University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Face Nittany Lions, Owls Saturday
3/4/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
By Jennie Clark
Athletic Communcations Assistant
The Golden Gopher men's gymnastics team heads to State College, Pa. this weekend to take on the Nitany Lions and the Temple Owls.
The Gophers are currently ranked No. 7 in the nation, while the Nittany Lions are ranked right above them at No. 6. The national rankings, based on score averages, gives this weekend's matchup the possibility of being a nail-biter. This weekend will also mark the first time this season that the Gophers and Lions will compete against each other. Penn State also the only team in the Big Ten that the Gophers have yet to compete against.
Senior Adam Reichow had his best floor routine of the season this weekend and is currently ranked No. 7 in the nation in the event.
"Adam was awesome this weekend," Burns said. "He did his best routine of the year. It was just super clean and he didn't give away a lot. If we had to give a Cooke award away on the road, he would have gotten it for his floor exercise."
Thomas O'Brien also helped the Gophers last week with a solid still rings performance, putting up a score of 14.600, also his best for the season.
Minnesota is coming off its best road score of the season, but the Gophers still believe there is room for improvement this coming weekend.
"The guys stepped up this weekend and we had our best score on the road," Burns said. "But we did give up some points and left some things there that we should have taken home with us, so we're looking forward to Penn State and Temple this weekend."
The team is looking for even more consistency this coming weekend against the Owls and Nittany Lions. Although last week was the Gophers' best road outing so far this season, they still aren't satisfied.
"I think we had higher expectations for last weekend," senior captain O'Brien said. "We didn't get the hit percentage that we wanted. There is definitely room to improve."
This weekend will be the third consecutive week on the road for the Gophers before they head home the following week. Minnesota still has high expectations, despite the fact that they haven't scored as well on the road this season as they would like.
"We need to have a higher hit percentage," O'Brien said. "We need to see a lot more hit routines. Our execution definitely needs to be higher. I think a 350 road score or higher will be key."
Saturday's meet is slated to begin at 6 p.m. CT. Live stats will be available here.
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Players Mentioned
