Hawkeye men’s gymnastics underperforms at Big Tens

Despite standout performances by Nick Merryman, Andrew Herrador, and Jake Brodarzon, the Hawkeyes finished last at the Big Ten Championships.

Ryan Adams

Hawkeye gymnast Jake Brodarzon competes in the parallel bars Friday in Carver Hawkeye Arena during Men’s Big Ten Championships. Penn State won the team competition with a combined score of 410.350 points. (Ryan Adams/The Daily Iowan)

Sarah Altemeier, Sports Reporter
April 5, 2019

After earning its first Big Ten regular-season title since 1998, Iowa men’s gymnastics got the chance to host the Big Ten Tournament.

But despite its regular season Big Ten title and stand-out performances from Nick Merryman, Andrew Herrador, and Jake Brodarzon, Iowa finished in last place.

The Hawkeyes started the night out on the pommel horse where Merryman scored the team-high of 13.450. Bennet Huang and Addison Chung weren’t far behind, scoring 13.350 and 13.200, respectively.

Iowa’s Brodarzon executed the next event, still rings, the best he has all season, notching a new career-high of 14.550. This was the highest score any Hawkeye earned all night.

On the vault, freshmen Stewart Brown made his first appearance of the night, scoring 14.350. Chung also showed an impressive vault score, earning 14.250 for the Hawkeyes. As a team, Iowa showed its best numbers on the vault.

Next up for Iowa came the parallel bars. Merryman again excelled, recording the team high of 13.950. FIve other Hawkeyes – Mitch Mandozzi, Rogelio Vazquez, Evan Davis, Brown, and Brodarzon – earned a score of 13 or higher.

Herrador scored the team-high,13.900, on the high bar before the Hawkeyes finished the team competition on the floor. Herrador again led the Hawkeyes and earned a score of 13.850.

Brodarzon, Davis, and Bennet Huang were Iowa’s three picks to compete in each event. Brodarzon scored the most points of the three with 78.600, while Huang was close behind at 78.000. Davis had an all-around score of 75.750.

Penn State finished the night in first with a score of 410.250, followed by Illinois and Michigan, which scored 410.00 and 409.550, respectively. The Hawkeyes finished seventh with 398.750, 11.5 points behind the Nittany Lions.

Iowa’s last-place finish can be accredited to a mixture of it not scoring as high as usual as well as other teams in the Big Ten simply stepping up.

On the pommel horse, three Hawkeyes scored less than 12 points and the team scored the lowest: 63.500. Additionally, Iowa’s team score of 398.750 is less than the score it earned at six of eight meets this season. Iowa reached over 400 points four times this season but fell short of that benchmark. Friday’s score was only 3.95 points higher than Iowa’s first meet of the year on Jan. 19.

In contrast, Michigan and Nebraska improved on its previous performances and increased the scores from when the teams faced the Hawkeyes earlier this season.

After naming the Big Ten Tournament champion, tomorrow will include individual competition, as the 10 individuals with the highest scores at each event will compete.

Three Hawkeyes earned spots to perform for individual titles; Brodarzon earned the second highest score on the still rings, Merryman placed 10th on the parallel bars, and Herrador scored the highest on the high bars.

Team Standings