April 1, 2002
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
NOW, OR NEVER: This week, the Bears travel to Oklahoma to compete in the NCAA Championship. Cal is coming off its best performance of the season, finishing second at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship with an overall team score of 217.200. That mark bests the previous team high by three full points. The event also saw junior Cody Moore named the MPSF Co-Gymnast of the Year for the second consecutive season, as well as the return of Jinjing Zhang to the team.
CODY MOORE NAMED CO-MPSF GYMNAST OF THE YEAR: Moore was named the Co-MPSF Gymnast of the Year for the second-consecutive season at the conference championship two weeks ago. He shares the honor with Nebraska's Grant Clinton. Moore, who was also named to the U.S. National Team last month, has paced the sixth-ranked Bears all season with a series of stellar performances at a time when the team was hobbled by injuries, and, at many times, was forced to compete with the minimum number of gymnasts. While most teams usually have five or six gymnasts compete at any given event, the Bears were forced to use four, meaning that any slip, any fall, any mistakes would cost the team much-needed points.
"We went through a period of time in which we were close to forfeiting meets (due to injuries)," said coach Barry Weiner. "Cody helped us through that, and has carried us (when we needed it). He's been there all season, and he's our MVP."
RETURN OF ZHANG: The 24-year old freshman and former Chinese National Champion Zhang returned to the team for the first time since January. Zhang propelled the injury-riddled Bears through the conference championship, establishing six collegiate career highs on the way to helping the team to its best overall score in 2002. Zhang was tops in the all-around, coming away with a world-class performance of 55.275, as well as two first-place finishes. His scores in every event except for the parallel bars were his best since joining the Bears this season.
THE SKINNY ON THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP: As with any NCAA Championship, the competitors represent the best and brightest in collegiate gymnastics. Competition begins on Thursday at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. with two qualifying rounds. The teams in Session I (at 1 p.m.) include Ohio State, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Temple and Stanford. The Session II teams include Cal, Oklahoma, Penn State, Iowa, Massachusetts and William & Mary. The top three teams from each session will advance to the finals on Friday at 7 p.m. The individual preliminaries will be held on Friday with the finals on Saturday at 7 p.m.
TWO WEEKS AGO AT THE MPSF CHAMPIONSHIP: The team finished with a season-high 217.200 team score at the MPSF Championship, hosted by the Air Force Academy. Zhang came away with two first-place finishes, as well as the top all-around score. Zhang's 55.275 was followed by Daniel Furney of Oklahoma with a 53.850 and David Eaton of Cal (53.625). Zhang also took first on pommel horse (9.500) and high bar (9.400) and placed second on vault (9.600) and tied for fifth on floor (8.850).
Moore and Eaton both took home individual titles the next day, as the MPSF Championship continued with the individual portion of the event. Moore took home the parallel bar title with a 9.150 performance. Eaton tied with Oklahoma's Everette Bierker on the high bar with a score of 9.300. Eaton and senior Suhail Arastu both perfomed well on the pommel horse, claiming second and third there, respectively. Bear Aaron Floyd finished as the runner-up on the floor (9.275).
