Gymnastics team captures wins, honors seniors

Senior Dan Zerbel led the Flames with top scores in three events Sunday. Photo: Steve Woltmann

The men’s gymnastics team won four events, captured three first-place finishes and posted a season-high score Sunday in a 412.550-407.650 win against No. 13 Temple at the Physical Education Building.

David Ishida, Justin Maxwell, Bryan Pusateri and Daniel Zerbel were honored in a senior ceremony following the meet after garnering a collection of top scores on the day.

“I am so proud of the guys,” head coach Charley Nelson said. “It is really starting to come together, they are believing in themselves and what we are able to do, and we are moving in the right direction.”

The Flames came away with wins on floor and pommel horse, before besting Temple on parallel bars and horizontal bar, taking first place in three of the four events.

“To take a win from one of your conference rivals, it certainly helps make a statement to everyone else and a statement to ourselves about what we can do and what we can accomplish at a conference meet,” Nelson said.

Zerbel led the team with top scores in three events. He took first on floor (15.200), first on parallel bars with a season-high 14.650 and second on the horizontal bar (13.900.)

Joseph Hodges collected a first-place finish on pommel horse (14.150) and took the all-around with a combined score of 83.200.

Fighting through a torn ACL injury, Ishida also competed on pommel horse to bring in a score of 13.200.

Pusateri and Maxwell placed third and fourth on rings, following a first-place tie for Temple. Pusateri scored a season-best 14.150 and Maxwell scored a 14.100.

The Flames head to Ann Arbor, Mich., Saturday to take on No. 2 Michigan at Cliff Keen Arena. The meet is set to start at 6 p.m.