Temple University Athletics
Owls Welcome Midshipmen for Final Home Meet
3.14.07 | Men's Gymnastics
March 14, 2007
PHILADELPHIA - The #13 Temple men's gymnastics team (13-3) will host #15 Navy in a conference showdown this coming Saturday, March 17 at 2:00 p.m. in McGonigle Hall. This will mark the final regular season competition for both teams as they prepare for the post-season.
In his 31st year as head coach at Temple, Fred Turoff feels the excitement and pressure that the end of the season brings.
"It's very important that we have a strong showing at home this weekend against a very talented Navy team. We slipped to #13 in the rankings, so we'd like to capitalize on the fact that we'll be competing in front of our home crowd," said Turoff.
Expected to lead the charge for the Owls will be juniors Sterling Kramer and Luke Vexler. Sophomore John Vogtman will also play a key role in this weekend's competition. All three student-athletes are currently ranked in the top 15 of the national all-around standings. As always, Turoff will look to talented freshman Patrick McLaughlin to contribute some solid scores, along with Nick Iles, Clay Stewart, Andy Corp, Dan Berlin, Nate Nasiby, Derek Shepard, and Nadov Simenauer.
The Owls received some good news earlier this week, when junior Alex Gorski was medically cleared by physicians to resume training. Gorski, who suffered an elbow injury a few weeks ago, is very happy to have the opportunity to wear the Cherry and White for the remainder of the season.
"I've been training on vault and high bar, but will definitely need some more time with the latter. Vaulting has been going great, and I feel confident that I can hit if placed in the lineup," said Gorski.
Following the dual meet with Navy, Temple will prepare to host the ECAC/EIGL conference championships on Saturday, March 31 and Sunday, April 1. The first day of competition will feature the team event, in what's expected to be a sheer battle. Temple, Army, University of Illinois-Chicago, and Navy are all exceptional teams, and there is an incredible amount of parity between the four squads. The team competition is scheduled for a 3:00 p.m. start on March 31st, with the top eight individual performers on each event competing for bragging rights on April 1 at 2:00 p.m. Both competitions will take place in McGonigle Hall.
