CHICAGO— Five University of Iowa men’s gymnasts qualified for a total of 11 routines to day two of the NCAA Championship during Friday’s Qualifier at the UIC Pavilion. The top three all-arounders and event finishers who are not on a qualified team advanced to day two.
HOW IT HAPPENED
All-Around: Freshman Bennet Huang posted a career-high 80.865 to advance to the championships tomorrow in every event.
Floor: Huang notched a 13th-place finish (13.666) on floor.
Pommel Horse: Huang notched a 13.700 to finish eighth. Sophomore Nick Merryman finished ninth (13.633) and junior Kevin Johnson finished 11th (13.400) to advance to tomorrow.
Rings: Junior Jake Brodarzon posted a 13.833 and tied for seventh to advance to tomorrow. Senior Dylan Ellsworth tied for 15th with a 13.400.
Vault: Junior Jake Brodarzon (14.460, 4th) and freshman Bennet Huang (14.333, 7th) notched career-highs on vault to advance to tomorrow. Sophomore Andrew Herrador posted a season-high 14.100 and tied for 15th.
Parallel Bars: Senior Austin Hodges tied for 15th with a 13.633.
High Bar: Herrador led the way on high bar, recording his second season-high of the night (13.866) to tie for seventh and advance to tomorrow. Merryman earned a 15th-place finish with a 13.433
HEAR FROM COACH REIVE
“This is really bittersweet. We were brilliant with a lot of things. We just missed a couple of key crucial routines. It’s disappointing with the seniors. I’m super bummed out for them. That would have put the team into finals but we didn’t pull it off. That couple of points was easy to make up. In between there we had a lot of guys do some really good gymnastics. I’m disappointed that we didn’t advance as a team but we have five guys going forward into tomorrow’s meet, which is an opportunity for us to get All-Americans and show what we did today.”
“Bennet had a phenomenal meet tonight. He went six-for-six and stuck a lot of landings. He performed incredibly well and deserves to be in the finals as an all-arounder. We have few things we can clean up for tomorrow but it should be another great competition for him.”
UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes return to competition tomorrow as they compete in day two of the NCAA Championships. Competition is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. (CT) at UIC Pavilion in Chicago.
