University of Minnesota Athletics
Friday, April 19
Champaign, ILL.
1:00 PM
University of Minnesota
at
NCAA Qualifying Rounds
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Gymnastics
Photo by: Jessica Frankl
Gophers Seeded Sixth For NCAA Championship
4/10/2019 3:58:00 PM | Men's Gymnastics
The Minnesota men's gymnastics team has just one meet left on its schedule, and it's the biggest one of the year: The NCAA Championships. The NCAA announced Tuesday that the Gophers have qualified for the meet and will be seeded No. 6.
The event will be held at State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill. on April 19-20 and will consist of two days: Friday pre-qualifiers and the Saturday championship session. No. 6 Minnesota will compete in Session I of Friday's qualifiers and will go up against five other teams: No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Michigan, No. 7 Nebraska, No. 10 Navy and No. 11 California.
Session I is set to begin at 1 p.m. CST on Friday, and should the Gophers place within the top three of the day, they will move on to Saturday's championship with Session II's top three finishers. Minnesota has advanced to the team finals for the past three seasons.
The Gophers are coming off of a historic outing at the 2018 NCAA Championships that saw them place as the national runner-up, a program-best finish and the top since 1990. Eight different gymnasts earned eleven All-American honors in all events, and Shane Wiskus, then a freshman, earned his own runner-up finish to go along with the team's: in the all-around with a score of 83.064.
All championships info, including tickets, can be found through the championships website via host Illinois, and fans can follow the Gophers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for coverage.
Scouting the Field
Each of the Big Ten's seven teams qualified for the NCAA Championships coming off of last weekend's Big Ten Championships, where the Gophers placed fifth. Minnesota saw Michigan twice during the regular season and fell both times. The team also faced Nebraska twice and came away 1-1, with the win counting in Big Ten standings. It will be the Gophers' first time competing against Stanford, Navy and California this season.
No. 2 Stanford
The Cardinal are coming off of a second-place finish, only behind the country's No. 1 team, Oklahoma, at the MPSF Championships last weekend with a score of 418.550. Freshman Brody Malone took second place in the all-around, and was also named the MPSF Gymnast of the Year. Malone has consistently been ranked the No. 1 all-arounder this season, only to be overtaken by Wiskus for three weeks in March. Stanford owns the nation's second-best score in the regular season, 419.350, and is the No. 2 team on all events except vault and parallel bars. The team is ranked No. 1 on p-bars.
No. 3 Michigan
The Gophers share a piece of the Big Ten Regular Season Championship with Michigan, who also went 4-2 in conference meets. The Wolverines posted the second-best score in the Big Ten all season, 413.900, and came in third place at last weekend's championships with a score of 409.550. Michigan swept the top three spots in the all-around, with sophomore Cameron Bock taking the crown with a score of 83.600. Bock was also named Gymnast of the Championships on day two of competition, and sophomore Jake Moore earned the floor title (14.650).
No. 7 Nebraska
The Huskers wrapped up last week's Big Ten Championships just ahead of the Gophers in fourth place (406.000). The team went 2-4 in regular season Big Ten meets, one of the losses coming from Minnesota. Nebraska has still had plenty of success, though, and one of its most recent honors came in the form of Big Ten Gymnast of the Year in senior Anton Stephenson, which is an honor shared with Wiskus. Stephenson is the nation's top vaulter, with the highest score of the season: 15.100. He earned his third-straight Big Ten title on the event last weekend and is also a 2019 Nissen-Emery Award finalist.
No. 10 Navy
The Midshipmen head into the NCAA Championships as the defending ECAC men's gymnastics champions. Navy won its conference meet by 10.5 points last weekend and racked up four event title winners and 15 All-ECAC honors. Head Coach Kip Simons was also named ECAC Head Coach of the Year. Navy is ranked in the top 10 on two events: No. 6 on both pommel horse and high bar. The Mids also have three athletes individually ranked: No. 5 David Toussaint and No. 10 Ryan Orce on pommel horse, and Lucas Beltran is ranked No. 7 on vault.
No. 11 California
The Golden Bears recently placed third among a tough MPSF field with a score of 394.700, behind No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 Stanford. Five of Cal's gymnasts placed among the top ten in the individual events. The Bears' top score on this season is 405.500 and their highest team rank comes in at No. 5 on floor exercise, where they boast an average score of 68.470, just behind the Gophers at 68.691. Cal is also ranked No. 10 on both bar sets. Freshman Darren Wong is ranked No. 9 on floor with a 14.045 average and is also No. 6 all-around, his highest score an 82.700.
The event will be held at State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill. on April 19-20 and will consist of two days: Friday pre-qualifiers and the Saturday championship session. No. 6 Minnesota will compete in Session I of Friday's qualifiers and will go up against five other teams: No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Michigan, No. 7 Nebraska, No. 10 Navy and No. 11 California.
Session I is set to begin at 1 p.m. CST on Friday, and should the Gophers place within the top three of the day, they will move on to Saturday's championship with Session II's top three finishers. Minnesota has advanced to the team finals for the past three seasons.
The Gophers are coming off of a historic outing at the 2018 NCAA Championships that saw them place as the national runner-up, a program-best finish and the top since 1990. Eight different gymnasts earned eleven All-American honors in all events, and Shane Wiskus, then a freshman, earned his own runner-up finish to go along with the team's: in the all-around with a score of 83.064.
All championships info, including tickets, can be found through the championships website via host Illinois, and fans can follow the Gophers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for coverage.
Scouting the Field
Each of the Big Ten's seven teams qualified for the NCAA Championships coming off of last weekend's Big Ten Championships, where the Gophers placed fifth. Minnesota saw Michigan twice during the regular season and fell both times. The team also faced Nebraska twice and came away 1-1, with the win counting in Big Ten standings. It will be the Gophers' first time competing against Stanford, Navy and California this season.
No. 2 Stanford
The Cardinal are coming off of a second-place finish, only behind the country's No. 1 team, Oklahoma, at the MPSF Championships last weekend with a score of 418.550. Freshman Brody Malone took second place in the all-around, and was also named the MPSF Gymnast of the Year. Malone has consistently been ranked the No. 1 all-arounder this season, only to be overtaken by Wiskus for three weeks in March. Stanford owns the nation's second-best score in the regular season, 419.350, and is the No. 2 team on all events except vault and parallel bars. The team is ranked No. 1 on p-bars.
No. 3 Michigan
The Gophers share a piece of the Big Ten Regular Season Championship with Michigan, who also went 4-2 in conference meets. The Wolverines posted the second-best score in the Big Ten all season, 413.900, and came in third place at last weekend's championships with a score of 409.550. Michigan swept the top three spots in the all-around, with sophomore Cameron Bock taking the crown with a score of 83.600. Bock was also named Gymnast of the Championships on day two of competition, and sophomore Jake Moore earned the floor title (14.650).
No. 7 Nebraska
The Huskers wrapped up last week's Big Ten Championships just ahead of the Gophers in fourth place (406.000). The team went 2-4 in regular season Big Ten meets, one of the losses coming from Minnesota. Nebraska has still had plenty of success, though, and one of its most recent honors came in the form of Big Ten Gymnast of the Year in senior Anton Stephenson, which is an honor shared with Wiskus. Stephenson is the nation's top vaulter, with the highest score of the season: 15.100. He earned his third-straight Big Ten title on the event last weekend and is also a 2019 Nissen-Emery Award finalist.
No. 10 Navy
The Midshipmen head into the NCAA Championships as the defending ECAC men's gymnastics champions. Navy won its conference meet by 10.5 points last weekend and racked up four event title winners and 15 All-ECAC honors. Head Coach Kip Simons was also named ECAC Head Coach of the Year. Navy is ranked in the top 10 on two events: No. 6 on both pommel horse and high bar. The Mids also have three athletes individually ranked: No. 5 David Toussaint and No. 10 Ryan Orce on pommel horse, and Lucas Beltran is ranked No. 7 on vault.
No. 11 California
The Golden Bears recently placed third among a tough MPSF field with a score of 394.700, behind No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 2 Stanford. Five of Cal's gymnasts placed among the top ten in the individual events. The Bears' top score on this season is 405.500 and their highest team rank comes in at No. 5 on floor exercise, where they boast an average score of 68.470, just behind the Gophers at 68.691. Cal is also ranked No. 10 on both bar sets. Freshman Darren Wong is ranked No. 9 on floor with a 14.045 average and is also No. 6 all-around, his highest score an 82.700.
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