By Ricardo Ascencio
[email protected]

The No. 7 Iowa men’s gymnastics team had a tough meet on Feb. 13 in Minneapolis against No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Minnesota, and No. 5 Illinois.

Minnesota won the meet with a cumulative score of 432.650, followed by Stanford (432.300) and Illinois (429.750). The Hawkeyes could not crack the top three as they walked out of the Twin Cities placing fourth with a score of 419.700.

The Hawkeyes were competitive throughout as freshman Jake Brodarzon, sophomore Dylan Ellsworth, and redshirt senior Cyrus Dobre-Mofid helped the team reach fifth on parallel bars with a score of 13.550.

The team was also led by senior Matt Loochtan, who scored 15.000 on the floor exercise, good for third in the event. Ellsworth also put up a strong showing with a score of 14.650.

Junior Andrew Botto placed third overall in the second to last rotation of rings with a score of 14.750. Botto was followed by Loochtan, who placed sixth overall in the event with a score 14.650.

The Hawkeyes finished the meet in Minnesota on vault, the team’s best event. Iowa had an impressive finish with a score of 73.300. Loochtan paved the way with a score of 14.950 and finished sixth. Closely following Loochtan were juniors David Spanier and Mark Springett with an impressive score of 14.800 and 14.600.

In overall competition, Iowa’s Ellsworth and senior Jake Boyle finished eighth and ninth with scores of 81.950 and 80.200.

This week will be a bye for the Hawkeyes, while select gymnasts will compete for the Winter Cup in Las Vegas on Feb. 18-20.