April 12, 2016
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- 24 Hawkeyes to Watch
THIS WEEK:
The No. 7 University of Iowa men’s gymnastics team finishes its 2016 season at the NCAA Championships in Columbus, Ohio this weekend. The Hawkeyes compete in session II at 6 p.m. (CT) Saturday against No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 6 Illinois, No. 10 Air Force, and No. 11 Michigan inside historic St. John Arena. The top three teams in each session will qualify for team finals which take place the next day for the NCAA title.
FOLLOW ALONG:
Fans can follow this weekend’s meet via live stats and a live stream. The competition will be streamed on sportsincbus.com. Links to both are available on the team’s schedule page at hawkeyesports.com.
LAST TIME OUT:
The Hawkeyes competed in the 2016 Big Ten Championships in Columbus, Ohio. Senior Matt Loochtan highlighted the weekend with a First Team All-Big Ten selection. The senior co-captain placed second on rings in team finals with a career-high 15.550, qualifying for event finals where he scored a 15.100 for second overall and his first conference accolade.
Iowa placed fifth as a team in finals. The Hawkeyes posted a 426.700 on their way to qualifying five total gymnasts for event finals. Senior Jack Boyle (rings, high bar), sophomore Austin Hodges (pommel horse), sophomore Dylan Ellsworth (vault), and senior Doug Sullivan (pommel horse) joined Loochtan on day two. Hodges set a career-high on pommel horse with a 14.725 on his way to a fifth place finish, while Sullivan was honored with the Big Ten Sportsmanship award for Iowa following the meet.
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION:
? Stanford finished its season ranked second in the nation with a 443.213 team average.
? The team placed second in the MPSF Championships on April 2nd with a score of 444.650.
? Ohio State won the Big Ten Championships in Columbus, Ohio, on April 2.
? The Hawkeyes are 0-3 against the Buckeyes in 2016.
? Illinois is coming into the weekend ranked sixth in the nation.
? Illinois’ Alex Diab won the rings title at the Big Ten Championships.
? Air Force enters the season’s final meet 10th in the country with a team average of 427.500.
? Iowa and Air Force will be competing against each other for the first time in 2016.
? Michigan ranks 11th in the nation with a team average of 427.100.
? The Wolverines’ Anthony McCallum ranks first in the nation on vault with a 15.481 average.
LOOCHTAN NAMED ALL-BIG TEN:
Senior Matt Loochtan was named First Team All-Big Ten following his performance at the Big Ten Championships on April 1-2. Loochtan competed on rings for the Hawkeyes during event finals, hitting a 15.100 and placing second overall on the event. The Hawthorn Woods, Illinois, native was named First Team All-Big Ten following the meet for his first conference honor of his career. It is the second straight season Iowa has had an all-conference gymnast (Sullivan in 2015).
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 finished the regular season 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 15.300. He has won five event titles and two all-around titles this season.
The winner of the award will be announced during the CGA Awards Banquet on Thursday, April 14 in Columbus, Ohio, where the NCAA Championships are being hosted.
BIG TEN SHOWS POWER:
The Big Ten Conference was dominant in 2016. Of the top 10 teams listed on roadtonationals.com, six are from the Big Ten, including No. 3 Ohio State, No. 5 Minnesota, No. 6 Illinois, No. 7 Iowa, No. 8 Penn State, and No. 9 Nebraska.
BOYLE ON HIGH BAR:
Senior Jack Boyle finished 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.
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.
HAWKEYES SIGN 3 FOR 2016-17:
The Iowa men’s gymnastics team signed three standout gymnasts for the 2016-17 season. Andrew Herrador (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 Stanford 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.