April 14, 2009
National Rankings (Team and Individual)
STANFORD, Calif. - Sitting atop the national rankings and fresh off a victory over the defending national champion Oklahoma Sooners at the MPSF Championships, the 2009 Stanford men's gymnastics team enters Thursday's NCAA Qualifying sessions in Minneapolis as the team to beat.
The Cardinal was named the preseason No. 1 and has spent four weeks out of the season in the top spot, and while everyone will be trying to match Stanford, the Cardinal will be looking to avenge its narrow loss to Oklahoma a year ago. In 2008, the Sooners edged Stanford at Maples Pavilion by just forty-five hundredths of a point in the final rotation to steal the NCAA title.
Before the Cardinal can get a shot at No. 2 Oklahoma and the program's fourth national championship though, it will have to take care of business in the first qualifying meet on Thursday at 1 p.m. CT, and at least finish in the top-three of the six-team competition. The Sooners will have to do the same against their five opponents in the evening qualifying session.
Stanford will compete with No. 4 Michigan, No. 5 California, No. 8 Penn State, No. 9 Nebraska, and No. 12 Navy. Oklahoma will face No. 3 Illinois, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 7 Minnesota, No. 10 Illinois-Chicago, and No. 11 Iowa.
On Friday, April 17, the top-three teams from each qualifier will compete for the NCAA Championship at 7 p.m. and the team champion and individual all-around champion will be determined. On Saturday, the event will wrap up with the Individual Event Finals, also at 7 p.m., featuring those who post qualifying scores on Friday evening.
The Cardinal is the top-ranked team in floor exercise, still rings, and horizontal bar, and is led by redshirt senior and Nissen-Emery award finalist Sho Nakamori (No. 1 on parallel bars, No. 2 in all-around, No. 4 on floor exercise and pommel horse, and No. 5 on horizontal bar), senior Bryant Hadden (No. 1 on rings), redshirt junior Greg Ter-Zakhariants (No. 3 on floor exercise), and sophomores Josh Dixon (No. 1 on floor exercise, No. 3 on horizontal bar, and No. 4 on vault) and Tim Gentry (No. 2 on rings and No. 5 on vault).
For fans in need of tickets, both all-session and single-session ticket packages are on sale through the University of Minnesota Athletics Department and may be purchased in person at the ticket office in Mariucci Arena, over the phone by calling 612-624-8080 or 800-UGOPHER, or online at www.gophersports.com.
All-session adult tickets, which include all four competition sessions, are priced at $35, with all-session student tickets available for $25. Single-session tickets are priced at $15 for adults and $8 for students. Special single-session packages for groups of 15 or more are also available and are priced at $5 per ticket.