University of Minnesota Athletics
No. 7 Gophers Host No. 5 Penn State Saturday
1/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
THIS WEEK: The seventh-ranked University of Minnesota men’s gymnastics team will take part in its first dual meet of the season as well as its first Big Ten Conference meet of 2009 Saturday. The fifth-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions will visit the Sports Pavilion at 7 p.m. in a key, early-season matchup for both squads.
THE OPPONENT: Penn State comes into the dual meet with three performances under its belt already this season. The Nittany Lions have an average score of 346.117 through their three meets, which is just a little less than a full point better than Minnesota’s two-meet average of 345.125. The Nittany Lions are led by Casey Sandy, who is currently ranked as the No. 1 all-arounder in the nation.
GOPHER POLL: Despite a drastic improvement on the scoreboard from its first meet to its second, Minnesota has dropped to No. 7 in this week’s GymInfo Top 20. The Gophers were ranked No. 8 in the preseason coaches’ poll and were ranked No. 5 last week, after their first meet.
RAISING THE BAR: So far in this young 2009 season, the Golden Gophers have proven to be one of the best teams in the nation on the high bar. Minnesota is averaging a 56.425 score on the apparatus, which currently ranks them No. 4 in the nation. The Gophers are pretty good when two bars are involved, as well. They rank No. 5 on the parallel bars.
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.
IT’S A RING THING: Minnesota is in the top seven in the nation as a team on five of the six events that comprise a men’s gymnastics meet. The Gophers rank in the top five in three events. The one apparatus where Minnesota is struggling is the still rings. The Gophers rank 10th in the nation latest rankings for still rings. The Gophers don’t have a single gymnast ranked among the top 20 in the nation on the rings, while they have at least one ranked on every other apparatus.
GOOD FORTUN-ATO: Junior Aaron Fortunato (Bedford, Ohio) took first place in two events at last week’s Minnesota Quad Meet. He won both the parallel bars and high bar. Fortunato has been especially strong on the parallel bars, where he currently ranks No. 3 in the nation with an average score of 14.825. Fortunato is also the top Gopher on the high bar, ranking in a tie for No. 8 in the nation.
HORSING AROUND: The Gophers enjoyed their best pommel horse performance ever in the tenure of fifth-year head coach Mike Burns last week. Minnesota put together a 57.450 score, which was a full point better than the school record in the open-ended scoring record books. Junior Thomas O’Brien (Westfield, N.J.) led the charge on the horse, tallying a career-best 14.850 score. Senior Kit Beikmann (Brighton, Colo.) was also knocking on the door of a 15.000 last week, scoring 14.800.
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Players Mentioned
