April 15, 2008
STANFORD, Calif. - The stage is set for the 2008 National Collegiate Men's Gymnastics Championships, as 12 teams along with individual competitors from non-qualifying teams will descend on Maples Pavilion this weekend hoping to earn the distinction of national champion. The event, which begins on Thursday, April 17 will have four sessions of competition. Team qualifiers are set for two sessions on Thursday, team finals and all-around finals for Friday evening, and individual championships for Saturday evening.
Oklahoma, Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska, and William & Mary will take to the mats in the first qualifying session Thursday at 1 p.m. In the evening session, scheduled for a 7 p.m. start, top-ranked Stanford will take on California, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, and Temple. The top three teams from each qualifying session will move on to Friday night's finals.
The Stanford Cardinal have been in the hunt for a Men's Gymnastics NCAA Championship since 1995, when they last captured the national title. The gymnasts and coaches are hungry to prove that the No. 1 ranking they've carried most of this season should hold come Friday evening when the gymnasts take the podium.
Stanford has a lot working in their favor. They have the home crowd, the familiarity of Maples Pavilion, and the experience of having completed one of the toughest schedules in the country, in which they have faced all but three of this weekend's 12 teams.
Stanford has faced and defeated Oklahoma, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, California, Iowa, Minnesota, and Ohio State at least once. Having such familiarity with those teams may prove vital to the Stanford's success.
Last year, having the home advantage seemed to work as well. In 2007, Penn State hosted the National Collegiate Men's Gymnastics Championships and made the Happy Valley a little happier by winning the team crown in front of their fans at home. This year, with Stanford hosting the 2008 Championships, Head Coach Thom Glielmi says, "for the team, I can think of nothing better than to win at home."
Going back a little further though, history might get in the way for the Cardinal. Penn State and Oklahoma have combined to win the last six titles, and seven out of the last ten. Stanford is certainly hoping to end that pattern.
Stanford was tabbed No. 1 in the preseason rankings and has held that position for most of the 2008 season. The Cardinal's only hiccup in the regular season was a loss on January 18 to California. The Golden Bears knocked the Cardinal down to No. 3, and it took Stanford just under a month to recover the top spot, as they did so on February 18 and haven't been dethroned since.
Stanford has suffered only one other defeat this season, to Oklahoma at the MPSF Championships on April 5. The No. 2 Sooners upset Stanford by a mere 1.5 points to steal away the conference championship. The Cardinal will certainly remember that going into this weekend.
The Cardinal is led by a talented group of upperclassmen, including three returning All-Americans, but also features a solid group of freshman competitors. Senior David Sender has been the team's anchor all season, but when he's been off attempting to pursue a spot on the Olympic squad, the rest of the team has stepped it up in his place. A five-year member of the Senior Men's National Team, seven-time NCAA All-American and defending vault individual champion for the last two years, Sender owns the nation's highest score in still rings so far this season with a 16.350. He is a constant threat to his opponents in any event and is a finalist for the Nissen-Emery Award. He's not the only danger on the Cardinal squad though. "We have guys on every event that will challenge for the title," added Glielmi.
Dylan Carney is one of those guys, the redshirt senior from Massachusetts was crowned the co-national champion on horizontal bar in the 2006 season, and has continued to record impressive scores in that event, along with floor exercise and vault, all year. Fellow senior Chris Harper has been dominant on the pommel horse, and finished third in the individual finals at last year's NCAA Championships. Newcomers Josh Dixon, Alex Buscaglia, Tim Gentry, and Ryan Lieberman should also contribute high marks for the Cardinal.
2008 marks the first year that the NCAA has adopted the F.I.G. scoring system, and as it has been all season, the new system will be implemented at this year's championship. Fans that are used to scores out of 10 possible points should not be surprised when they see scores higher than that. As a general guide, 16.0-plus is a very good score, 15.0 - 15.9 is the realm of the top NCAA gymnasts, 14.0 - 14.9 is still a good score, 13.0 - 13.9: is an above average score and a tally of 12.0 - 12.9 is about average. The new scoring system was brought in place to encourage difficult skills and more objective judging.
This year's competition will be televised as the team finals are tentatively set to broadcast on tape-delay on ESPN2 on April 24, and the individual event finals are also tentatively slated to be broadcast on tape-delay on Comcast's CN8 channel on May 3 and May 10. Tickets can be purchased at the door. All-session ticket packages range from $20 to $30 and include all four sessions. Individual session tickets will go on sale on April 17. Groups of 10 or more can purchase individual session tickets for $4 each until April 15. All seats are general admission, and the doors open one hour prior to the start of each session.
"Hosting is a great opportunity to showcase the most exciting and energized gymnastics competition there is," added Glielmi. "The arena will be buzzing with energy and the competition will be great." Only one team though, will go home crowned the 2008 Collegiate Men's Gymnastics Champion.