March 30, 2016
- Read the March issue of Hawk Talk Monthly
- 2016 Media Guide
- Download your Iowa Hawkeye iPhone app!
- Big Ten Network: Free Hawkeye Video
- 24 Hawkeyes to Watch
THIS WEEK:
The No. 8-ranked University of Iowa men’s gymnastics team competes in the 2016 Big Ten Championships from April 1-2. The event is hosted by Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, inside historic St. John Arena. The meet begins at 6 p.m. (CT) on Friday and Saturday.
FOLLOW ALONG:
Fans can follow this weekend’s meet via live stats available on the team’s schedule page at hawkeyesports.com. The competition will be aired on the Big Ten Network on both days.
LAST TIME OUT:
The Hawkeyes finished off the regular season in Lincoln, Nebraska, against Nebraska and Minnesota in what was Iowa’s closest competition this season. Iowa and Nebraska tied for second, tallying scores of 432.450, and Minnesota won the meet with a score of 433.850. Senior Jack Boyle won the event title on high bar, posting a score of 14.900, and sophomore Austin Hodges set a career-high with a 14.450 on the event for 13th place. Junior Mark Springett set a career-high on rings with a 14.700 for fifth place, and senior Matt Loochtan tied his own school record on floor with a 15.650 on his way to claiming the all-around title with a career best 87.700.
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SCOUTING THE COMPETITION:
• Ohio State leads the Big Ten with a four-score average of 439.767 and sits in third in the nation.
• Sean Melton leads the nation on rings with a four-score average of 15.683.
• Minnesota comes in to the weekend fourth nationally with a four score average of 435.783.
• Zach Liebler is first in the county on floor exercise with a four score average of 15.750.
• Illinois is tied for fifth in the country with California. They have four score averages of 433.900.
• As a team, the Illini rank first overall on pommel horse with a four score average of 73.950.
• Nebraska ranks one spot in front of Iowa in seventh with a four score average of 432.617.
• Iowa has faced Nebraska three times in 2016 and has won, lost, and tied.
• Defending Big Ten Champion Penn State sits in ninth nationally with a four score average of 431.300.
• Iowa defeated Penn State in its only meeting this season on Feb. 27.
• Michigan is 10th in the country with a four score average of 429.750.
• Iowa and Michigan faced off at the Windy City Invitational on Jan.17. The Hawkeyes defeated the Wolverines 419.650 – 413.700.
LOOCHTAN IN THE TOP 10:
Senior Matt Loochtan is in the top 10 nationally in all-around, floor, and rings following the conclusion of the regular season. Loochtan is ranked seventh nationally on floor with four score average of 15 .417, eighth on rings with an average of 15.150, and ninth in all-around with an 86.467.
BOYLE NAMED FINALIST FOR NISSEN-EMERY:
Senior Jack Boyle is a finalist for the Nissen-Emery Award. This prestigious honor is given to the country’s most outstanding senior gymnast both in the gym and in the classroom. The last Hawkeye to be named a finalist for the award was Jonathan Buese in 2010.
Boyle, a Naperville, Illinois, native is a mechanical engineering major and three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree. He is fourth in the country on high bar with a four score average of 15.100 and 13th nationally in the all-around (86.000). Boyle leads the team on high bar with a high score of 15.250. He has won five event titles and an two all-around titles so far this season.
BOYLE ON HIGH BAR:
Senior Jack Boyle finished off the regular season ranked fourth nationally on high bar. Boyle owns a four score average of 15.100 through 10 meets on high bar. The Naperville, Illinois, native posted his career-high of 15.300 against Illinois on Jan. 23. As a team, the Hawkeyes rank sixth nationally on high bar with a four score average of 71.900.
LOOCHTAN NAMED BIG TEN GYMNAST OF THE WEEK:
Senior Matt Loochtan was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Week on Feb. 27 after helping Iowa defeat No. 6 Nebraska and No. 8 Penn State. Loochtan earned five event titles on floor (15.350), rings (15.150), vault (14.450), parallel bars (14.850), and high bar (14.450) to help the Hawkeyes finish atop the leaderboard. His all-around score of 86.400 marked a career-high.
It is Iowa’s first Gymnast of the Week award since Jan. 26, 2015, when senior Jack Boyle won the honor and Loochtan’s second weekly honor of his career. He won Big Ten Freshman of the Week on April 1, 2013.
FRESHMEN CONTRIBUTORS:
• Three freshmen worked their way into the Iowa lineup this season.
• Jake Brodarzon has competed in every meet for the Hawkeyes this season, making the lineup on floor and parallel bars. He posted season-high scores on floor (14.850) and parallel bars (14.200) on March 12.
• Todd Beyer II has competed for the Hawkeyes four times this season on vault. His best score of 14.900 came at UIC on Jan. 24, where he placed third overall.
• Rogelio Vazquez has competed on three events this season, including rings, parallel bars, and high bar. His high score on rings came against Illinois on Jan. 23, where he posted a 14.550. The next day, Vazquez notched a season-high on parallel bars (13.800), and on March 20 he recorded a season-high 14.300 on high bar.
BIG TEN SHOWS POWER:
The Big Ten Conference was dominant in 2016. Of the top 10 teams listed on roadtonationals.com, seven are from the Big Ten, including No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Minnesota, No. 5 Illinois, No. 7 Nebraska, No. 8 Iowa, No. 9 Penn State, No. 10 Michigan.
HIGH SCORING HAWKS:
Iowa made history in back-to-back meets on Jan. 23-24. The Hawkeyes had never scored above a 430.000 team score in January in the program’s history. In 2016, the team did it twice with a 430.850 coming against Illinois and a 431.150 the next day at UIC.
Cory Paterson COMPETES IN CANADA:
During the Hawkeyes’ off day on Feb. 6, junior Cory Paterson traveled to Halifax, Nova Scotia, with assistant coach Ben Ketelsen for the 2016 Elite Canada Artistic Gymnastics Championships. Paterson placed seventh in the all-around competition with a 79.100 and third on high bar with a 13.600 effort.
HAWKEYES SIGN 3 FOR 2016-17:
The Iowa men’s gymnastics team signed three standout gymnasts for the 2016-17 season. Andrew Herra-dor (Sunnyvale, California), Nicholas Merryman (Brookline, New Hampshire) and Mitch Mandozzi (Harvard, Massachusetts) signed National Letters of Intent to continue their gymnastics career at Iowa. The recruiting class has combined for nine state championships and five national championships.
HEAD COACH JD Reive:
JD Reive, the seventh head coach at Iowa, is entering his sixth year at the helm of the program. Reive is looking for continued success following a sixth place finish at the NCAA Championships last year. Reive has led an All-American in each of the past three seasons and has one of the highest team GPA’s at Iowa, tying a program record with nine student-athletes named to the 2016 Winter Academic All-Conference team.
In 2015, Iowa sent five gymnasts to compete in the event finals of the Big Ten Championship. Doug Sullivan was named all-conference on pommel horse following a score of 14.800. As a team, Iowa placed sixth with a team score of 427.600. At the NCAA event finals, Jack Boyle was named an all-american on high bar with a sixth place finish and a score of 14.850.
Reive graduated from Nebraska in 2000 with a bachelor of journalism degree and was an assistant at Stan-ford from 2003-10 where he helped the team grab four top three finishes. Reive was also named Collegiate Gymnastics Association Assistant Coach of the Year three times (2006, 2009 and 2010) and was also the National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2009.
