University of Minnesota Athletics
No. 7 Gophers Head to No. 9 Iowa on Friday
2/10/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
The University of Minnesota men's gymnastics team is back in action this weekend after having been off for a week for the Winter Cup.
The No. 7 Gophers will be getting back into the swing of things as they travel to Iowa City, Iowa on Friday to take on the No. 9 Hawkeyes. The meet gets underway at 7 p.m.
This will be the first competition this season in which the Gophers will match-up exclusively with a Big Ten opponent, and they know they will have to ready to compete against a tough Iowa team.
"Iowa is making some improvements," Minnesota head coach Mike Burns said. "They have got some problems as far as hit percentage, but they're doing some good gymnastics, and if they bring their 'A' game, we're going to have our work cut out for us."
The trip to Iowa is also an opportunity for Burns to return to where he had one of his first experiences coaching gymnastics. He served as an assistant coach for the Hawkeyes from 1980 to 1991.
"It's always nice to return back to Iowa City," Burns said.
The Gophers enter the meet with several athletes ranked atop the nation in their respective events. DJ Repp is ranked No.4 on the vault and No. 18 in the all-around, while John Scallon comes in ranked No. 6 in the county on the pommel horse.
Iowa will counter with Anton Gryshayev, who is ranked No. 14 on the rings, and Ben Ketelsen, who is ranked No. 17 pommel horse. While Iowa may not appear to match-up with the Gophers in the rankings heading into the meet, Minnesota is not taking anything lightly and it knows that it is always difficult to win on the road in the Big Ten.
"Every time you compete on the road it's going to be a little bit tougher," Burns said. "We have to get tough and go into Iowa City and get a win because it's going to be critical for the rest of the season for us."
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