April 7, 2012
IOWA CITY – University of Iowa men’s gymnast Broderick Shemansky was named first team All-Big Ten following the final day of the 2012 Big Ten Championships hosted in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The No. 11 Hawkeyes also had three gymnasts compete on the individual event finals Saturday with senior Zach Cazabon, junior Javier Balboa and junior Matt McGrath in action.
Shemansky was honored with first team recognition for his all-around efforts on Friday. The Los Gatos, Calif., native placed sixth on all-around, scoring a career best 85.150. Shemansky scored a 14.250 on floor exercise, a 13.500 on pommel horse, a 14.450 on rings, a 14.100 on vault, a 14.600 on parallel bars and a 14.250 on high bar.
“This is a big deal for him,” said head coach JD Reive. “It’s a huge step in his career. To be at a Big Ten meet and do as well as he did and to finally hit all six events, it’s a big positive and we expect more of this to come from him.”
Cazabon scored a 13.900 on pommel horse to place seventh. The Brentwood, Mo., native scored a 14.200 on the event Friday to finish seventh and qualify to the event finals.
McGrath finish eighth on vault, scoring a 14.950. McGrath, from Wheaton, Ill., placed fourth on vault Friday with a 15.100 to qualify to today’s finals.
Balboa scored a 14.050 on parallel bars to finish eighth on the event. Balboa placed 10th on the event Friday with a 14.600 to move on to the event finals.
“They did a good job tonight,” said Reive. “Zach went out and did a better pommel horse than the one he did yesterday in my opinion, Matt had a phenomenal vault and Balboa added a new trick to his routine which he has done only one time all year.”
Paul Ruggeri of Illinois won the title on floor exercise and vault, Penn State’s Craig Hernandez and Ohio State’s Ty Echard were co-champions on pommel horse, Penn State’s Scott Rosenthal won rings and Michigan’s Sam Mikulak won the event title on parallel bars and high bar.
McGrath was named Iowa’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Winner following the conclusion of the meet.
Iowa now waits for the NCAA Qualifier Selection Show that will air on Tuesday. The selection show will be streamed at NCAA.com (time TBA).
First Team All-Big Ten:
Scott Rosenthal, PSU; Craig Hernandez, PSU; Ty Echard, OSU; C.J. Maestas, Illinois; Sam Mikulak, Michigan; Paul Ruggeri, Illinois; Felix Aronovich, PSU; Adrian de los Angeles, Michigan; Broderick Shemansky, Iowa;
Second Team All-Big Ten:
Zach Chase, Minnesota; Misha Koudinov, OSU;
Big Ten Gymnast of the Year:
C.J. Maestas, Illinois
Big Ten Freshman of the Year:
C.J. Maestas, Illinois
Big Ten Coach of the Year:
Justin Spring, Illinois
Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Winners:
Josh Wilson, Illinois; Matt McGrath, Iowa; Stacey Ervin, Michigan; Travis Heaver, Minnesota; Andreas Hofer, Nebraska; Misha Koudinov, OSU; Scott Rosenthal, PSU;