University of Minnesota Athletics
Men's Gymnastics Wins Home Opening Dual Against Illinois
1/25/2003 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
The Gopher men outscored Illinois on the pommel horse, still rings and parallel bars and claimed five of the six individual titles. Clay Strother (Jasper Texas/Jasper) continued to make his mark as one of the nation's elite gymnasts by winning the floor exercise (9.625), vault (9.250), parallel bars (9.200) and finishing in a tie for first with Illinois' Scott Wetterling on still rings (8.750). Strother also had the top score for the all around with a 53.575.
Guillermo Alvarez (Denver, Colo./Green Mountain) had the Gophers other individual title, winning the pommel horse by a comfortable margin with a score of 9.500. Alvarez would also finish fourth on still rings and parallel bars and take fifth on the horizontal bar.
Other Gophers contributing to the win over Illinois were Ryan Fleming (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek), who placed fourth on floor exercise and vault, Mitch Griffin (Morrow, Ga./Morrow) who placed second on parallel bars and third on pommel horse, and Tim Koehler (North Bergen, N.J./home school) and Clinton Mays (Missouri City, Texas/Elkins), who finished third and fourth, respectively, on the horizontal bar.
The Gophers raised their record to 2-4 and will face Iowa next Saturday, Feb. 1, in Iowa City at 2 p.m.
MINNESOTA INDIVIDUAL SCORES
Floor Exercise 1. Clay Strother 9.625 4. Ryan Fleming 8.900 7. Justin Meyer 8.375 8. Dyri Kristjansson 8.350 11. Jeff Cohen 7.650 Pommel Horse 1. Guillermo Alvarez 9.500 3. Mitch Griffin 8.800 4. Clay Strother 8.750 T6. Joe Alberts 8.550 10. Dyri Kristjansson 8.250 12. Jeff Cohen 7.200 Still Rings T1. Clay Strother 8.750 4. Guillermo Alvarez 8.550 5. Gabe Suarez 8.450 T6. Tim Koehler 8.250 9. Joe Moore 8.150 10. Clinton Mays 8.100 Vault 1. Clay Strother 9.250 4. Ryan Fleming 9.050 7. Clinton Mays 8.800 8. Mitch Griffin 9.775 9. Tim Koehler 8.675 Parallel Bars 1. Clay Strother 9.200 2. Mitch Griffin 8.950 4T. Guillermo Alvarez 8.450 7. Dyri Kristjansson 7.950 8T. Clinton Mays 7.800 8T. Tim Koehler 7.800 Horizontal Bars 3. Tim Koehler 8.500 4. Clinton Mays 8.350 5. Guillermo Alvarez 8.275 7. Ryan Fleming 8.050 8. Clay Strother 8.000 10. Dyri Kristjansson 7.250
