Iowa men’s gymnastics clinches share of Big Ten title

The Hawkeyes won their first conference title since 1998 with a solid performance in Minnesota.

Jake+Brodarzon+celebrates+a+stuck+landing+after+his+parallel+bars+event+during+theme+against+Nebraska+at+the+UI+Field+House+on+Saturday%2C+March+2%2C+2019.+Iowa+took+the+victory+with+a+score+of+406.500+over+Nebraska+with+a+score+of+403.550.

Megan Conroy

Jake Brodarzon celebrates a stuck landing after his parallel bars event during theme against Nebraska at the UI Field House on Saturday, March 2, 2019. Iowa took the victory with a score of 406.500 over Nebraska with a score of 403.550.

Sydney Becker, Sports Reporter

The Iowa men’s gymnastics team clinched a share of the first regular-season Big Ten title after scoring a second-place spot with 406.350 points behind Minnesota (410.950) and ahead of Penn State (398.200).

This is Iowa’s first Big Ten title 1998 and the first time in history that a team was awarded the title during the regular season.

“I am incredibly of the boys. They performed really well,” Iowa head coach J.D. Reive said in a release. “This is what we trained for this week, so we did what we prepared to do. We are going to get back in the gym so we can do it again when we host Big Tens in Iowa City.”

With an overall team goal of working toward monumental achievements, many seniors worked hard to make it happen.

“We have been working for this goal since June 1, when we came back for summer determined to change the culture surrounding this culture,” senior Jake Brodarzon said in a release. “We all had an undying belief that we could win this title and wrote it on our board in the gym to look at every single day.”

The men’s team bested or tied eight career or season-highs during the meet in Minneapolis on Saturday.

Brodarzon took the gold on rings with a career-best of 14.500. Other career highs include Evan Davis on floor (13.800) and three on vault. Stewart Brown bested his previous career-high with (14.600), as well as Mitch Mandozzi (14.300) and Davis (14.150).

“While we’re ecstatic about the outcome today, we are even more excited about how this sets us up going into postseason, because we are not done yet,” Brodarzon said in a release.

The men’s team returns to action when it hosts Big Ten Championships April 5-6.