University of Minnesota Athletics
2010 Preview: Still Rings
12/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
The still rings event hasn't exactly been a strength for the University of Minnesota men's gymnastics squad in the past. But head coach Mike Burns feels the Gophers could be improved on the rings in 2010.
According to Burns, the addition of some newcomers and the improvement of a few of the returning gymnasts could make the event a positive for Minnesota this season.
"I think still rings could be a good event for us this year," Burns said. "We recruited a few guys who I think are going to help us. Jesse Moravec is a freshman and is a really strong kid. He's going to help us a lot. We've been making some improvements with the returning guys. I think Ross Cameratta is going to help us a lot this year. DJ Repp is one of our returning strong men, so I'm really looking forward to him having a great season too. Thomas O'Brien, one of our senior captains, is going to be relied on heavily as well as Russell Dabritz."
The Gophers were paced by Dabritz and O'Brien on the still rings last season. That duo compiled five of Minnesota's top six scores in the event. Dabritz had a national qualifying average of 14.610, which ranked No. 32 among all NCAA gymnasts last season. O'Brien ranked No. 39 with a 14.420 average.
Just filling out a full lineup on the still rings was a challenge at times during the 2009 season. But the Gophers have more athletes who can hang (pun intended) this year.
"We have a lot of depth on this event, which we haven't had in the past," O'Brien said. "It's typically one of our weaker events. But overall it has been going pretty well. I think as a team we're going to do a lot better on rings than we have in the past."
In addition to depth, Burns said the team is hoping to see improvement on the still rings through more difficult routines.
"One of the things we're trying to do on that event is to see if we can increase our difficulty through improved strength, skills and D-Level dismounts, which is a difficult thing on the still rings," Burns said. "That's where our focus has been."
Burns said he feels good about the strength of Repp and the skill of Dabritz, when mentioning gymnasts who looked like solid contributors on the still rings in the preseason. But he called O'Brien his "go-to guy" in the event.
O'Brien sounds like he's up for that responsibility. The senior has lofty goals for his final season in the Maroon and Gold.
"I really worked on my strength a lot at the beginning of the season," O'Brien said. "That's a big part on rings. Working on a new dismount is definitely a key for me. As a team, we just hope to hit. Sticking dismounts is a big key on this event. Individually, I hope to make finals at Big Tens and NCAAs."
As a team, Minnesota was ranked No. 11 in the nation on the still rings last season. But with only 18 teams competing in the NCAA, the Gophers know they need to improve that rank to accomplish their overall goals in the Big Ten and in the nation.
"They're strong kids and we're working them hard," Burns said. "We hope we can be competitive this year in that event."
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Players Mentioned
