University of Minnesota Athletics
2010 Men's Gymnastics Preview
12/4/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
The University of Minnesota men's gymnastics season is right around the corner, with the annual Alumni Meet set for January 8 at the Sports Pavilion. The Gophers are coming off a solid season in which they are ranked eighth in the nation. The Gophers are returning a very strong squad and have lofty goals for the 2010 season.
The Golden Gophers' goals for the upcoming season are very simple and very familiar.
"We want to win the Big Ten title," head coach Mike Burns said. "That's our main goal. We're focusing all our efforts on winning the Big Ten championship."
Burns and his team are ready to continue moving forward and are motivated to get the season started. The Gophers have extra inspiration this year with a senior-laden squad.
"Training has been going well," Burns said. "We have a pretty seasoned upper-level class in terms of the strength of our lineup. Seven or eight seniors are going to be depended upon for a lot of scoring this season and we're also counting on our junior class to lead as well."
The Gophers have been working hard to get ready for this season.
"Preparation for this sport is very difficult in terms of new skill development, strength development and upgrading our routines from where they were last year," Burns said.
While the Gophers will look to improve in all six events, they have been traditionally strong on the floor exercise and vault in the past. Burns expects that trend to continue.
"Floor exercise is probably our strongest event," he said. "We've notoriously had good floor and vault, which I hope we can continue along those lines. I think our pommel horse could be pretty strong for us as well."
The Gophers lose All-America performer Kit Beikmann off the pommel horse. But Burns believes the addition of a standout freshman who could bolster Minnesota's lineup on the apparatus.
"I think pommel horse could be pretty strong for us with the addition of Harris Coleman, a freshman who was junior national runner-up two years ago," Burns said. "He's a very solid, very talented kid."
While Burns is happy with his squad as a whole, he is looking for some big scores from a handful of athletes who he says have stood out so far in fall practices.
"Adam Reichow has been doing a great job on the floor exercise and vault," Burns said. "He's a two-event specialist. He's looking great right now. I'm very happy with where he's at in his routines. Aaron Fortunato is looking really solid right now. He's going to be our go-to guy in the all-around again this year. DJ Repp, who was an All-American last year, is having a good fall as well. I'm expecting a lot out of those three guys."
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Players Mentioned
