Men pull out tough quad-meet win

After just being named Big Ten Gymnast of the Week, senior Aaron Fortunato helped lead the Gophers to a win on their home floor for the second consecutive week.
Thanks to improvements on five of the six events from last week’s meet, No. 8 Minnesota dominated its opponents Saturday at the Sports Pavilion with a score of 350.55.
No. 10 Nebraska ended the quad meet in second with 342.4 points. No. 14 Air Force and Calgary were far behind, finishing with 329.8 and 302.45 points, respectively.
One thing the Gophers have looked to improve since the beginning of the season is their performance on the pommel horse, finally doing so Saturday night.
Minnesota finished with 56.35 points on the horse, a 3.25-point improvement from a week ago.
“We still had some mistakes, but I was really pleased” Gophers head coach Mike Burns said. “They were ready to come out here and get the job done.”
Freshman Harris Coleman impressed on the vault, scoring a 15.15. Coleman will join some of his teammates next weekend in Las Vegas, Nev., for the Winter Cup, where he will be the only freshman in attendance. He said that Saturday gave him more motivation for the rest of the season.
“[My confidence is] at a 10 out of 10,” said Coleman. “[Tonight’s performance] has pushed me a lot. This is a big motivator for me.”
Coleman will try to keep his nerves at bay as he prepares for next week.
“If I get nervous, I get stressed, and that encourages me more to fall, so I try not to get nervous at all,” he said.
Burns agrees that the biggest element of the Gophers’ success is the confidence that has been building with two straight home competitions.
“Having these two home meets got us in the groove of what we want to do” he said.
Women’s confidence absent
Just a week after a big victory against Michigan State, the Gophers women’s gymnastics team couldn’t manage to carry momentum into their meet with Big Ten competitor Penn State and No. 1 Alabama.
Alabama took first place, ending with 196.6 points at the meet in College Station, Pa. Penn State was a close second, earning 196.925 points, and Minnesota reluctantly claimed third, finishing with 192.85 points.
The Gophers failed to improve any of their scores from last week. In fact, all of their scores were lower in each event compared to their win over the Spartans.
Minnesota head coach Meg Stephenson said she feels that she has a good team, but if the confidence isn’t there, the team won’t be successful.
“Honestly, I would have to say confidence [was the biggest challenge] — believing in themselves and what they can do,” Stephenson said.
Vault has been a strong point all season for this gymnastics team, but it was the Gophers’ lowest score on Saturday, ending with just 47.975 points.
Stephenson said the confidence was lacking and that is the only explanation as to why the women’s performance declined.
The women’s next meet is the annual Best of Minnesota, when the Gophers welcome Gustavus, Hamline and Winona State at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Sports Pavilion.