Gymmen fall to Iowa at Big Tens; Dutka vaults way to all-around title

Finally, Tom Dunn got married.

Dunn, the Iowa men's gymnastics coach, has been the bridesmaid at the Big Ten Championships the past four years, last year losing to Ohio State by only .125.

Dunn must feel like a new man with Iowa's win Friday night. The Hawkeyes accumulated 230.525 points, beating out second-place Penn State (229.975) and third-place Ohio State (229.600).

Iowa's best man was Todd Strada. He finished third in the all-around with a score of 57.65. Despite being the only Hawkeye to place in the all-around competition, it was enough to capture the win for Iowa.

Penn State's Mike Dutka captured the all-around title. His 58.30 helped lead the Lions to their highest finish ever at Big Tens. Teammate Roy Malka placed sixth with a 57. Both were also named to the All-Big Ten team.

"He had a really great meet," teammate Ron Roeder said about the senior Malka. "He went out of the Big Ten Championships with a bang."

Dunn, who led the Hawkeyes to a No. 3 ranking and undefeated record, was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second year in a row.

Romagnoli was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Year. Kevin Roulston from Michigan was named Freshman of the Year.

Dutka proved his 1997 Freshman of the Year award was only a foreshadowing of things to come at Saturday's individual championships by winning three events.

"He did an awesome job," Malka said. "It was a nice showing of his talent and ability."

Dutka set career highs on floor exercise (9.837) and on vault (9.9) in winning both events, the 9.9 being the highest single score in any event of the meet. He then added the pommel horse title with a 9.85.

On still rings, Roeder (9.687) and Malka (9.6) finished third and fourth, respectively. Camiscioli won the event with a 9.762.

Roeder also added a fourth-place finish on the floor exercise with a 9.675. Teammate Brandon Stefaniak added a fourth-place on pommel horse with a 9.7.

The other individual winners were Toman (9.725) on the parallel bars and Romagnoli on the horizontal bar with a 9.875.

The weekend, for all it was worth, left the Lions feeling empty. They are in the same position Dunn was in each of the last four years.

"If we had done our job, we would have won," Malka said.

But the team fell short on the last two events during the team competition, the parallel bars and the horizontal bars.

Now the Lions must recover and come back strong and healthy for the NCAA East Regional April 4 at Massachusetts, where the Lions will hope for a more pleasant trip down the aisle.