The sixth-ranked Iowa men’s gymnastics fell on the road to No. 9 Minnesota, 436.000-421.000, on March 7. The meet marked Iowa’s lowest point total since it scored 414.000 at the Windy City Invitational on Jan. 17 — the Hawkeyes’ first competition of the season.

“This was a bad meet,” head coach JD Reive said in a release. “A few guys showed up tonight, but there were many mistakes.”

In their second five-up-five-count meet of the season, costly mistakes proved fatal. Minnesota dominated from start to finish, winning every event by at least a point.

Iowa scored just a 68.600 on the pommel horse, culminated by a lowly 11.450 from junior Emmanuel Monroy. Even standout specialist Doug Sullivan struggled, at least by his standards. The junior placed second in the event after a 14.650 routine.

The team also struggled on the parallel bars with a score of 67.250. Again a sub-12-point score derailed the Hawks, this time coming from sophomore Cory Paterson, who’s routine earned just a 11.150.

Minnesota put up 74.500 points on the still rings to top a strong 73.500 from the Hawks. Three Hawkeyes — senior William Albert and sophomore Andrew Botto and junior Matt Loochtan — all scored 14.900. Senior Lance Alberhasky added a 14.700.

Despite the strong performance, the Gophers had three gymnasts finish ahead of Albert, Botto, and Loochtan. It was just their night.

On the floor exercise, junior Cyrus Dobre-Mofid’s 13.100 plagued the team. Loochtan continued to improve his floor routine, scoring a team-high 14.800. The Gophers outscored the Hawks 73.450-70.700 on the event behind a 15.000 effort from freshman Joel Gagnon.

On the vault, Iowa was led by Dobre-Mofid’s score of 14.550 and Albert’s 14.500. Minnesota’s freshman Yaroslav Pochinka led all scorers with 15.350.

The high bar may have been the most competitive event of the evening. Junior Jack Boyle won the event, scoring a 14.900. He was the only Hawkeye to win an event, but Minnesota still won the event, 71.650-70.600.

Iowa beat the Gophers on Feb. 14 in Iowa City, and in its last two meets heading into Minneapolis had posted back-to-back season highs in points.

The momentum stalled this past weekend, however, as Reive lost his fifth-straight meeting at Minnesota — he has yet to win there as Iowa’s head coach.

To add to Iowa’s struggles, the Gophers had their best outing of the season. Their 436.250 points was good for a season-high and may be good enough to leap Iowa in the coaches’ poll this week.

Senior Steve Jaciuk led the Gophers as he’s done all year, scoring 15.300 on both the rings and parallel bars.

Iowa was without freshman Dylan Ellsworth, who was resting after missing practice with an illness.

The Hawkeyes have one more meet, March 15 at Nebraska, to address their mistakes before the Big Ten meet March 27 and 28.

“It was Minnesota’s game tonight, not ours,” Reive said in a release. “We’re going to regroup and get back to the gym to prepare for Nebraska.”