University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Open Home Slate Saturday Night
1/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
THIS WEEK: The fifth-ranked University of Minnesota men’s gymnastics team will open its 2009 home schedule by hosting three other squads at the Sports Pavilion Saturday. Washington, Arizona State and Calgary will all visit Minneapolis for the event, which is slated to begin at 7 p.m.
THE FIELD: Arizona State, the University of Calgary and Washington are all club programs, which do not compete in NCAA Men’s Gymnastics. Arizona State took first place in the collegiate team division at last season’s 2008 USA Gymnastics Men’s Collegiate Championships. Washington was third in the USA Gymnastics event last season. The Calgary squad has won four Canadian national team titles and five individual national all-around titles since it’s conception in 1987.
GOPHER POLL: After a strong showing at the Windy City Invitational, Minnesota has moved up to No. 5 in the GymInfo Men’s Gymnastics Rankings. The No. 5 ranking is the Gophers’ highest in five seasons under head coach Mike Burns.
JOIN THE CLUB: All three of this week’s opponents are club teams, which are not financially sponsored by their respective universities. However, all three of these programs help to continue the sport of men’s gymnastics at the collegiate level by providing numerous athletes a chance to further their career during college. Even though there are usually no scholarships and no financial backing from the university, club teams such as those competing at Minnesota this weekend are important to the sport. Many of these student-athletes and coaches have been willing to sacrifice a tremendous amount in order to participate and continue the sport of collegiate men’s gymnastics.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: The 2009 NCAA Championships will be held on campus at the University of Minnesota. The 2009 national title will be decided at the Sports Pavilion April 16-18. Tickets are available at www.GopherSports.com or by calling 1.800.UGOPHER.
2009 CAPTAINS: Senior Kit Beikmann and junior Aaron Fortunato were named 2009 team captains back in May. Beikmann was the Big Ten pommel horse runner-up in 2008 after winning a Big Ten championship and All-America honors in the event in 2007. Fortunato was the Gophers’ workhorse during the 2008 season, as he competed in the all-around during all 11 meets.
WINDY CITY REWIND: The Gophers opened their 2009 season with a solid third-place finish at the Windy City Invitational. Minnesota had the high team score on the high bar (55.600) and took second on the vault (60.500). Aaron Fortunato picked up an individual win on the parallel bars, posting a score of 14.900. Fortunato also posted four counting scores in the five events in which he competed.
BURNS BITES: Quotes from Gopher head coach Mike Burns:
“After getting the season under way last week at the Windy City our guys are really excited about competing in front of our home crowd on our own equipment in our own arena. There’s a real comfort to competing at home and we are ready to kick off our home season.”
It’s a real honor to have Arizona State and Washington here this weekend, along with Calgary. ASU and Washington were both strong varsity programs at one time. ASU won the NCAA Team Title in 1986, so there is a long history of excellence surrounding these two club programs. Their coaches, Scott Barclay at ASU and Mark Russo at Washington, have taken it to be their personal crusade to keep these two programs alive with little to no support from their respective institutions. ASU and Washington have battled over the years and have won a number of USAG Collegiate national Club Championships between them. The strength of the collegiate club programs continues to increase and it’s based on the hard work and dedication of guys like Scott and Mark. My hat goes off to them both.”
“Calgary was here last year and defeated us by a little less than a point. They will be bringing one of Canada’s top gymnasts Nathan Gafuik who competed at the 2008 Olympic Games this past summer.”
“We had some great performances this past weekend at the Windy City. Adam Reichow was a very solid guy on three events for us, posting the team’s high scores on Floor Exercise and Vault. Our entire freshman class of Dabritz, Repp, and Cameratta did a great job in their first collegiate meet and I expect great things from all of these youngsters this year. Aaron Fortunato had a breakout meet with a 5-for-5 performance and a first place finish on the parallel bars at the Windy City. We are looking forward to continued strong output from Aaron. Ali Aleiou also had a great first meet performance as a Gopher with top eight finishes on both vault and high bar.”
COACH BURNS: Mike Burns is in his fifth season as head coach of the Minnesota men’s gymnastics team. In 2007 the Gophers began to make the kind of moves Burns envisioned when he arrived in the Twin Cities. Competing in the toughest gymnastics conference in the nation, the Gophers posted an impressive third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships. Two weeks later the squad advanced to the team finals at the NCAA Championships, where it recorded a sixth-place finish. It was the first time Minnesota had advanced to the team finals at the NCAA meet since 1990. The Gophers narrowly missed the team finals last season, but have their designs set on a team finals appearance in their home gym in 2009. Burns was named 2007 Big Ten Coach of the Year and was also selected as the 2007 USA Gymnastics Men’s Coach of the Year. In 2005, his first year as the Gopher’s head coach, Burns coached Guillermo Alvarez to the Nissen-Emery Award, which is given to the nation’s top senior gymnast. It was only the third time a Gopher gymnast had earned the prestigious award and the first time it had happened since 1993. Burns is currently serving as the President of the Collegiate Gymnastics Association. A native of Norwood, Mass., Burns came to Minnesota from Michigan, where he served as an assistant men’s coach from 1997-2004. Burns received the National Assistant Coach of the Year award in 1999, while helping lead Michigan to the 1999 NCAA Championship. He earned the same honor in 2000, after leading the Wolverines to the second of two-consecutive Big Ten team titles. During his tenure at Michigan, he coached five national champions, 37 All-Americans, and 14 Big Ten champions. Burns is a 1981 graduate of Penn State.
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