By Jess Westendorf
The Iowa men’s gymnastics team competed in the 2017 NCAA Championships April 21-22 in West Point, New York.Iowa competed as a team in the April 21 qualifier and sent eight gymnasts to the finals on April 22.
April 21
Senior Andrew Botto led the Hawkeyes at the qualifiers after he finished second overall in the all-around with a 80.550.
“It’s super exciting,” Botto said in a release. “This is the first time I did all-around at NCAA’s so it’s really rewarding to get that top-three finish and go onto the second day and hopefully get that top-eight to get the All-American status.”
Since Iowa did not advance as a team, Botto and seven other gymnasts advanced to the finals.
“It feels wonderful to have eight gymnasts and 17 routines advance to tomorrow,” head coach JD Reive said in a release. “The goal was to go in as a team. We performed as good as we were going to. We put it out there and we left it out there. It was 100 percent and they competed great tonight.”
Senior Cory Paterson and redshirt junior Mark Springett also advanced to the finals after competing on parallel bars and rings, respectively.
Paterson registered a season-best 14.300 to finish seventh while Springett recorded a 13.900 to finished in 12th place.
April 22
After Iowa sent eight gymnasts to the NCAA Finals on April 22, senior Andrew Botto took the spotlight with a 14th place finish in the all-around with a 80.850.
“We had some good performances,” Reive said in a release. “I think they performed really well. We tried to add some things in that didn’t go very well to bump up difficulty and potentially put us in the spot for an All-American. We went out and showed off in finals, one of the most exciting gymnastics competitions of all time.”
Botto and junior Dylan Ellsworth competed on vault, registering scores of 14.050 and 14.450, respectively. Botto finished in 29th place while Ellsworth finished in 18th.
During the second rotation, three Hawkeyes saw action.
Botto and Paterson went on the parallel bars while junior Austin Hodges competed on pommel horse.
Botto finished in a tie for 28th while Paterson registered a season-high 14.450 to tie for 10th place overall.
Rotation three brought out freshman Nick Merryman on pommel horse and redshirt junior Mark Springett on rings. Botto and Paterson also competed on high bar
Paterson recorded a 14.200 on high bar to secure 12th place overall in his last routine as a Hawkeye.
Botto and Merryman, returned to action in the fourth rotation.
Botto notched a 13.450 on floor to tie for 35th, while Merryman finished 39th on rings with a 13.250.
Sophomore Kevin Johnson and Botto competed on pommel horse in rotation five. Johnson scored 11.300 for a 45th place finish, while Botto finished 42nd with a 12.350.
The last rotation of the night brought out Ellsworth and Botto on rings, sophomore Rogelio Vazquez on parallel bars, and Hodges on high bar.
Ellsworth hit a 13.750 on rings to secure 29th, Hodges tied for 20th on high bars with a 13.600, while Vazquez ended up in 40th on parallel bars with a 13.100.
In his final rotation as a Hawkeye, Botto finished ninth on rings with a 14.450.
“They handled their routines,” Reive said. “They did good gymnastics and we made some mistakes trying to do some things to put us in some podium contention. It was very motivating and we’re ready to go back and get to work for this time next year.”
