April 4, 2008
PHILAEDLPHIA- The Temple men's gymnastics team has a tough task on their hands this weekend, as they will look to defend their ECAC/EIGL conference title from West Point starting Friday, April 4th and continuing through Saturday. If the Owls do not capture the title, they risk staying home as a team from the NCAA Championships scheduled for April 17th at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA.
If the Owl's do not win this weekend, they will have to outscore both William & Mary and Illinois-Chicago by a couple of points to move their national qualifying average into the top 12 in the nation.
Leading the charge for the Owls will be the senior duo of Luke Vexler and Sterling Kramer. Vexler, the 2007 conference all-around champion is joined by Kramer, who won the prestigious all-around crown in 2006.
The Owls started their season in a dominant fashion, taking down national powerhouse Ohio State, but then suffered a knee injury to junior John Vogtman the following week. In addition to Vogtman's injury, Nick Iles tore his Achilles's tendon at the end of the pre-season, and several other key players have been in and out of the lineup all season long due to minor injuries.
Among those absent throughout the season are Adam Al-Rokh, Alex Gorski, Pat McLaughlin, and Jason Russo. All are cleared to compete this weekend, and should add a great deal of depth to the Owls already experienced lineup.
"Although we've been outscored by some conference rivals, this meet is on neutral territory, where we've had the advantage. Still, the team with the most hits will come out on top, and we're working to make Temple that team," said head coach Fred Turoff.
The top eight individual score's from Saturday will compete for bragging rights as conference champ on their best events. The ECAC/EIGL individual event championships are scheduled for Sunday, April 6th.
