University of Minnesota Athletics
Sixth-Ranked Gophers Travel to No. 4 Penn State
3/14/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
| Minnesota @ Penn State | |
Date | Saturday, March 17 |
Time | 7 p.m. CT |
Location | State College, PA (Rec Hall) |
Social Media | Facebook | @GopherMensGym |
March 14, 2012
The Minnesota men's gymnastics team will travel to State College this weekend for a Big Ten matchup against the fourth-ranked Nittany Lions.
The Gophers are coming off a second place finish at Nebraska, where they scored 346.9 to finish ahead of the Huskers but behind the Illini in a tri-meet last weekend.
Minnesota is currently ranked sixth in the nation, two spots behind No. 4 Penn State. This will be the first meeting between the two teams this season.
"They have a very solid team and an amazing still rings lineup," head coach Mike Burns said. "Randy Jepson has them firing on all cylinders right now and we'll be heading into the lion's den this weekend at Rec Hall. Penn State is never an easy opponent, but they are especially tough to beat in their home gym."
Minnesota head coach Mike Burns competed for Penn State during his collegiate career and received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Geological Sciences in 1981.
"I'm looking forward to heading back to my alma mater and bringing a very good Gopher team to challenge them in their own gym."
As far as preparations go, the Gophers are trying to create more of a meet atmosphere in their practices as well as having some guys increase their number of routines during the week. Over the course of the season they've put together a stable core of about 13 guys, leaving the last two spots open for battle.
"Right now it's all about coaching confidence and getting our guys to trust in their abilities to put it all together in this next meet," Burns said. "This team has instilled the most confidence in me of all the teams I have coached here at Minnesota. They are the best physically prepared team we've had. Now it's just a matter of continuing to build their confidence in how good they really are."
The meet will be held at Penn State on Saturday, March 17th at 7pm CT.
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