Temple University Athletics
Men's Gymnastics Falls to Penn State 347.550-332.300
3.6.09 | Men's Gymnastics
March 6, 2009
PHILADELPHIA -The Temple University men’s gymnastics team saw its three-meet win streak come to a close when they hosted the Nittany Lions of Penn State University on Friday, March 6 at McGonigle Hall. Penn States 347.550 bested Temples 332.300 effort in what was expected to be a close duel meet competition.
Temple started the evening in the first rotation on the floor exercise, with Jeff Zacks huge double layout and stuck Arabian double (13.600), and Evan Burkes 2.5 punch front-full, stuck Arabian double, and triple-full dismount (14.250) to lead the charge for the Owls 54.300 total.
Penn State ran into several problems on the pommel horse, but relied on high start values and relatively clean execution to pull away with a respectable 55.250 total. 2008 NCAA All-Around Champion Casey Sandy, suffered a fall and still walked away with the highest score on horse for the night with a 14.500.
The two teams flip-flopped in the second rotation, with Temple moving to horse and Penn State to floor. Temple swung some aggressive and confident routines, showing they were more into commanding their bodies to hit, rather than hoping not to fall. The result was five out of six hit routines and a solid event score of 55.000, bringing their two-event total to 109.300. Leading the way for the Owls was Patrick McLaughlins 14.000 and Adam Al-Rokhs 13.850.
Meanwhile, Penn State was racking up the points on floor led by Allen Harris interesting mount of a front double pike side pass and stuck full-in dismount (15.150) to bring the Nittany Lions two-event total to 113.700.
In the third rotation, Temple moved to the still rings and was led off by Blake Collins 13.650, but the momentum faded as the next two athletes suffered major execution errors, each scoring well below potential. McLaughlin (14.000), John Vogtman (13.800) and Al-Rokh (14.200) were able to pull things back on track for a 55.650 total.
Deciding to only use five vaulters (each team is allowed to compete six athletes, with the top four scores counting toward the event total), Penn State opted to rest Sandy, especially after watching all five guys break the 15 mark. Noam Shahams 15.700 for a Kasamatsu-full was the second highest score on vault during the evening.
Halfway through the competition, Penn State held a comfortable lead over the Owls, 175.750-164.950.
In the fourth rotation, it was Temples turn to take advantage of the high scoring vault event, and they did just that with several difficult and well-executed vaults. Tyler Croteau actually opted for a simpler Yurchenko-full, but only lost .25 in execution en route to a 15.150 score. Zack kept the momentum going with a Kasamatsu-half for 15.200, while McLaughlin and Scott Bloomfield took top honors on the event, tying one another with matching scores of 15.750 to post an impressive 61.850 event total.
Penn State maneuvered through some complex still rings routines, led by Miguel Pineda, who powered through a maltese-lever-maltese combination and stuck a full-twisting double layout for a 14.850, elevating their rings total to 58.150.
After the fourth rotation, Temple had made up 2.7 points on Penn State, but were still down 233.900-226.800
The fifth rotation saw Temple on parallel bars and Penn State on the high bar, but the problems came back for Temple when their first two competitors each counted a major break. Logan Fiery showed amazing execution on a back toss-stutz combination and stuck a double tuck for a 13.750, but it was only McLaughlin who could capitalize on the momentum built from Fiery, scoring an event-winning 14.700, thus bringing the team total to 54.300
Meanwhile, Penn State was giving a clinic on high bar, with several of their athletes opting for the popular layout Yamawaki as their first or major release, each completing the maneuver with very little deduction. Matt Greenfield saved a Takemoto half that almost didn't go over the bar, and caught a huge Gienger release for 14.500, while teammate Shaun Antonio launched a huge layout Kovacs, nailed a Rybalko, and nearly stuck a triple back for 14.750.
At this point in the competition, Penn State had all but sealed the win, leading Temple 291.850-281.100.
The sixth and final rotation of the evening saw Temple's high bar woes continue with each gymnast having at least one major mistake, thus garnering a disappointing 51.200 total. Penn State also had problems on parallel bars, having to wait until the fourth competitor up to have a hit routine. Regardless, their 55.700 total was more than enough to win the competition.
Temple will enjoy two weeks of rest before returning home for their final competition of the regular season when they host ECAC/EIGL conference rivals Army and Navy during the Alumni Homecoming competition, scheduled for Saturday March 21 at 2:00 PM at McGonigle Hall.
