Temple University Athletics
Owls Post Season-High Total in Seniors' Farewell
3.17.07 | Men's Gymnastics
March 17, 2007
Tri-Meet with Army and Navy (.pdf)
PHILADELPHIA - With sights of its first ECAC-EIGL Championship since 2003, the Temple men's gymnastics team (15-3) geared up for another title run with a convincing first place showing in tri-meet action against Army and Navy Saturday afternoon at McGonigle Hall. The Owls' season-best score of 206.150 was tops while Army (199.600) placed second and Navy (193.200) finished third.
Juniors Sterling Kramer, Luke Vexler and sophomore John Vogtman stole the all-around stage. Kramer's 51.200 was best while Vexler and Vogtman shared the second place finish with a 51.150.
The Cherry and White captured all six event crowns en route to breaking the 200-point plateau for just the third time this season. Senior specialist Clay Stewart placed first in the floor exercise while Vexler finished second as the Owls posted a 34.550 team score. Junior Alex Gorski (8.450) and Vogtman (8.200) rounded-out 35th-year head coach Fred Turoff's floor exercise line-up.
Vogtman led all competitors with an 8.950 on the pommel horse as the Cherry and White tallied a season-high 34.550. Vexler (8.750) finished in a tie for second with Navy's Adam Stanton while Kramer placed third (8.650). Sophomore Nick Iles posted an 8.200 as Temple's fourth and final qualifying score.
While the Owls scored a 33.850 as a team on the rings, Vogtman and freshman standout Patrick McLaughlin logged second place scores of 8.500 behind Army's Joe Baumann and his 8.550. Kramer tallied a third place finish with an 8.450 while senior Derek Shepard posted an 8.400.
McLaughlin was tops for the Cherry and White on the vault with a second place score of 8.900. Vogtman finished third with an 8.800 while Gorski tallied an 8.700 as the Owls posted a team score and an even-high of 34.850.
Kramer, Vogtman and Vexler finished first, second and third on the parallel bars as the Cherry and White captured a 33.600 team score. Kramer (8.800) won the first place crown outright while Vogtman (8.350) finished in a tie for second with Army's Mike Oliveira and Navy's Christopher Tam. Vexler's 8.300 was the sole third place finish while junior Nate Naisby tallied an 8.150 as Temple's fourth and final qualifying score.
Temple's 34.750 high bar score was a season-high and led by Kramer's (8.850) first place finish. Junior Andy Corp (8.800) placed second while Vexler (8.750) finished in a tie for third with Army's Tim Burns. Vogtman completed Turoff's high bar line-up with an 8.350.
Prior to the start of the meet, seniors Dan Berlin, Shepard, Nadov Simenauer and Stewart were honored for their four-year careers as members of the Cherry and White.
However, Saturday afternoon's tri-meet will not be their last competition in McGonigle Hall as the 2007 ECAC-EIGL Championships return to Temple's campus on Saturday, March 31 and Sunday, April 1. Team and all-around competitions on Saturday will be begin at 3:00 p.m. while inidividual competitions the following day commence at 2:00 p.m.
