University of Minnesota Athletics
2011 Preview: Still Rings
12/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
The still rings event will be one the strong points for the 2011 University of Minnesota men's gymnastics team.
The Gophers will be fairly deep in the still rings this season with three top competitors returning. The expected star of the event is junior DJ Repp, who had a great offseason and is coming off a season in which he twice scored a season-best 14.250 on the rings.
Another junior, Russell Dabritz, is also expected to have a good season for the Gophers. He has been one of the Gophers' best scorers in the rings the last couple of seasons and had a season-best score of 14.80 against Nebraska last year.
The veteran leadership will be anchored by fifth-year Michael Hillin is also expected to be a big competitor on the rings. Injuries kept Hillin limited last season, but historically the rings have been one of Hillin's better events and the Gophers will be hoping that he can return to form this season.
"We have three guys coming back that were all excellent for us last year," Minnesota head coach Burns said. "We're really impressed where DJ Repp is right now. Russell Dabritz was a top scorer for us last year, and Mike Hillin was solid for us before he was limited by injuries. Those three guys bring back some strength for us."
Senior captain Travis Heaver has also been putting in a lot of effort in the offseason to improve his ability on the still rings and has certainly shown great progress in what he's able to do. A strong season from Heaver could go a long ways to help the Gophers be dominant on the rings.
Junior Ross Cameratta will also be one of the top athletes on the rings along with sophomore Jesse Moravec, who was limited last season due to injury has been showing a lot of promise on the rings and could very well turn out to be one of the top rings performers this year.
Rounding out the event are incumbents Zach Chase and Matt Frey. The two freshman have shown a lot progress working on the still rings and may well prove to be very valuable contributors down the stretch.
