Pavilion. Now falling to 0-1 in regular season and conference play, they'll look to bounce back against Ohio State in a week's time.
Notable
Freshman Noah Duran's 12.900 score on pommel horse not only earned him the event title this evening, but it also was the highest score on pommel horse by a freshman making his debut since Shane Wiskus posted a 13.200 in the event on Jan. 13, 2018.
Quotable
"A tough loss for the Gophers tonight. Obviously you never like to start the season off with a 0-1 record but it is what it is," head coach Mike Burns said. "Now we just need to step it up in the gym and make sure we clean up some of the areas we struggled in tonight so we can get after it against the Buckeyes of Ohio State next week."
All-Around
Junior Mike Moran was the lone Gopher that competed for the All-Around title against the Hawkeyes on the night. Moran wound up finishing in third with a compiled score of 76.150.
Floor Exercise
The Gophers started out their evening on floor, where a trio of Colton Dee, Mike Moran, and Garrett Kasiski rounded out the top five scores in the event at No. 3, 4, and 5 respectively. Despite this, Iowa had two Hawkeyes who tied for first in the event scoring 14.100's, which sealed the Hawkeyes victory in the event 66.950-64.450.
Pommel Horse
Needing to bounce back in their second rotation, the Maroon & Gold went into pommel needing big performances from their lineup, and that's exactly what they got. Freshman Noah Duran kicked things off by scoring a 12.900 in his first career routine for the team, a score that would ultimately earn him the event title on the night. Not only that, but both Mike Moran and Andrew Hyde were able to pull off 12.800 and 12.650 personal bests that locked the Gophers into a sweep of No. 1-3 on pommel.
Still Rings
Now holding a lead over the Hawkeyes, the Gophers looked to carry their momentum from pommel horse into rings. Senior Colton Dee was able to finish second on the evening, scoring a 13.500, while teammate David Pochinka was also able to log a respectable 13.300, but it wasn't enough as Iowa just edged out the Maroon & Gold 66.900-65.400. Sophomore Andrew Hyde also made another event debut tonight in the event, as he managed to log a 12.700.
Vault
Following the halfway point, the Gophers went into vault needing to make up some ground. Junior Ben Eyles, who was an NCAA All-American in the event in 2019, finished with the highest vault score on the team posting a 14.300. Colton Dee continued his strong performance on the evening, hitting a 14.200. These two scores again fell just short for the Gophers, as Iowa swept the top three slots in the event and won the event 71.350-68.000.
Parallel Bars
Minnesota, now trailing the Hawkeyes 264.500-259.800 needed big points to make up the gap. While Noah Duran again set a 12.900 on his first go at the event with the Maroon & Gold, and sophomores Victor Perez and Donte McKinney both landed personal bests with their scores of 12.950 and 12.500, Iowa again edged out the Gophers by less than a point in the event, winning it 65.300-64.450.
High Bar
The Gophers started slow on their last event of the night, but responded well by having a trio of amazing performances on high bar to close out the night. Donte McKinney was able to put up an event title winning 13.700, which at this time ranks in the top five highest scores in the event according to Road to Nationals. But even with Ben Eyles and Mike Moran each earning personal best scores of 13.050 and 12.300, the Hawkeyes again beat out the Maroon & Gold in the event 63.850-62.800 to close out the season opener.
The Road Ahead
The Maroon & Gold will hit the road for the next two weeks as they travel to Columbus, Ohio to match up against Ohio State on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. CST followed by a trip to Lincoln, Neb. to take on Nebraska at 2 p.m. on Feb. 13.