University of Minnesota Athletics
Burns Blog: Arrival at Visa Championships
8/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
We arrived in Dallas around Noon on Monday in preparation for the 2009 VISA Championships where former Gopher stars Kit Beikmann and Guillermo Alvarez will be competing on Wednesday and Friday for spots on the United States Senior National Team.
The 2009 World Championships Team will also be selected from this competition, so the stakes are high. The VISA Championships is always a huge meet. It's always that much more exciting when the World Team is being selected.
Competition starts on Wednesday at the American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas. The Junior Division will compete at 1 p.m., while the Seniors compete at 7 p.m. in the preliminary session. The top 42 athletes based on the 20-point system will advance to the Final Competition session on Friday at 7 p.m.
The 20-point system works as follows: gymnasts are ranked on each of the six events and awarded points based on their rankings (20 points for first place down to one point for 20th place). Point totals are tallied for each gymnast and the top 42 gymnasts based on point totals will advance to the Friday night session. The top two gymnasts on each event will also advance to the Friday session in the event their point totals do not fall into the top 42.
Guillermo Alvarez is no stranger to the rigors of this meet, having competed in the past eight VISA Championships. This will be Kit's first VISA Championships, but I expect him to shine in his signature event, the pommel horse. Both of these guys are very solid competitors and I look forward to both of them performing strongly on the National stage.
I’ll file another report late in the day on Tuesday to talk about how training has gone in the two days prior to competition beginning.
-Mike Burns, Gopher Men’s Gymnastics Head Coach
The 2009 World Championships Team will also be selected from this competition, so the stakes are high. The VISA Championships is always a huge meet. It's always that much more exciting when the World Team is being selected.
Competition starts on Wednesday at the American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas. The Junior Division will compete at 1 p.m., while the Seniors compete at 7 p.m. in the preliminary session. The top 42 athletes based on the 20-point system will advance to the Final Competition session on Friday at 7 p.m.
The 20-point system works as follows: gymnasts are ranked on each of the six events and awarded points based on their rankings (20 points for first place down to one point for 20th place). Point totals are tallied for each gymnast and the top 42 gymnasts based on point totals will advance to the Friday night session. The top two gymnasts on each event will also advance to the Friday session in the event their point totals do not fall into the top 42.
Guillermo Alvarez is no stranger to the rigors of this meet, having competed in the past eight VISA Championships. This will be Kit's first VISA Championships, but I expect him to shine in his signature event, the pommel horse. Both of these guys are very solid competitors and I look forward to both of them performing strongly on the National stage.
I’ll file another report late in the day on Tuesday to talk about how training has gone in the two days prior to competition beginning.
-Mike Burns, Gopher Men’s Gymnastics Head Coach
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