University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers to Host New Hampshire on Saturday
1/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
The Gophers, ranked No. 20, will kick off the regular-season home schedule on Jan. 19 when Minnesota plays host to the University of New Hampshire. The competition will take place at the Sports Pavilion and will begin at 6 p.m.
Coming up Next Week: Iowa State
Minnesota will host Iowa State on Jan. 26 at the Sports Pavilion. The meet will start at 6 p.m., and is the first of two dual meets against the Cyclones in the 2008 season. On March 2, Minnesota will compete at Iowa State.
Looking Ahead: Gophers to Host NCAA North Central Region Championship
The University of Minnesota has been selected to host the 2008 NCAA North Central Region Championship. The championship will be held at the Sports Pavilion on April 12 at 6 p.m., and will feature six teams from around the country. If the Golden Gophers are selected to compete in a regional championship, they will compete at home in the Sports Pavilion.
Tickets are available and may be ordered online at www.gophersports.com, or by calling the athletics ticket office at 612-624-8080 or toll free at 1-800-U-GOPHER. All seats are reserved.
The University of Minnesota is one of six institutions to host a regional championship in 2008. The other five sites and host institutions are: Baton Rouge, La. (Louisiana State University), University Park, Pa. (Penn State University), Norman, Okla. (University of Oklahoma), Gainesville, Fla. (University of Florida), and Corvallis, Ore. (Oregon State University).
Two teams from each regional championship will advance to the NCAA National Championship, which will be hosted by the University of Georgia on April 24-26, 2008.
Gopher Gymnastics on the Internet
All six of Minnesota’s regular-season home meets will have live scoring available for free on the Gophers’ website. Go to www.gophersports.com and click on live stats to find live scoring.
Audio and video coverage of each regular-season home meet, as well as the NCAA Regional Championship will also be on the athletics website with audio commentary by student assistant coach Andy Cornelius. Audio and video content is offered to Gold Zone subscribers. Subscriptions are $10 per month. Click on the Gold Zone to find all the live events carried on www.gophersports.com.
National Rankings
Minnesota is ranked No. 20 in the Jan. 14 edition of the GymInfo National Rankings. At this point in the season, teams are ranked by total average score.
The Gophers are among five Big Ten teams ranked among the nation’s top 25 this week. Michigan is the top-rnked team in the league at No. 6, followed by No. 14 Penn State, No. 17 Ohio State, and No. 19 Illinois.
Up Against the Best
Minnesota continues the tradition of scheduling tough competition, as 14 of the Gophers’ 16 Division I opponents in the upcoming season advanced to an NCAA Regional Championship in 2007. Three teams that Minnesota will face in 2008 were top 10 national finishers in 2007, as Utah was the NCAA runner up, LSU finished seventh, and Oklahoma finished eighth at the national meet. The Big Ten Conference had five teams finish the 2007 season among the nation’s top 20, and looks to be strong again in the coming season.
The Opponent: New Hampshire
This is New Hampshire’s third competition of the 2008 season. The Wildcats had their home opener last weekend, where they defeated Rhode Island by a score of 190.6-186.75.
In New Hampshire’s season opener, they won a tri-meet at Rutgers with a score of 191.475. Rutgers was second, while the University of Bridgeport was third.
Gail Goodspeed is the Wildcats’ head coach. She has been leading the UNH program for 29 years.
Series Notes
Minnesota is competing against New Hampshire for the first time since 2006, when the Gophers participated in the Foxrun Invitational on the UNH campus. Minnesota (193.875) finished second to New Hampshire (194.375) in that meeting.
This week’s competition will be the first meeting between the two school in Minnesota.
Last Week: Recap of the Intrasquad Meet
The Golden Gopher women’s gymnastics team earned a score of 190.550 at the annual intrasquad exhibition. Sophomore Alexis Russell was the all around winner with a score of 38.325.
Junior Carmelina Carabajal was the team’s top scorer on vault with a mark of 9.600. Carabajal was also the team leader on vault last week at the Cancun Classic. Alexis Russell was the second-highest finisher on vault, earning a 9.525 to place second. Junior Jade Beattie placed third with a 9.500. As a team, the Gophers tallied a 47.375.
Jade Beattie was the winner on bars, with a mark of 9.600. Freshman Ana Balboa, in her first bars competition, finished in a tie for second with a score of 9.550. Freshman Kristin Furukawa tied with Balboa, also earning a mark of 9.550. Minnesota’s team score on bars was 47.675. The Gophers tallied their highest team score of the night on beam, earning a 49.050. Senior Ashley Stanton led the way with a score of 9.850. Stanton was also the team’s top beam performer at the Cancun Classic last weekend. Junior Angela Walker finished second with a mark of 9.825. Carmelina Carabajal and Ashley Mutchler tied for third, earning scores of 9.800.
Minnesota struggled on floor, earning a team score of 46.450. Senior captain Amanda Miles was the top scorer with a 9.700. Alexis Russell was second on floor with a 9.600. Coming in third place was Jade Beattie with a score of 9.325.
Alexis Russell was the all around champion, earning a total score of 38.325. Jade Beattie was the runner-up in the all around with a tally of 38.200. Carmelina Carabajal rounded out the top three in the all around with a score of 37.900.
Players Mentioned
