University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Fall to Illini Saturday in Champaign
2/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
The University of Minnesota men's gymnastics team dropped a Big Ten Conference meet to Illinois Saturday night on the road in Champaign.
"We had a few spots that we struggled tonight," Burns said. "Our hit percentage dropped to 76 percent which is below our expectation so it's imperative that we turn that around."
The Gophers started the night on pommel horse and posted four decent scores with Mike Hillin leading the way with a score of 13.95. Ross Cameratta saw action on pommels for the first time this season and posted a personal best of 13.60.
The second event was floor exercise and the Gophers fared a bit better than pommel horse but still below their usual level. Colin McGuire was our top scorer with a 14.55.
"Colin did a nice job on floor tonight and his score of 14.55 was a little low for the set he did," Burns said. "Another highlight was getting Cole Storer back in the line up and while came up a little short on his dismount, it was good to see him back on the competition floor."
Vault was the next event and the Gophers did a great job with Adam Reichow posting a career-high score of 15.95 with a huge Yurchenko double full. Cole Storer also posted a season high 15.80 to help the team post a score of 62.95.
Still Rings was next and Ross Cameratta was our top performer with a score of 14.25.
"We did some pretty clean sets tonight on rings and it was great to see Ross come away with the top score for the Gophers," Burns said.
High bar was the next event and the Gophers posted another score of 56.25 with seniors Aaron Fortunato and Colin McGuire posting identical top scores of 14.35.
"Aaron and Colin did really nice routines topped off with stuck dismounts so it was great to see them hitting so well," Burns said.
Parallel bars was the final event of the night and Aaron Fortunato again led the Gophers on this event with a final score of 14.15.
"Aaron continues to post solid scores on consistent routines and he finished the meet third in the all around with a score of 84.40," Burns said. "He also did a new vault tonight, so it was good to see that improvent in his start value."
"Our next two meets will also be on the road so we need to find a way to bring the energy level that we posses at home to these next two meets," Burns said.
Minnesota will have a week off before traveling to face No. 3 Oklahoma in Norman, Okla. on Feb. 27.
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