Feb. 7, 2014
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The ninth-ranked University of Iowa men’s gymnastics team dropped a 433.350-420.300 decision to fifth-ranked Illinois on Friday night in its home opener at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“I’m a little disappointed with the overall score,” UI head coach J.D. Reive stated. “Five of the events were acceptable, but the pommel horse score was terrible. That’s something that we underperformed on and we have to fix that. Other than that, we handled everything the way that I would expect us to at this point in the season.”
Iowa started the meet off strong by winning on the floor. Redshirt senior Matt McGrath led the Hawkeyes by tallying a 15.000 and claimed the event title. Following close behind was redshirt junior Lance Alberhasky with a score of 14.650 and sophomore Matt Loochtan with a 14.550.
Iowa headed into the pommel horse leading Illinois 73.000-72.750. Sophomore Doug Sullivan paced the Hawkeyes with a score of 13.400, followed by sophomore Emmanuel Monroy with a score of 12.600 and junior Mitchell Landau with a score of 12.100.
Heading to the rings, Iowa fell behind the Illini, 142.400-134.050. Sophomore Jack Boyle scored a 15.000 and took third place in the event to lead the Hawkeyes. Both McGrath and freshman Andrew Botto scored a 14.550.
In the fourth event, McGrath led the Hawkeyes again on the vault, scoring a 14.650 and placed third in the event. Junior William Albert came in slightly behind, with a score of 14.600, followed by Loochtan with a 14.550.
The Hawkeyes then came into the parallel bars trailing 278.800-290.000. Cyrus Dobre-Mofid led the Hawkeyes with a score of 14.350 and took third place in the event, while both Alberhasky and Landau followed with scores of 14.250.
Heading into the final event, Iowa trailed the Illini 361.500-349.650. Landau displayed a strong routine by scoring a 15.200 and took the runner-up spot in the event. Boyle and Cory Paterson followed behind with scores of 14.200 and 14.000.
In the all-around, Boyle took second place with a score of 82.050. C.J. Maestas of Illinois won the event with a 89.200.
The Hawkeyes return to action at home as they host Big Ten opponents No. 7 Minnesota and No. 11 Nebraska on Feb. 15 at noon (CT).