CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Eight University of Iowa gymnasts advanced 18 routines to the NCAA Championship finals on Saturday inside the State Farm Center.
Sophomore Bennet Huang and senior Jake Brodarzon advanced in the all-around competition, freshman Stewart Brown on parallel bars, and junior Andrew Herrador and freshman Evan Davis both advanced on high bar. Junior Mitch Mandozzi advanced on vault, while Kulani Taylor also advanced on floor.
MEET HIGHLIGHTS
Davis posted two career-bests on floor with a 13.900 (9th) and on rings with a 13.633 (19th). Brodarzon topped a career best on pommel horse with a 11.766 (29th) and junior Mitch Mandozzi posted a career-best 14.566 on vault to place fourth. Sophomore Addison Chung and Huang both posted career bests on vault with 13.800 (13th) and 13.433 (24th), respectively.
HOW IT HAPPENED
High Bar
Herrador led the Hawkeyes with a 13.633 to place fifth and Davis followed with a 13.433 to place 11th. Senior Rogelio Vazquez and Huang contributed 13.233 (14th) and 13.100 (20th), respectively. Iowa finished the first rotation in third place with a 65.865.
Floor
Davis and sophomore Kulani Taylor both posted season bests for Iowa with 13.900 (9th) and 13.866 (11th), respectively. Huang posted a 13.700 to place 13th and Herrador garnered a 13.633 to place 18th. The Hawkeyes closed the second rotation in fourth place with a 133.730 overall team score. Davis and Taylor advanced to the finals on Saturday.
Pommel Horse
Huang led Iowa with a 13.433 to place ninth. Herrador earned a 12.533 (19th) and junior Nick Merryman posted a 12.300 (25th). The Hawkeyes fell to fifth place after the third rotation with a 61.799 on pommel horse and a 195.529 overall score.
Rings
Brodarzon led the Hawkeyes with a 14.066 to place sixth and to advance to the finals. Sophomore Addison Chung tied a career-best 13.800 to place 15th and Davis posted a season-high 13.633 to place 19th. Iowa posted a 68.599 team score on the fifth rotation to give them a 264.128 overall score to stay in fifth place.
Vault
Junior Mitch Mandozzi advanced to the finals with a career-high 14.566 (4th) and led the Hawkeyes to a rotation score of 70.398. This moved Iowa into fourth place with an overall team score of 334.526. Chung and Brodarzon contributed 14.300 (13th) and 14.066 (18th), respectively.
Parallel Bars
Brown led the Hawkeyes with a 13.666 to place seventh and advance to the finals. Brodarzon and Merryman contributed 13.433 (11th) and 13.366 (13th) to Iowa’s team score of 65.864 to place fourth overall.
All-Around
Huang placed first in the all-around competition with a score of 80.365. The sophomore earned a career-best 13.433 on rings to place 26th. He also contributed 13.700 (13th) on floor and 13.933 on vault to place 24th. Brodarzon posted a career-best 11.766 on pommel horse to place 29th. He contributed a 14.066 on vault and rings to place 18th and sixth respectively and advance to the finals on rings. Huang and Brodarzon will both compete for individual all-around national titles on Saturday.
UP NEXT
Eight Hawkeyes will compete for individual national titles on Saturday at 6 p.m. (CT) at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. The event will be aired on the Big Ten Network and live stats will be on hawkeyesports.com.