Feb. 6, 2007

BERKELEY -

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WHAT'S AHEAD:
Two members of the No. 9 California men's gymnastics team will head to Las Vegas, Nev., to compete in the Winter Cup from Feb. 8-10. Juniors Tim McNeill and Tyler Block will represent the Golden Bears in the two-day event (Thursday and Saturday). Block will be competing in three events - still rings, parallel bars and high bar. McNeill will also participate in three events - pommel horse, parallel bars and still rings. The following week, Cal makes its second trip to Stanford this season for the Big Flip on Feb. 17 at 7 p.m.

THE WINTER CUP:
Cal will be facing some stiff competition in the Winter Cup, as many of the best gymnasts in the country will be competing this weekend. Although all of the top performers from most NCAA teams will be entered, it is not considered an NCAA competition. Gymnasts from training centers including the Olympic Training Center will also compete. The competition is used to select the United States National team for 2007. The competitors earn points determined by placement on each event and also placement in the all-around. The point totals determine who makes the national team. A few of the top gymnasts competing are: Jonathan Horton from Oklahoma, David Sender from Stanford and Wesley Haagensen from Illinois. The three are currently ranked the top all-around gymnasts, respectively, in the national individual rankings.

LAST YEAR'S COMPETITION:
In last year's Winter Cup, Tim McNeill earned one of the 14 spots on the Men's Senior National team. McNeill placed third on pommel horse with a combined score of 29.000 after two days of competition. Then a sophomore, McNeil also finished 10th on parallel bars with a 28.450. McNeill recorded a 27.000 on still rings and a 13.000 on high bar. Also advancing to the finals were Tyler Block and Kyson Bunthuwong. Bunthuwong took sixth overall on high bar with a score of 29.000 and placed ninth on pommel horse with a 28.150. Bunthuwong also recorded a 12.800 on floor exercise and a 26.700 on parallel bars. Block tied for 12th-place on parallel bars with a score of 28.400 and recorded a 28.550 on still rings, as he tied for 13th.

CAL AT THE STANFORD OPEN:
After suffering a tough opening loss at home to Stanford on Jan. 19, Cal made a stronger performance two weeks ago in the Stanford Open. The Bears finished second in the meet with a final score of 207.500. The highlight of the meet for Cal was junior Tim McNeill's performance on pommel horse. The reigning NCAA champion on pommel horse won the event with a score of 9.45. The top all-around performer for the Bears was junior Colin Christ (42.600), as he finished 13th on the leader board. His best finish of the night was an 8.900 on parallel bars. Cal found the most success on parallel bars. McNeill finished second with a score of 9.050. Right behind McNeill, tying for third, was sophomore Kyson Bunthuwong (9.000). Junior Tyler Block tied with Bunthuwong, with a 9.000, as well. Freshman Bryan Del Castillo had another strong performance on floor exercise, finishing second (9.400). Junior Mark Freeman only competed in two events, but notched a fourth-place finish on high bar (8.800).

MCNEILL NCAA CHAMP:
The top performer for the Bears in 2006 was junior Tim McNeill. McNeill won the NCAA Championship on pommel horse and also became a two-time All-American last year. He went into the NCAA Championships with a lot of momentum as he captured the all-around title in the MPSF Championships with a combined score of 55.325. In the conference meet, McNeill posted scores above 9.000 in five of the six events. He took two individual titles on pommel horse (9.325) and parallel bars (9.700). His score on parallel bars was not only a career-high, but it was also the highest score for any event in the MPSF Championships.

THE NUCLEUS:
Cal head coach Barry Weiner expects big numbers and solid competition from what he considers the five-person nucleus on the team, juniors Tim McNeill, Colin Christ, Mark Freeman, Tyler Block and Aaron Moy. In addition to McNeill's success last year, Christ, a two-time All-American on the high bar, set a new career best on the high bar in the NCAA Championships (9.600) and posted a 9.550 in the NCAA Qualifier. Freeman, who was injured for half of last season, will be a key to the team reaching its full potential. Two of his season-high performances came in the 2006 Stanford Open, in which he earned a 8.900 on still rings and scored 8.650 on the vault. Block, an NCAA freshman All-American on still rings, set a new career best in that event last season against Penn State with a score of 9.725. Moy reached a season-high performance of 9.200 on floor exercise in the NCAA Qualifier. He followed that performance in the NCAA Championships with a score of 9.175. His overall season best finish came against Stanford on vault (9.300).

NCAA TRADITION: California has a rich history in the NCAA Championships. The Bears have had 173 individual top 10 finishers since 1948, including 24 national champions. Cal has finished in the top five at NCAAs 16 times since 1959, including four times this decade. The Bears boast four national championships - 1968, '75, '97 and '98.

Cal to Host 2007 MPSF Championships:
The 2007 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championships for men's gymnastics will be hosted by California on Saturday, March 31 at Haas Pavilion. The MPSF meet will feature five teams - Air Force, California, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Stanford. At last year's national meet, three of the top five teams came from the MPSF. Oklahoma won the NCAA title, Stanford finished third and Cal was fifth.