Feb. 14, 2004
Feb. 14, 2004 - The Cardinal had it's second home meet tonight in Burnham Pavilion tonight against Arizona State University and the University of Washington. The Cardinal team tonight was even smaller than usual. Both Peter Derman and Dylan Carney, two of teams talented freshman, were out due to sickness and injury. Also, Senior National Team member and captain Dan Gill was only able to compete floor exercise and pommel horse because of an inflammed shoulder.
Despite these set-backs, the remaining Cardinal gymnasts were able to make an exceptional showing, earning top honors on all the events and the all-around. Dan Gill won floor exercise with a 9.650, performing the same routine he competed the weekend before at the Winter Cup Challenge, but freshman Brice Rolston stole the spotlight on several events. Competing on floor exercise, pommel horse, parallel bars, and high bar, Brice won pommel horse with a 9.050 and tied for first on parallel bars with an 8.650. Rolston tied with junior Kelly Lang, who also placed second on floor and vault with scores of 9.050 and 8.900, respectively. Also included in these exceptional Cardinal routines were Alex Schorsch's winning still rings performance, which included the following very difficult strength sequence: maltese push to plange and a second maltese that was followed by a bounce to iron cross. Alex scored an impressive 9.275.
Three other Cardinal gymnasts that did very well were sophomores Nate Downs and Sean Doolan, as well as junior Ambert Yeung. Nate Downs finished first on the horizontal bar with a score of 8.850 after performing a challenging combination of stalder and endo work. Sean Doolan, the team's only all-arounder, won vault with a double twisting Tsukahara. This roundoff entry vault with a layout backflip and two twists earned him a 9.250. Junior Ambert Yeung had a good showing on floor exercise (8.750) and placed second on the horizontal bar, scoring an 8.350 and complete with beautiful inverted giant swings.
When questioned afterward about the meet and his smaller than average team size, head coach Thom Glielmi said, "Although it would be ideal to have more competition within the team for positions in the event line-up, all the gymnasts still take their gymnastics seriously and are doing a great job."
The final scores in the team competition placed Stanford first with a 208.550, Arizona State second with a 190.150, and Washington third with a 178.200.
Next week, the Cardinal are back at Berkeley for their third face off against the Golden Bears, but they return to Burnham on Saturday the 28th at 7:00 pm.