University of Minnesota Athletics
CLAY STROTHER TAKES 14TH AT U.S. GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
8/13/2001 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
Strother struggled in the prelims, registering a 48.200 in the all- around and posting uncharacteristically low scores on the floor exercise and pommel horse to finish in 23rd place after the first day of competition. In the all-around finals, however, Strother notched a score of 51.425 in the all-around, including a competition-best 9.450 in the pommel horse. His all-around score was the 11th-best in the finals and boosted him to a finish of 14th place for the event.
2000 Olympian Sean Townsend won his first national title, rebounding from a fall on the high bar to easily beat Brett McClure in the all- around competition. Olympian Stephen McCain finished third, recovering from a 10th-place finish in the preliminaries. Raj Bhavsar, a member of Ohio State's national championship team, was fourth. The four automatically qualify for the world championships Oct. 28-Nov. 4. Full results are available at www.usa-gymnastics.org.
In 2000-01, Strother, a native of Jasper, Texas, earned three All- America citations with his stellar performance at the NCAA Championships. In addition to his fifth-place all-around finish, he captured the floor exercise and pommel horse individual event titles to become the first Golden Gopher in school history to win two event crowns in the same national meet.
