Jan. 18, 2002

Berkeley - The Cal men's gymnastics team (1-0) opened its season in its usual high-flying, acrobatic style, throttling the visiting UC Santa Barbara team (0-1) tonight at the Recreational Sports Facility Field House. The final score had Cal winning by just under 11 points, 202.500-191.550.

The win extends Cal's regular season winning streak to 28 matches. The Bears last dropped a regular season performance on March 19, 1999.

The Bears won five out the six floor events, being narrowly edged out on the rings by the Gauchos (31.400-31.600). Despite losing two-time national high bar champion Michael Ashe to injury prior to the season, the Bears performed solidly at the event, with Cody Moore turning in a world class 9.450 performance to lead all competitors. In fact, the next closest score was 8.850, turned in by Gaucho Donald Mahr (8.850).

Moore turned out to be the evening's top performer overall, as well, leading all gymnasts with a 51.450 score in the all-around. Sophomore David Eaton came in second, putting up a solid 49.900 performance. UCSB's Geoffrey Howell (48.150), Cal's Tom Kutz (48.100) and UCSB's Stephen Smith (45.950) rounded out the top five.

Bear freshman Graham Ackerman and JinJing Zhang had solid debuts to their Cal careers. Although he competed in only five of the six events, Ackerman finished ranked eighth overall all-around, the top performer who did not compete in all six events. Zhang overcame a fall on the rings to lead all performers on the parallel bars with a 9.000 score.

The Bears travel to the Stanford Invitational next Saturday night. They return home to Haas Pavilion on February 15 to take on the Cardinal.