IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The No. 6 Gophers increased its winning streak to five on Saturday, defeating No. 10 Iowa and No.11 Nebraska on the road. The Gophers scored a season high in overall points, with a score of 437.400 to Iowa's 433.050 and Nebraska's 418.150.
The Gophers posted their highest score of the season thanks in large part to shoring up their areas of weakness. The Gophers posted their highest scores of the season on pommel horse (72.600) and high bar (72.9) at Iowa, two of their weaker events at the beginning of the season.
The Gophers were led by a strong performance from their captain, junior Steve Jaciuk. Jaciuk won the parallel bars event with a score of 15.300 and tied for first in the still rings with a 14.850. Jackiuk also performed a "hat trick" by sticking every one of his three dismounts.
The Gophers also had great performances on the floor exercise, where freshmen Zach Liebler scored a 15.250, and junior Sean Bauer scored a 15.500 to win the event. For Burns, it was just an example of Liebler's growth throughout his first season.
T7 Penn State 436.050, No. 5 Illinois 431.150
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- In the Nittany Lions' first Big Ten conference meet of the season, Penn State defeated Illinois 436.050-431.150 Saturday evening at Rec Hall, stretching the team's winning streak to five consecutive team titles.
After the first rotation, Penn State led Illinois by a narrow margin of 73.850-73.100 in the floor exercise. Junior Matt Felleman recorded a career-best mark on the floor with a 14.850, finishing fifth individually.
The Nittany Lions topped the Fighting Illini on the pommel horse, 71.800-71.550. Senior Preston Gall finished second in this rotation, tallying a season-best score of 14.800.
In rotation three, Penn State tallied a 73.450 on the still rings while Illinois put up a 72.600 on the vault. Sophomores Alexis Torres and Trevor Howard placed second and third, respectively.
Junior Tristan Duverglas took first place overall on the vault with a 15.350 in the fourth rotation. Junior Ismael Sanabria posted a season-best score of 14.600 on the vault to finish fourth overall. The Nittany Lions marked a 72.650 team total in the event to match their second best vault score of the season.
Duverglas also earned a career-best 14.350 on the parallel bars to contribute to Penn State's season-best team score of 72.650 in the event. Duverglas finished fourth on the parallel bars behind Howard (15.100) and Gall (14.700) who finished first and third, respectively.
Penn State had a strong showing on the high bar, earning a season-best 71.650 team score. Redshirt junior Nestor Rodriguez finished first in the event matching his career-high and recording a season-best 15.000. Torres' 14.850 score placed him second overall and earned him a career-high in the event. Redshirt freshman Leroy Clarke also contributed a 14.450 to the high bar, marking a career-high fourth-place finish.
In Torres' first career all-around performance, he tallied a score of 85.400 and placed third. Howard took second place in the all-around with a score of 86.650.
No. 9 Air Force (424.550), No. 16 Temple (402.500), No. 17 Ilinois-Chicago (403.550)
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- Six different Falcons accounted for first-place finishes, as Air Force picked up a team title at the Temple Triangular on Saturday. Competing in its second meet is as many nights, Air Force (424.550) claimed easy victories against No. 17 Illinois-Chicago (403.550) and No. 16 Temple (402.500).
Backed by a 14.800 from senior Ben Zaiser, the Falcons swept the top-six scores on the floor exercise. Junior Nick Gaudlip scored a season-best 14.650 to take second, while sophomore Denis Aurelius placed third with a season-best 14.600. Junior Josh Ramos added a fourth-place score of 14.400, while freshman Aaron Nubine (14.250) and senior Patrick Duffy (14.200) rounded out the sweep with fifth- and sixth-place finishes.
Air Force claimed four of the top-five scores on the pommel horse, still rings and high bar.
