March 26, 2009
STANFORD, Calif. - The No. 2 Stanford men's gymnastics team will square off against No. 11 Illinois-Chicago and honor its seniors in the team's regular-season finale this Saturday, March 28, at 7 p.m. in Burnham Pavilion. The Cardinal 6-4 overall, will look to use the dual meet as its final tuneup before the MPSF Championships on April 4.
The Flames (4-10) have struggled this season but have bright spots in gymnasts Nikolai Korepanov and David Mohr. Korepanov is strong in rings, earning a No. 5 national-ranking, and Mohr posted a top-20 rank of No. 18 on pommel horse.
Stanford fell to No. 2 in the nation behind Oklahoma, which recorded an extraordinary 366.85 at home last weekend against Penn State, bumping the Sooners three-score average 1.283 points higher than the Cardinal's. Stanford remains the nation's best team on floor exercise and high bar and is second on still rings and horizontal bar, fourth on parallel bars, and sixth on pommel horse.
Individually, sophomore Josh Dixon and seniors Bryant Hadden and Sho Nakamori are three of the nation's best individual performers. Nakamori is the nation's only gymnast to average over 15.0, is sixth on floor exercise, eighth on horizontal bar, 12th on pommel horse, 18th on still rings, and tied for seventh in all-around. Dixon tops all competitors on floor exercise, is 15th on vault, and seventh on horizontal bar. Hadden is the nation's leading ring man and is 19th on floor exercise.
Also, redshirt junior Greg Ter-Zakhariants is third on floor exercise while sophomore Tim Gentry checks in at third on vault and fourth on still rings.
Admission to Saturday night's meet with UIC is free, but for fans who are unable to attend, they can follow all the action through a live webcast. Following the competition against the Flames, fans will have one more chance to see the Cardinal compete when it hosts the 2009 MPSF Men's Gymnastics Championships at Maples Pavilion on April 4 at 4 p.m. For tickets and more information on the MPSF Championships, please click here.