Temple University Athletics
2002-03 MEN'S GYMNASTICS TEAM OUTLOOK
12.10.02 | Men's Gymnastics
The 2002-03 owl team is senior-heavy, with the bulk of its scoring power concentrated there. Michael Ast has been a good floor exercise and vault lead-off man, while Adam Courtney earned 4th on rings a the ECACs last season. Kevin Hallinan returned to regular all-event duty after a year off due to surgery, and provided steady work in many areas (Kevin competed in the summer US Championships qualifier, placing 40th in the country). Theo Maes was an ECAC medallist on vault, competing at the NCAA Championships on that event as well. He contributes greatly to the floor exercise and horizontal bar team, too. Richie Maguire has a chance to win a third ECAC all-around title plus add to his titles on vault and parallel bars.. Jason Moresi does high difficulty on pommel horse and worked horizontal bar regularly as well. Adam Owens saw plenty of action on pommel horse while working vault and parallel bars also. Jeremy Nelson saw action last season on both floor exercise and pommel horse. Travis Pummer was a 2001 ECAC finalist on parallel bars and competes on pommel horse and rings, too. Tory Torcomian earned a starting spot on rings and will challenge for vault. Having medalled the previous two years in all-around at the ECAC Championships, Alex Weber placed third last year while also medalling on vault.
The juniors add good backup to the seniors. Travis Kitchen placed second on parallel bars at the ECACs and competed on that event at the NCAAs. John Behrle became a regular on floor exercise and pommel horse, with vault an added bonus. Dave Nowakowski saw some action in the horizontal bar lineup and could help on parallel bars this season.
Our sophomores are a small but promising group. Abraham Kletzel, a walk-on from Mexico, may see action after spending a year building his repertoire. Transfer David Ramos is the 2nd ranked gymnast in Puerto Rico and is good on all events. Nyika White placed third on rings at the ECACs and competed on that event at the NCAAs, while working vault and parallel bars regularly for the team.
Three freshmen bring new enthusiasm and talent to the gym. Dan Berlin is strongest on pommel horse, which he won at the recent Empire State Games. Brian Forquer made the Jr. Olympic Championships and has some high-level flipping/twisting skills. Nadov Simenauer competed at the Jr. Olympic Championships.
Tom Gibbs, a teammate of coach Turoff's in the late 60s and named "Assistant Coach of the Year" this past season by the College Gymnastics Association, returns as Fred's assistant coach for the seventh year.
Several multi-team-meets, featuring strong opponents, plus a first-time trip to the Southwest Cup in Arizona, appear in the schedule. This leads up to the ECAC Championships, which will be hosted by MIT in late March. Sadly, the ECAC will be without both Massachusetts, which was dropped (along with women's gymnastics) and Vermont, which is now a club-level activity. The NCAA season finishes with the NCAA Championships at Temple, the first time we've hosted this meet since 1976.
