Temple University Athletics
Men's Gymnastics Takes First at Final Home Meet
2.16.08 | Men's Gymnastics
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Feb. 16, 2008
PHILADELPHIA - The Temple men's gymnastics team (8-1) cruised to victory Saturday over ECAC rivals Springfield and MIT to headline the 5th annual Temple Boys Invitational. The Owls finished with a score of 339.450, besting Springfield (329.600) and MIT (311.800) for the victory.
The Owls began their evening on the floor exercise, with senior Alex Gorski nailing his piked Arabian double front mount for a 14.550. Freshman Tyler Croteau worked well through some intricate combinations, highlighted by a whip-Arabian double. Senior co-captain Sterling Kramer chipped in a 14.600 with clean execution and solid landings throughout.
The Owls then moved to pommel horse, with senior John Jeffries showing why he deserved the pressure filled lead-off spot with a stellar 14.100, second best to Kramer and fellow senior Luke Vexler's 14.300 scores. Croteau erased his memories of a troubled set just two weeks ago against Ohio State and Navy with a solid 13.650. Tonight's competition marked the second time in a row that 32nd year head coach Fred Turoff's team cruised through pommel horse without having to count a fall.
In the third rotation, Temple moved to the still rings and were lead-off by senior co-captain Greg Monaco's rudi dismount (12.050); Jeffries and Russo picked up the pace with scores of 13.350 and 13.500, to set up the return of sophomore Pat McLaughlin's 13.700.
Meanwhile, Springfield was posting some impressive scores including J.J. Ferreira's 14.500 on floor exercise, and Matt Bolognese's 14.950 on the still rings; good enough for an individual first place finish
MIT was also strong on the rings with a 55.200 team total, which was good enough for a second place finish on the event. The 2nd place finish was even more impressive given they only had the luxury of competing four athletes.
At the halfway mark, Temple lead the pack with a 169.150 over Springfield's 163.200. Perhaps feeling the lack of depth, MIT was way back in third at 158.050.
Temple moved to the vault in the fourth rotation highlighted by Gorski's layout rudi (14.950), and Chris Bizub's stuck Kasamatsu 1/1 (15.800). Most notably absent from this vault lineup was Scott Bloomfield, who rolled an ankle earlier in the week during training.
However, Bloomfield was not about to let a sore ankle keep him out of the competition, as he rocked the lead-off position on parallel bars with a stellar 14.000 (nice double pike finish). Senior Nate Naisby mistimed a few tricky pirouetting sequences, but was quickly put back on track with senior Andy Corp's 14.000 (nice healy combo, double pike). McLaughlin chipped in a 14.100 with a strong set capped off by a tight double tuck dismount.
In the sixth and final rotation, Temple moved to the high bar, Springfield to the parallel bars, and MIT on vault. Temple, looking more like "Air-Temple" wowed the crowd with some extreme tricks including a Winkler from Bloomfield; Def from Russo; Gaylord 2 from Gorski; and a Kolmann from Kramer.
At the end of the evening, Temple would see their overall record improve to 8-1, all while remaining undefeated in the ECAC/EIGL conference.
McLaughlin, along with Russo and Gorski, used this meet to stage their comebacks after all suffered through various injuries at the start of the season.
The timing couldn't have been better.
At last weeks Winter Cup Challenge in Las Vegas, NV, star junior John Vogtman tore his ACL on his final event, the vault. Vogtman, who was awarded with National Division 1 Gymnast of the Week honors earlier in the month, will be sorely missed this season. However, the return of Gorski, McLaughlin, and Russo should fill the void for the Owls this season.
"We are fortunate to see the return of these three athletes. These guys have been key players for us in the past, and would have seen a return to competition this week even without the injury dealt to John. Being able to put these three guys back into the lineup is really a true testament to our depth this season," said 2nd year assistant coach Theo Maes. "They will continue to improve as the season goes on. I can assure you of that."
The Owls take on conference foes Army and Illinois-Chicago on the road when they travel to West Point on Friday, February 22nd. Action is scheduled to begin at 6:00pm.
