Temple University Athletics
Owls Edge Black Knights and Flames for Top Spot
2.25.07 | Men's Gymnastics
Feb. 25, 2007
PHILADELPHIA - The Temple men's gymnastics team (201.400) narrowly defeated conference-rivals Army (200.500) and Illinois-Chicago (199.750) in the evening session of the fourth annual Temple Boys Invitational. Tonight's win brings the Owls to 11-3 as they head into the final month of regular season competition.
The Owls started the evening on the floor exercise with sophomore Nick Iles' 8.500 (double pike mount; 3/2-1/1; 2/1 dismount). After Patrick McLaughlin, Sterling Kramer, and John Vogtman (8.250, 8.350, 8.150) struggled to build momentum, the Owls looked to senior floor specialist Clay Stewart to get them back on track. Stewart went 9.050 with a routine that had everything but the kitchen sink (3/2-1/1-Rudi; front 2/1-barani; whip-3/1, 2/1 side pass; whip-5/2 dismount). Junior Luke Vexler (laid out Arabian 1 ¾; tucked Thomas; whip-5/2) anchored with a solid 9.150 to give Temple the early lead over Army, 35.050-33.100. UIC got off to a slow start with a 30.650 on the pommel horse.
The Owls moved on to their second event, the pommel horse, and got a solid performance out of junior Andy Corp (Magyar-Savado) for 8.150. Although senior Dan Berlin fell after his flop sequence, his high level of difficulty garnered an impressive 8.000. Not wanting to count scores of 6.800 and 7.800 (Iles, Kramer), Vexler and sophomore John Vogtman cruised to great scores of 8.300 and 9.200, respectively
Meanwhile, UIC was pulling itself out of its first event slump with excellent rings routines, lead by Nikolai Korepanov's meet high 9.400. After two events, Temple held on to their lead over Army with a 68.700-67.300. UIC found themselves inching closer to the group with a 65.300.
In the third rotation, Temple went to the still rings and posted solid sets from McLaughlin and Vexler for 8.500 and 8.450 (both stuck full-in dismounts). Kramer tossed in 8.700, while Vogtman drew wows from the crowd with his awesome maltese-planche combo and stuck full twisting double (9.000). Army posted a respectable 32.200 on pommel horse, while UIC was throwing huge floor sets for a 35.300. However, Temple had extended their lead, this time with UIC in second (103.350-100.600). Army dropped back to third with a score of 99.500.
Temple then moved to what is considered their deepest event, the vault, and did not disappoint. Iles got things started with a 7.800 for his Kasamatsu, which set up senior Derek Sheperd's massive Kas-1/1 (8.500). Vexler stuck his Yurchenko 3/2 for 8.700, followed by Kramer's big double twisting version of the same entry (8.650). Vogtman wrapped a high and tight Kas-1/1 of his own for a stellar 8.900 score.
Army struggled a bit on its first two high bar routines, but came back strong to post a 34.900. UIC also had issues with the parallel bars, with only one gymnast breaking the 8.000 barrier. After four rotations, Temple held on to the lead with a 138.100 to Army's 134.400. UIC dropped back to third with a 131.400.
Temple headed to the parallel bars and had issues of their own as well. Vogtman's clean lines made up for a stumble backward on his double pike dismount(8.000), but Kramer impressed the judges with an event high 8.750 (peach-diamodov-back toss-stutz).
Heading into the final rotation, Temple held on to a comfortable lead over Army with a 170.100-167.950. UIC made up some ground with a solid high bar effort of 34.900 to bring their five event total to 166.300. All Temple needed was to remain steady on high bar, and the victory was theirs for the taking.
After Sheperd and McLaughlin struggled, Corp caught his sky high reverse hecht, but had a four point landing on his massive triple back dismount for a dismal 7.850. Iles rocked a solid set for 8.000, but then Vexler struggled en route to 7.350 (fall on laid out double-double dismount). It was now up to Sterling Kramer, who caught a giant Kolmann and an even bigger Kovacs. After catching the latter way too close, Kramer had to make the quick decision to either try to muscle a giant swing or a stalder uprise out of the skill. He went for the uprise, but found himself stuck in a support position after he failed to go over the top. The crowd cheered him on, but it wasn't enough for him to pull his full-twisting double layout dismount to his feet. He and the rest of the gymnasium waited for what seemed to be an eternity for his score to be flashed. Regardless of the errors, his 8.100 sealed the victory for the Owls.
"Coach Turoff told me that I absolutely needed to stay on the bar for us to win. Some guys might get nervous, but I feed off that type of pressure. In my mind, I knew I had to at least stay on the bar," added Kramer.
Sophomore Nick Iles was pleased with his performance, especially since it was his first home meet of the season.
"It feels great to compete again, especially at home. I was out the first half of the season with a shoulder injury, and feel like I'm at about 85%. I'll be looking to make some upgrades as the season progresses," said Iles.
While he was happy with the win, head coach Fred Turoff realizes that consistency is eluding this team, especially on parallel bars and high bar.
"We've been performing poorly on those two events all season. However, I'm not about to compromise low start values for safer routines. I'll stick to my game plan and continue to seek excellence in practice. I know this team can be more solid, we just need to work a little harder," said Turoff.
The Temple men's gymnastics team heads west to sunny Tempe, AZ, on Friday March 2 for the Southwest Cup. There, they will face club program Arizona State and Air Force Academy. The Owls will return home on Saturday March 17 to meet Navy for a 2:00 p.m. start in McGonigle Hall. The Navy meet also marks the final regular season competition for the Owls.
