Temple University Athletics
Senior Tyler Croteau
Highlights From Men's Gymnastics Annual Intrasquad Meet
12.7.09 | Men's Gymnastics
Strong mix of youth and leadership will be key to Owl’s success in 2010
PHILADELPHIA -The Temple men's gymnastics team kicked of its 2010 season on Saturday, December 5, with an afternoon packed with high level difficulty. The annual intrasquad meet in McGonigle Hall allowed for the Cherry and White to perform pressure sets and show 34th-year head coach Fred Turoff their readiness at this point of the preseason.
The afternoon started on floor exercise, highlighted by senior Scott Bloomfield's front double-full punch front-full and stuck double-front side pass. Junior Jeff Zack opened with a strong double layout, and senior Tyler Croteau nailed his opening piked Arabian double front. Sophomore Evan Burke showed a very strong set, opening with a back 1.5 to front double-full, and closed with a clean and perfectly rotated triple-full. Freshman Allan Malone opened with a clean layout Thomas and came back with a stuck Arabain double front to set-up senior co-captain Patrick McLaughlin's difficult set, most memorable from his back 1.5 to front double-full second pass.
Staying true to the Olympic rotation in men's gymnastics, the team moved to its second event, the pommel horse. Overall, the team showed good endurance for the lengthy routines required to score big in competition, and while consistency of hit routines is still a work in progress, the extension and form by the athletes were quite good. Most notable was Croteau, who showed a strong fight and powered his way through his routine. Senior co-captain Jesse Kitzen-Abelson, performed a nice spindle sequence on the end of the horse for his mount, and McLaughlin didn't let a fall stand in his way of pirouetting a solid dismount.
Still rings proved to be a strong event for the Owls, with several guys successfully swinging the ever-popular Johnasson-Yamawaki combinations. Sophomore Chris Mooney unveiled his new dismount of a tucked double-twisting double back, taking one small step forward but showing that he intends to be a mainstay in the upcoming season's lineup.
Vaulting, typically the Owls' strongest event, proved to be just that, with the team showing an incredible mix of difficult vaults. The absolute high point of the day came when McLaughlin launched his brand-new tucked Tsukahara double back, taking one small step backwards on the landing. With his vault in the lineup, complimented by Bloomfield's Kasamatsu 1.5 and Burke's solid double-twisting Yurchenko, the Owls will be a tough team to contend with this season. Other highlights included Kasamtsu-fulls by Zack, juniors Chris Bizub and Dan Pizzuta, and Mooney.
Perhaps reeling from the successes of the previous event, the vault, the team moved to its fifth event – the parallel bars. Here, the team showed several upgrades from last season, both in the interior of the routines and on the dismounts. Mooney showed a strong double-pike dismount, freshman Dashiell Sears performed a tricky double front dismount, and junior Evan Shephard did a nice Tippelt and double-tuck dismount. Freshman Alex Tighe did a cool combination of a Carballo to a tucked Belle and finished with a solid double pike. Other highlights included a tricky mount of shoot to handstand with a quarter turn from McLaughlin, straddle front 1 ¼'s by Kitzen-Abelson, Bloomfield and junior Logan Fiery, whom also showed a solid combination of back toss, diamadov, Stutz. Malone finished off the strong showing by the Owls with a clean diamadov, stutz, back toss combination and double tuck dismount.
The sixth and final event of the afternoon was the high bar, an event that has produced several problems for the Owls in the past, mainly due to the high level of difficult skills being performed. This team continues to push the envelope of difficult skills, and while there were a few falls here and there, the Owls appear to continue to take the necessary risks to rake in the big scores. Highlights included a stuck double-twisting double tuck from freshman Brett Statman; double front rudi out from Tighe; Kovacs and triple-back dismount from Zack; Winkler, layout jaeger, Rybalko and layout double-double from Bloomfield. Junior Blake Collins caught a nice Gienger release, followed by Malone's Takemoto to Tkatchev. McLaughlin closed out the day with a nice uprise to layout Yamawaki, Takemoto and layout double-double dismount.
The Owls officially kick-off the 2010 season with the West Point Open on January 15, and will be well into the middle of its season when they return home for the season opener at McGonigle Hall on February 13, to headline the 8th annual Temple Boys Invitational - a meet that attracts more than 500 gymnasts from around the nation each year.
Earlier this preseason, the Temple men's gymnastics team was featured on the popular gymnastics website, Gymnastike. For videos of training clips and routines from the visit, click here.
The afternoon started on floor exercise, highlighted by senior Scott Bloomfield's front double-full punch front-full and stuck double-front side pass. Junior Jeff Zack opened with a strong double layout, and senior Tyler Croteau nailed his opening piked Arabian double front. Sophomore Evan Burke showed a very strong set, opening with a back 1.5 to front double-full, and closed with a clean and perfectly rotated triple-full. Freshman Allan Malone opened with a clean layout Thomas and came back with a stuck Arabain double front to set-up senior co-captain Patrick McLaughlin's difficult set, most memorable from his back 1.5 to front double-full second pass.
Staying true to the Olympic rotation in men's gymnastics, the team moved to its second event, the pommel horse. Overall, the team showed good endurance for the lengthy routines required to score big in competition, and while consistency of hit routines is still a work in progress, the extension and form by the athletes were quite good. Most notable was Croteau, who showed a strong fight and powered his way through his routine. Senior co-captain Jesse Kitzen-Abelson, performed a nice spindle sequence on the end of the horse for his mount, and McLaughlin didn't let a fall stand in his way of pirouetting a solid dismount.
Still rings proved to be a strong event for the Owls, with several guys successfully swinging the ever-popular Johnasson-Yamawaki combinations. Sophomore Chris Mooney unveiled his new dismount of a tucked double-twisting double back, taking one small step forward but showing that he intends to be a mainstay in the upcoming season's lineup.
Vaulting, typically the Owls' strongest event, proved to be just that, with the team showing an incredible mix of difficult vaults. The absolute high point of the day came when McLaughlin launched his brand-new tucked Tsukahara double back, taking one small step backwards on the landing. With his vault in the lineup, complimented by Bloomfield's Kasamatsu 1.5 and Burke's solid double-twisting Yurchenko, the Owls will be a tough team to contend with this season. Other highlights included Kasamtsu-fulls by Zack, juniors Chris Bizub and Dan Pizzuta, and Mooney.
Perhaps reeling from the successes of the previous event, the vault, the team moved to its fifth event – the parallel bars. Here, the team showed several upgrades from last season, both in the interior of the routines and on the dismounts. Mooney showed a strong double-pike dismount, freshman Dashiell Sears performed a tricky double front dismount, and junior Evan Shephard did a nice Tippelt and double-tuck dismount. Freshman Alex Tighe did a cool combination of a Carballo to a tucked Belle and finished with a solid double pike. Other highlights included a tricky mount of shoot to handstand with a quarter turn from McLaughlin, straddle front 1 ¼'s by Kitzen-Abelson, Bloomfield and junior Logan Fiery, whom also showed a solid combination of back toss, diamadov, Stutz. Malone finished off the strong showing by the Owls with a clean diamadov, stutz, back toss combination and double tuck dismount.
The sixth and final event of the afternoon was the high bar, an event that has produced several problems for the Owls in the past, mainly due to the high level of difficult skills being performed. This team continues to push the envelope of difficult skills, and while there were a few falls here and there, the Owls appear to continue to take the necessary risks to rake in the big scores. Highlights included a stuck double-twisting double tuck from freshman Brett Statman; double front rudi out from Tighe; Kovacs and triple-back dismount from Zack; Winkler, layout jaeger, Rybalko and layout double-double from Bloomfield. Junior Blake Collins caught a nice Gienger release, followed by Malone's Takemoto to Tkatchev. McLaughlin closed out the day with a nice uprise to layout Yamawaki, Takemoto and layout double-double dismount.
The Owls officially kick-off the 2010 season with the West Point Open on January 15, and will be well into the middle of its season when they return home for the season opener at McGonigle Hall on February 13, to headline the 8th annual Temple Boys Invitational - a meet that attracts more than 500 gymnasts from around the nation each year.
Earlier this preseason, the Temple men's gymnastics team was featured on the popular gymnastics website, Gymnastike. For videos of training clips and routines from the visit, click here.
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