The Iowa men’s gymnastics team traveled to Chicago this past weekend hoping to repeat last season’s victory over Illinois-Chicago.

Behind stellar performances on the rings and vault by freshman Matt McGrath, the Hawkeyes defeated the Flames, 340.200-331.050 on Feb. 6.

McGrath took first in both events with a score of 14.650 in the rings and 15.550 in vault. Iowa sophomore Zach Cazabon set an Iowa season high by taking first in the parallel bars with a score of 14.600.

Iowa was without the presence of team leaders Ben Ketelsen and Jon Buese, who were in Las Vegas competing in the Winter Cup and hoping to make the U.S. National Team.

“With [Ketelsen and Buese] in Las Vegas, we had other guys step in, and they did a fantastic job,” Iowa head coach Tom Dunn said in a statement. “This was probably our best meet of the year, to date, so I was very pleased.”

The Hawkeyes swept the Flames in team totals in all six events. Iowa had the leading individual scorer in every category but the horizontal bars.

— by Nick Gans