March 10, 1998
THIS WEEK:
Friday, March 13 Stanford, Temple, Massachusetts Berkeley 7:30p.m.
Sunday, March 15 Arizona State, Oklahoma Tempe 2:00 p.m.
NEXT WEEK:
Friday, March 20 Stanford, Army Palo Altom 7:00 p.m.
BEAR FACTS AND FIGURES: The 1997 NCAA champion California men's gymnastics team is ranked No. 3 in the nation with a 15-0 record. The Bears recorded the highest team point total in the nation this year with a 233.490 at the Gold's Challenge last week in Santa Barbara; that mark is the second-best in Cal history.
Cal is nationally ranked in the Top 10 in every event: No. 1 on the high bar (38.833), No. 2 on the rings (38.283), No. 3 on the horse (38.317), No. 8 on the vault (38.000), No. 8 on the parallel bars (37.933) and No. 10 on the floor (37.900).
B
EARS WRAP UP HOME MEET SCHEDULE THIS WEEK: Cal will host No. 11 Temple, No. 12 Massachusetts and No. 17 Stanford on Friday, March 13 at 7:30 p.m. for the Bears final home competition of the season. On Sunday, the Bears travel to Tempe for a triad with No. 7 Oklahoma and Arizona State. The Bears have a current 26-home meet winning streak that dates back to 1995 and have not lost a regular season competition since March 15, 1996 when they fell to Ohio State, 229.500-229.100, at the Gold's Challenge.
RECORDS ARE MADE FOR BREAKING: The Bears put on a phenomenal display in last Saturday's Gold's Challenge, defeating No. 5 Michigan, No. 6 Penn State, No. 10 Illinois, No. 17 Stanford and UCSB to take home the title. In addition to setting a season-high all-around team score, Cal set an all-time record on the horse with a 39.250 total. They also totaled 38.990 points on the rings and 38.850 on the vault to rank second and third, respectively, on Cal's all-time lists in those events.
Oleg Kosyak's first-place 58.250 all-around total toppled Cal's all-time record of 58.200 set by Bob Sunstrom in 1988. Evgenni Zherebchevskiy set career highs on the parallel bars (9.800) and the floor (9.800) to earn first place in both events. Josh Brickelbaw scored a career-high 9.900 on the horse for top honors and a third-place rank in Cal's record book for that event.
NOTES ON THIS WEEKEND'S OPPONENTS: No. 11 Temple and No. 12 Massachusetts have faced each other four times this season with Temple leading the series, 3-1...Temple is led by senior Jason Krane who is ranked fifth in the nation on the parallel bars and sophomore Mike Moran, ranked second on the rings...the Owls top score of 224.950 came on Feb. 28 against Syracuse...
Massachusetts is ranked No. 1 in the country in the floor event with a 38.350 average and is ranked eighth on the horse with a 37.917 average...Minuteman Andy Leis is ranked fifth in the horse individual rankings...despite a last-place finish at the Gold's Challenge, Stanford's 216.950 was its second-best total of the season...the Cardinal's top performer, Jason Katsampes, came in second on the p-bars (9.750) en route to a sixth place 56.55 all-around finish...
No. 7 Oklahoma owns a Top 10 ranking in every event except the high bar, including a No. 4 rank on the parallel bars (38.083)...Oklahoma is home to Dan Fink and Todd Bishop, the top-ranked rings and high-bar gymnasts, respectively, in the nation...Bishop is also No. 2 in the horse rankings (9.808) and Fink is ranked 10th in the all-around rankings (56.817)...
Arizona State is the only club team the Bears will face this weekend...the Sun Devils recorded a 212.900 to defeat Washington and place fifth in last weekend's Lobo Invitational at New Mexico.
BEARS IN THE RANKINGS:
Evgenii Zherebchevskiy is ranked No. 8 in the rings rankings with a 9.717 average and is No. 13 (9.617) in the floor rankings...in the horse event, Josh Brickelbaw is tied for fifth (9.750)...Oleg Kosyak is ranked 10th on the p-bars (9.583)...on the h-bar, Zherebchevskiy is No. 4 (9.783), Jeff Stein is No. 11 (9.633) and Alex Chansky is No. 13 (9.617).
