GYMN-L Digest - 26 Apr 1996 - Special issue

There are 14 messages totalling 602 lines in this issue.

Topics in this special issue:

1. Healy on UB
2. NCAA Data
3. NCAA's, re-intro
4. Gymn Camp URL correction
5. re-intro
6. olympic trials ticket
7. Team Prelims at Men's NCAAs
8. live NCAA Men's results on the web
9. Gym ownership
10. Illegal Sales
11. WWoS Anniversary on Sunday
12. Team Prelims at Men's NCAAs - Press Conference
13. Mayland ?
14. Nadia and Bart's wedding

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Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 06:29:50 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: Healy on UB

The healy would be best executed from a swing to handstand and full turn
one arm - then regrasping the bar... you would end up in a position of a
german giant.

It would be a kinda cool move - but quite a blind catch.

MM

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Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 06:47:52 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: NCAA Data

Thanks Texx -

It's good to see the university postings - I worked out with some of these
guys when I was younger... it's good to see how they are doing.

Mike Mayzak

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Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 05:43:34 CST
From: ***@MAROON.TC.UMN.EDU
Subject: NCAA's, re-intro

Thanks to all for posting NCAA results. Our local paper NEVER covers them
(and we were all cheering for Jenny Hansen as she is from our area).

A quick re-intro. I am 39 years old (as of this week) and a women's
Brevet-rated official and also the Region 4 judging director. I have
competed and coached gymnastics in the past, and LOVE it. My favorite
gymnast of all times is Nelli Kim, who currently lives in our area. I've
gotten to judge with her!

--Robin

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Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 08:23:24 -0400
From: ***@STUDENT.UMASS.EDU
Subject: Gymn Camp URL correction

I posted a note yesterday about the WomenSports page and their gymnastics
camp directory. However, the url I posted was wrong (sorry!). The
correct url is: http://www.womensports.com Just follow the links to
gymnastics!

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Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 08:03:09 -0600
From: ***@STUDENTS.UIUC.EDU
Subject: Re: re-intro

Hi everybody. I like this re-intro idea because it gives all us lurkers a
chance to contribute a bit. I'm Jill, a 29-year-old MD/PhD (in
philosophy) student at the University of Illinois in Champaign. It's funny
to have done gymnastics where 18 is considered old and now to be pursuing a
career where you can't even get started until about 35 or so. I am an avid
fan of gymnastics but don't get much time off (or money) to travel and see
competitions so I am dependent on the information I get from Gymn, TV, and
IG. I used to go to Michigan's meets in college. The only real
competition I ever saw was the 1990 Goodwill Games, a graduation present to
myself because I so wanted to see Bogi compete before she retired. Ha Ha.
I didn't know I'd have another six years to watch her.

I competed until I was 14 as Class III and was just beginning Class II when
I had to quit due to back problems. I was getting way too tall anyway
(5'11" now).

I've been thinking about the potential women's artistic Olympic team and I
am just amazed at all the great gymnasts who could be on it. For once, the
USA will have some real depth. My picks would be Miller, Dawes, Strug,
Phelps, Borden, and Moceanu if she is healthy. I guess Amy Chow would be
the seventh person for me. I think Mohini Bhardwaj has looked great
recently and should challenge for a spot as well.

I am so looking forward to the Olympics. Meanwhile, back to lurking ...
Jill

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Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 10:34:51 -0400
From: ***@ACS.BU.EDU
Subject: olympic trials ticket

I have one extra ticket to all sessions of the gymn trials. I would like
to sell. If anyone is interested please email me privately at
darlene@acs.bu.edu.

Darlene

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Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 10:47:00 MDT
From: ***@RMII.COM
Subject: Team Prelims at Men's NCAAs

Sorry for getting this out late; just couldn't quite stay up last night.
George will be doing the press conferences while I do the meet write-ups for
Friday and Saturday night also.

NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships
Team Prelims
April 25, 1996
Stanford University
Palo Alto, California

Two weeks ago, Stanford men's gymnastics was ranked fourteenth in the
country. Tonight, they enter the team finals of the NCAA Championships as
the top qualifier from Thursday's preliminary round, bidding for their fifth
national title in six years. Were the other teams surprised? "They're a good
team," noted Blaine Wilson, Ohio State gymnast who won the All-Around
Championship. When asked by the press about Stanford's sudden emergence, Cal
Head Coach Barry Weiner was a little more direct in his reply: "I told you so."

The top teams were on each other's heels throughout the preliminary session.
The end result was a difference of only .625 between 1st and 4th place, and
the promise of a most unpredictable team finals for tonight. The University
of California-Berkeley Golden Bears qualified in second place, just .15 off
of Stanford's score. Previously this season, Cal defeated Stanford five
times, always by a healthy margin (the smallest being 1.975 at the West
Regionals qualifying meet).

Stanford, who scored in the 38's or better on each event (high bar - 39.05),
won vault and pommel horse. Cal won high bar with the highest team event
score, a 39.15. The Ohio State Buckeyes, who grabbed the third and last
qualifying spot for tonight's finals, won rings. Non-qualifiers Iowa and
Oklahoma won parallel bars and floor respectively. The 4th rotation of the
night (out of 8) was lucky, it seems, with Ohio on rings, Iowa on pbars, and
Cal on high bar all at the same time.

Sadao Hamada, Stanford's head coach, has built a reputation for phenomenol
and strategic comeback performances at the end of the season. As always, he
maintains that everything is going "according to plan." The team, lead by
Keith Wiley (2nd AA), Jamie Ellis (9th AA), and Ian Bachrach, hopes to use
their superior difficulty and home crowd advantage to produce yet another
NCAA Championship team title. Stanford's vaulting, which has not been one of
their strengths in the past, was simply unequalled, with their best three
vaulters placing among the top six on that event. Ian Bachrach, the
defending vault champion, competed a Yurchenko, 1/2 turn to the horse, piked
front off, very well done for a 9.70. Bachrach also tied for first on floor
with Casey Bryan, Oklahoma, closing his routine with a full-in for a 9.875.
Weakness on pbars could pose their biggest challenge, although they also
missed several rings routines to finish 4th on that event. High bar brought
a series of top scores, as their last five guys all scored 9.7 or higher.
Disappointingly, Ellis did not compete his full-twisting Kovacs salto,
assumably due to the riskiness of that skill.

Cal, who can be considered a "home team", plans to step up the pressure and
capture their first team title since the mid-70's. The Cal fans were the
best in the Stanford arena, lifting their men to bigger and stronger
performances by cheering at every opportunity. In return, the Cal men not
only saluted the judges, but also acknowledged their fan section after each
routine. When asked about their fans, Coach Weiner replied that many former
gymnasts at Cal were a part of their performance at Nationals. "Many guys
worked very hard through the years and never made it to a Nationals. This
[performing well] is as much for them as for any of us." Cal's weak event
last night was vault, where most of the guys had problems with their
landings. With clean vaults, Cal has what it takes to overtake Stanford for
the national title. Also, with two key gymnasts missing on pbars, Cal could
also add precious tenths on that event with hit routines. Cal's best event
was high bar, where they were simply on fire. Exciting one arm work from
Trent Wells and Gewin Sincharoen, with 9.85's from Josh Birckelbaw and David
Kruse (Hindoorf-Gienger combo), brought Cal the best event score of the
night. Cal is truly a well balanced team, with several "stars." Their
brightest on Thursday night was David Kruse, who grabbed the last
All-American spot in the All-Around by placing 6th, despite a poor 8.9 on
parallel bars. Kruse qualified for event finals on floor, vault, and high bar.

The Ohio State University, who had the highest qualifying score into
Nationals of all teams, surprised everyone by just barely qualifying to
finals. They outpaced Iowa by only .35, pulling through with clutch
performances during their crucial high bar sets. With five of their
rotations complete, Ohio State lead Iowa by only .025. Iowa put up a strong
38.575 on floor, forcing Ohio State to average 9.65 on high bar. Ohio
State's first three scores were 9.525, 9.50, and 9.20. Chad Finefrock towed
the line with a 9.65, leaving the cleanup job to Drew Durbin and Blaine
Wilson. Considering that their season highs are 9.85 and 9.95 respectively,
there might seem little chance for worry -- until you consider that both of
these gymnasts missed high bar at East Regionals. They both nailed their
sets in fine Buckeye fashion, with Durbin hitting for a 9.825 and Wilson
scoring the highest mark of the night with a 9.90. (Drew Durbin equalled
this score on pommel horse.) If the young Buckeye team cleans up their
landings on floor (5th) and picks up the pace on parallel bars (4th) then
they could win it all in tonight's finals.

Iowa is a team that is just waiting to break into the top three. Each year
coach Tom Dunn brings in a strong recruiting class, and rumors circle that
"*this* could be the year for Iowa." But for now, the Hawkeyes will have to
accept their 4th place finish, and forget that a little bit more here and
there could have made the difference (that oh-so-small, three tenths of a
difference). The Hawkeyes were consistent, with only three scores below a
9.5 counting toward their total (two 9.45's and a 9.25). Iowa also had their
strong performers on each event, with seven different guys claiming ten
spots among the event finalists (tied for the most event finalists with
Stanford), three of these spots being in parallel bars, the event that they
won. Hopefully, next year will be the breakthrough of the Hawkeyes.

Although not expected to contend for a spot in finals, Oklahoma displayed
some outstanding gymnastics and appeared to be in contention in 3rd place
after the third rotation, boosted by their top floor performance in the
second rotation. Sooner Casey Bryan won 3rd in the all-around and qualified
to floor (high Arabian double front!) and pommel horse finals. Dan Fink just
missed All-American status in 7th place, while Jeremy Killen qualified to
two finals also.

Penn State, in last place, lost the services of Brandy Wood after a fall on
high bar (missed Tkatchev). I'm unsure as to his injury but it appears to be
either his right wrist or elbow. After losing Tony Pansy early in the
season, also to injury, the loss of Wood was significant, resulting in a 6th
place finish for the Nittany Lions.

----------------------------------------------------
Event Finalists in Competition Order
(random draw)

Floor Exercise
1. Jeremy Killen (OK)
2. Jamie Ellis (Stanford)
3. Shannon Welker (Ill-Chic.)
4. Don Kinison (Neb.)
5. Jay Thornton (Iowa)
6. Joe Roemer (PSU)
7. David Kruse (Cal)
8. Casey Bryan (OK)
9. Ian Bachrach (Stanford)
10. Jason Christie (Neb.)

Pommel Horse
1. Jeremy Herman (Stanford)
2. Michael Finn (OSU)
3. Casey Bryan (OK)
4. Darren Elg (BYU)
5. Kenny Sykes (Temple)
6. Greg Gebhardt (Iowa)
7. Kendall Schiess (NMU)
8. Keith Wiley (Stanford)
9. Marshall Nelson (Neb.)
10. Drew Durbin (OSU)

Rings
1. Ofri Porat (Syracuse)
2. Aaron Cotter (Iowa)
3. Chris Camiscioli (Iowa)
4. David Eckert (OSU)
5. Blaine Wilson (OSU)
6. Bryan Fox (Cal)
7. Ted Harris (Neb.)
8. Scott McCall (Wm & Mary)

Vault
1. Keith Wiley (Stanford)
2. David Kruse (Cal)
3. Jason Rogers (Iowa)
4. Travis Rosen (Iowa)
5. Ian Bachrach (Stanford)
6. Jay Thornton (Iowa)
7. Clarence Miao (Stanford)
8. Jeremy Killen (OK)
9. Blaine Wilson (OSU)

Parallel Bars
1. Andrew Mason (Cal)
2. Aaron Cotter (Iowa)
3. Hugh Lau (Iowa)
4. Jamie Ellis (Stanford)
5. Thomas Ellefson (PSU)
6. Jason Christie (Neb.)
7. Blaine Wilson (OSU)
8. Trent Wells (Cal)
9. Jay Thornton (Iowa)

High Bar
1. Peter Hegi (Stanford)
2. Drew Durbin (OSU)
3. Darren Elg (BYU)
4. Carl Imhauser (Temple)
5. Shane Evangelist (NMU)
6. Ian Bachrach (Stanford)
7. Greg McGlaun (Ill)
8. Josh Birckelbaw (Cal)
9. David Kruse (Cal)
10. Jason Christie (Neb.)
11. Blaine Wilson (OSU)

# # #

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Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 10:53:00 MDT
From: ***@RMII.COM
Subject: live NCAA Men's results on the web

Check it out at:

http://athletics.stanford.edu/mgymncaa/

Rachele

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Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 13:37:07 -0400
From: ***@AOL.COM
Subject: Gym ownership

Just wanted to comment on something Mike wrote directed to Allan. It
seems that there has been alot of gym bashing lately going on and I think
alot of you don't have all the facts. I am a coach also, and a recent (very
recent - 5 months) gym owner. I opened my own gym because of my love of the
sport, and my belief that there was a better way than what was being done in
my area (Michigan). The MAIN intention was not to make money, but in order
to stay solvent (and open), you must run a business like a business. Gyms
that don't go out of business. Yet the ones who do get criticized. If you
are a coach (or whatever), and you give up your job to open your own
business, you have to be able to support yourself and family because now THIS
is your job. It is easy to see the income coming into the gym, but not so
easy to understand all the expenses. I could go into all of them, but let's
just say that I way underestimated them when preparing my business plan. I
am an honest and enthusiastic owner who would do whatever it took to make my
coaches and kids happy and safe, but I will never get rich off this gym.
Make a good living eventually, yes, but I also worked (and still am) 7 days
a week, all day, every day (and night) to get it. Makes coaching look like a
piece of cake.

Gina

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Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 14:36:53 -0500
From: ***@CARLETON.EDU
Subject: Illegal Sales

I logged on to my account to find an email from someone attempting to
sell video tapes of gymnastics events. Seem pretty illegal to me.
Appears the person got hold of a digest and copied down all the names of
the people who posted during that one. There about 20 gymn people who
also received it.

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Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 15:06:14 -0600
From: ***@ZEPHYR.MEDCHEM.PURDUE.EDU
Subject: WWoS Anniversary on Sunday

Those who follow USA TV, Wide World of Sports will be having its 35th (?)
anniversary special coming this Sunday at 1 PM EST. They probably will have
gymnastics highlights. On there last special five years ago, they
showed Zmeskal's FX as one of the highlights of gymnastics on WWoS since
she was the first american to win AA and it was, coincidentally, covered
on WWoS.

Jeff

P.S. Reminder: Sat: WWoS: Worlds coverage continues, but expect horse
racing to take a BIG chunk of time. Jim McKAy LOVES horse racing, so
he'll want to talk it up.

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Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 13:12:13 -0700
From: ***@ENG.SUN.COM
Subject: Team Prelims at Men's NCAAs - Press Conference

This is a synopsis of the most notable quotes. Didn't bring the
recorder yesterday. Have it for tonight, though.

Press conference was set up in this manner: First Blaine Wilson came
in with his coach Peter Kormann (Ohio State); then Dave Kruse from CAL
and coach Barry Weiner; then Keith Wiley and coach Sadao Hamada from
Stanford.

Blaine Wilson (1st AA) and Peter Kormann:

Q: Going up on high bar did you realize that you needed to stick in
order for the team to qualify for finals? And if so, did it add any
pressure on you?

BW: Not really. Wasn't sure what the scores were as I wasn't keeping
track. We had a little team meeting before high bar. We knew we had
to hit, so that's what we did.

Q: How does NCAA compare with Worlds?

BW: NCAA's are actually a lot more intense, since you work out with
these guys every day. They know your routines, when you hit, where
you screw up. It tends to make you a lot more nervous.

(A question about what the team needs to do tomorrow to improve in the
standings).

BW: Just need to stick our routines tomorrow. Hope we do better.

Q: Did the time change affect you, or is your team used to traveling?

BW: Our team is pretty much used to traveling. Time change didn't
really bother us.

Q: Were you surprised at the position of Stanford after this meet.
(Stanford placed first in the preliminaries.)

PK: No, not at all surprised. Stanford is and excellent team.

(Comment as to what the team will have to do tomorrow.) Very proud
of the guys. Drew Durbin didn't do floor due to a swollen ankle.
Otherwise he would have been right up there. Very proud of my guys.
I consider the NCAA a two-day meet. At the end of the two days, the
results read from top to bottom.

(Question regarding how coaching Worlds compares with NCAA's.)

PK: Coaching an NCAA team, you are a lot closer to the guys. You are
closer to the guys than their parents. Know them, eat with them.
Know their girl friends. Of course my guys don't have girl friends
(laughter). You're with them day in day out. At Worlds you're with
those guys for about a month.

(At this point Blaine and Peter exit. David Kruse and coach Barry
Weiner of CAL take the podium.)

BW: Very happy with tonight. This is the first time we've been here.
This is exactly where we wanted to be, team-wise.

(Question about whether or not coach Weiner is surprised at Stanford's
showing.)

BW: Not surprised at all. As Peter said, it's a two-day meet. This
is something I have never said to the press before, but I've modeled
the CAL program after Stanford's. Sadao I admire. He is an
excellent coach.

(Question inquiring about the turnaround of CAL's program. What he
attributes its success to.)

BW: We've been lucky to attract good athletes. We've had three good
recruiting class. After we started winning we got the Department
behind us. Good recruiting, a little more support. We already knew
we had a great University. CAL had great gymnastics in the past.
Didn't see why we couldn't do it all again.

DK: Also we have Barry.

BW: I told you we had great recruits. (laughter)

(Question regarding how Dave felt with team's position.)

DK: Came to meet to get into top three and make the finals and that's
what we did. We are pleased with that.

Q: Dave, do you feel it's an advantage or a disadvantage to have
started on vault.

DK: I think it's an advantage, since you typically start lower. So
during the meet our goal was to move up from there. We were pretty
comfortable with starting with vault, since we'd done it at
(Regionals?) You tend to start lower.

Q: It seemed like there might have been more CAL fans there than
Stanford. It sounded like that at times.

DK: Loved the crowd. It was great hitting a set and pointing to
those guys (There was a fairly rowdy CAL alumni crowd seated above the
press area.)

(Barry at this point talked at great length about the CAL Alumni,
acknowledging them. See Rachele's report: Team Prelims at Men's
NCAAs.)

(Question about whether or not the team was nervous coming into this
meet.)

DK: Qualifying was pretty nerve wracking. We came into this week
knowing we had to stay focused. For the most part the nervousness was
gone.

Q: Dave, did you kind of give up thinking that you might place AA
after Pbars? (Dave sat down on the bar after a failed single-bar
press to handstand.)

DK: AA, I never really thought about it. Maybe at the back of my
mind I knew I'd like to be a National All-arounder (6th). But you
never give up. There were four more events to go. The most important
thing was to get the team to the finals.

(DK and BW leave the podium, to be followed by Keith Wiley and Sadao
Hamada of Stanford.)

SH: This is the best of all scenarios. I am very happy that CAL made
the finals. There will be a dog fight tomorrow, I promise you. I
looked at all the scores. There was less than .2 of a difference
between Stanford and CAL. Ohio State under .3. Somebody falls once
and it'll screw up the rankings. We start from scratch tomorrow. To
be honest, to finish in the top 3 wasn't all that difficult. I sat
down and found lots of ways. But tomorrow will be much more
difficult. I'm sure I won't sleep tonight. A few months ago I didn't
even know we would be here. But to win will be very difficult, maybe
one in a million chance. But if there is only one in a million chance
I will find a way.

When I lost Tim I thought we had no chance. (Stanford's top gymnast
Tim Dalrymple fractured two vertebrae doing a triple off of high bar
earlier this season.) But then I sat down and analyzed it and I found
a way.

By mid season I knew we should limit our mistakes. But instead I had
to go back and teach new skills because of loss of Tim. That's why
scores were so low. Finally toward the end of the season I started to
see a sign. Started to execute. Now we have to execute perfectly.

(Question whether or not the rivalry with CAL is important.)

SH: There's always been a rivalry between CAL and Stanford. But CAL
has never been our main competition until now. But it's always been
the same. We've been the underdogs. (??)

(Question as to added pressure since the scores were close.)

KW: NCAA's are always high pressure. There can never be any more
pressure. This year it's a little different.

(Question as to whether or not Keith thinks that CAL has taken
Nebraska's spot as the team nipping at Stanford's heels.)

SH: I'm very happy for CAL. To have two local teams come out 1-2 for
the Bay Area would be great. I am very happy for Barry. He came in
with nothing and built his program.

Q: Sadao, you consider yourself underdogs?

SH: Yes and no. I've prepared my team for 2-day competition. Maybe
other coaches don't prepare this way. On the other had, Nebraska,
OSU's ranking, maybe consider ourselves underdogs.

(Team finals are tonight at 7:00 in Maples Pavilion on the Stanford
campus. If you live in the Bay Area and have read this far, you must
be into men's gymnastics! Why don't you stop by?)

Yours in Gymnastics,

-George

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Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 13:43:38 -0700
From: ***@NETCOM.COM
Subject: Mayland ?

Is Mayland at Stanford this week too ?
If so PLEASE come find me in the stands,
my seat is sec#4 row-E seat #8 Look for the green & blue baseball cap.

Sorry, couldnt finf Maylands address, sorry I wasted bandwidth.

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Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 18:43:44 -0400
From: ***@COLUMBIA.EDU
Subject: Nadia and Bart's wedding

There was a story this evening on National Public Radio (NPR) in the U.S.
about Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner's wedding, which took place today.
The story described the massive crowds which filled the area surrounding
the military palace (??) in Bucharest to watch the event on big screen
televisions. It said there were police every two yards to contain the
crowds. The bride and groom arrived at noon for the ceremony.
Afterwards, Nadia gave a speech to the crowds during which she talked
about her love for Romania, how she has never forgotten nor will ever
forget her home country, and thanked everyone from the bottom of her heart
for their support. The story also described the somewhat mixed reaction
of some Romanian people to the event, noting the economic hardship many
Romanians must confront in contrast with such an extravagant ceremony.
Others talked about what a hero she has been for the country, and a role
model as someone who started from a humble background and subsequently
achieved such a high level of success. The story also mentioned that the
couple would be honeymooning on an unknown Greek island.


Congratulations to Nadia and Bart!


I imagine the full transcript of the story can be obtained from NPR.

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End of GYMN-L Digest - 26 Apr 1996 - Special issue
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