March 28, 1998
STANFORD, Calif. - The defending NCAA champion California Golden Bears men's gymnastics team followed up their first place standing in last night's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation team competition with a strong performance in the individual event finals tonight at Stanford. The top eight finishers in each event of last night's competition returned tonight to compete for individual honors and representatives from Cal placed in the Top 3 in four events.
Oleg Kosyak, who tied for second place in the all-around last night (56.625) with Stanford's Jason Katsampes, matched a career-high 9.800 on the high bar tonight to tie for first place with Nebraska's Marshall Nelson. Kosyak also took second place on the parallel bars with a 9.750 score.
Other top finishers for Cal were Evgenni Zherebchevskiy, who placed second on the rings with a score of 9.725 and Andrew Hampy, who took second place on the floor with a 9.700 score.
All the coaches were asked to cast their votes for the MPSF Coach of the Year before the competition got underway tonight. The gymnasts were asked to do the same in voting for MPSF Athlete of the Year. Cal's Barry Weiner and BYU's Mako Sakamoto received the most votes by their peers and were honored as Co-Coaches of the Year. Weiner was recognized for his efforts in guiding the No. 1 Bears to a perfect 23-0 regular season record and their second team MPSF championship title in three years. Marshall Nelson of Nebraska was chosen as the MPSF Athlete of the Year.
The Bears will travel to Oklahoma next week for the NCAA West Regional. Competition begins at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 4.
1998 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Event Finals Results
Vault Rings
1. Fabricio Olsson (BYU) 9.725 1. Dan Fink (OK) 9.800
2. Andy Howard (OK) 9.650 2. Evgenni Zherebchevskiy(Cal) 9.725
3. Steve Van Etten (OK) 9.600 3. James Koziol (Neb)
Court Bramwell (BYU) 9.625
Parallel Bars High Bar
1. Todd Bishop (OK) 9.800
2. Oleg Kosyak (Cal) 9.750 1. Kosyak (Cal)
3. Guard Young (BYU) 9.725 2. Marshall Nelson (Neb)9.800
3. Kendall Schiess(NM) 9.675
Floor
1. Jason Hardabura (Neb) 9.725 Horse
2. Andrew Hampy (Cal) 9.700 1. Schiess (NM) 9.800
3. Brendan O' Neil (OK) 9.675 2. Nelson (Neb) 9.750
3. Derek Leiter (Neb) 9.725
