University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Face Nebraska, Arizona State Sunday
3/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
THIS WEEK: The seventh-ranked University of Minnesota men’s gymnastics team will travel to Lincoln, Neb. this weekend for a rare Sunday meet. The Gophers will face off with No. 9 Nebraska and No. 17 Arizona State at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
THE OPPONENTS: Nebraska enters the meet with a No. 9 national ranking. The Huskers are coming off a loss at Oklahoma back on Feb. 28. This is the second meeting of the season between the Gophers and Huskers. Minnesota defeated Nebraska back on Feb. 14 in Iowa City. The Arizona State Sun Devils are ranked No. 17. The Gophers have also defeated ASU this season, back on Jan. 24 at the Sports Pavilion.
GOPHER POLL: Minnesota hung on at No. 7 in the NCAA/GymInfo rankings this week. The Gophers were ranked No. 5 for two separate weeks earlier this season. Those two No. 5 rankings matched the highest Minnesota has ever climbed in the five-year tenure of head coach Mike Burns.
FOURTH FLOOR ... GOING UP?: Buoyed by a season-high 60.200 on the floor exercise during last week’s home meet vs. Oklahoma and Stanford, Minnesota has moved up to No. 4 in the nation on the floor exercise this week. Aaron Fortunato and Adam Reichow lead the way for Minnesota on the floor, tying for the No. 15 spot in the nation with a 14.983 average score.
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 struggled on the still rings for much of the season. The Gophers average still ring score ranks No. 10 in the nation, lowest among the six events. Minnesota was slowly turning things around on the apparatus going into last week, turning in three straight season-high scores. But the Gophers dropped off a bit on the rings last week. Freshman Russell Dabritz (Rowley, Mass.) is tied for No. 27 in the nation with an average score of 14.683.
WHOLE KIT AND KABOODLE: Pommel horse specialist Kit Beikmann was an All-America performer on the apparatus as a sophomore in 2007. He appears to be headed back toward those sorts of honors in his final collegiate season. Beikmann posted back-to-back school record scores, breaking the 15-point plateau twice going into last week’s meet. He tallied a 15.050 two weeks ago at the Pacific Coast Classic and scored a 15.400 last week at UIC. On the strength of those performances, Beikmann ranks No. 4 in the nation on the horse this week.
GOOD FORTUN-ATO: Aaron Fortunato holds the top three Gopher scores on the parallel bars this season. He added to that toal last week, scoring a 14.700 on the apparatus in Minnesota’s meet vs. Oklahoma and Stanford. The junior is currently ranked No. 7 in the nation on the bars.
MINDING THE STORE(R): Cole Storer scored a 16.100 on the vault last week, becoming the first Gopher to break the 16-point plateau on the vault this season. Storer currently ranks No. 9 in the nation on the vault with a 15.917 average.
BURNS BITES: Quotes from Gopher head coach Mike Burns:
On the losses to Oklahoma and Stanford:
“We had some tough competition, but it was good to be up against them. That’s the kind of competition we’re going to see here at the NCAAs. We’ve got to stick with them a little tougher. I think we gave a few things away tonight. But we’ve got a great team here. They’re working hard and we’re going to make it happen.”
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.
Players Mentioned
