No. 4 California Hosts No. 2 Penn State in Regular Season Finale

March 12, 2008

BERKELEY - This Week in California Gymnastics
Nine seniors - Tyler Block, Kyle Brady, Sean Bryan, Colin Christ, Mark Freeman, Kyle Litow, Tim McNeill, Aaron Moy and Hiroki Yokoyama - will compete in their final home meet March 15. Cal (6-4) hosts No. 2 Penn State on March 15 in Haas Pavilion with first rotation slated for 7:30 p.m. The meet against the Nittany Lions will be the final tune up for the Golden Bears before they travel to the MPSF Championships on April 5.

Scouting Penn State
Penn State (6-1 overall) knocked off William and Mary and Navy in a tri-meet March 8 at home. The Nittany Lions swept all six events, both individually and as a team. Senior Derek Helsby, who is currently the nation's No. 5 all-around gymnast, captured his first 2008 all-around title at the tri-meet thanks to his win on pommel horse (14.950). Penn State excels on vault, where on which they are No. 1 in the country, but sits lower than Cal in the national rankings on high bar, parallel bars and pommel horse. In the all-time series, Penn State and Cal are tied, 1-1.

McNeill Honored as Nissem-Emery Award Finalist
Tim McNeill has been named one of the seven finalists for the Nissem-Emery Award. The winner of the award, which is annually presented to the nation's most outstanding senior male collegiate gymnast, will be announced prior to the 2008 NCAA Championships in Stanford, April 17-19. Looking to be the first Golden Bear to receive the "Heisman Trophy" of gymnastics, the Falls Church, Va., native is the 16th Cal gymnast to be listed as a finalist in the award's 43-year existence. McNeill, a three-time all-american, is this year's co-captain of the Bears for the second season and is currently tied for most individual NCAA titles in school history.

McNeill Named MPSF Gymnast of the Week
California senior Tim McNeill was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the Week, it was announced March 11. In the heartbreaking 356.150-355.650 loss to top-ranked Stanford on March 8, McNeill won parallel bars (15.450) and pommel horse (15.400). The Falls Church, Va., native competed on rings for only the second time this season and notched a new career high of 15.000 to take second place overall. For the third meet this year, McNeill competed on vault and set a new personal record of 15.700, which was second on Cal's team that night. The three-time national champion's performance on pommel horse, parallel bears and rings helped Cal edge the Cardinal on those events.

In the Gym With Head Coach Barry Weiner
Penn State is always very good. We've been finishing our meets well lately and we hope to hang right next to Penn State up to the end, where we hope to sprint past them. We want to see if we can not only get a victory but get good scores. We're starting to put our top line-up together. Although we may not have our final, end of the season line-up, this meet is going to be pretty close to that.

Last Time Against Penn State
The scheduled meet at Penn State last season was canceled due to inclement weather that prevented Cal from traveling. When the Bears and Nittany Lions met in Berkeley in 2006, Cal won four events to win, 219.100 - 216.575, its highest team score of the year. The Bears set a new season-high team score on floor (36.650) and vault (36.950). Tim McNeill won pommel horse with a 9.550 and Tyler Block took rings (9.725).

Recently in Cal Gymnastics
Cal beat No. 1 Stanford in four events - pommel horse, rings, parallel bars and high bar - but dropped the Big Flip, 356.150 - 355.650, March 8 at Stanford. Senior Tim McNeill won pommel horse with a 15.400, which was .400 better than his closest competitor, while Daniel Geri notched a 13.950 and Colin Christ scored a 13.750 to help the Cal edge the Cardinal on the event by .100. McNeill was Cal's top finisher on still rings, taking second with a career-high 15.000 and the Bears' collective effort gave them the win, 57.950-57.050. Even though Stanford won, California produced solid scores on vault with all four competitors taking above a 15.250, and Aaron Moy tied for fourth with a Cal team-high and new personal record 15.850. Parallel bars was the highlight of the night for the Golden Bears, who overpowered Stanford, 61.400-58.100, thanks to first-place finishes by McNeill and Christ, each notching a 15.450. Kyson Bunthuwong, who only competed in three events, won high bar with a career-best 15.100, Christ took third (14.800) and Block (14.700) was fourth to push the Bears over Stanford on the horizontal bar but it was not enough to take meet.

Golden Bears on the National Scene
The Golden Bears are currently ranked fourth in the country. Cal's parallel bars team is tops in the country again this week with Tim McNeill holding down the No. 1 individual ranking spot. The pommel horse crew is fourth in the nation with McNeill moving up to second and Kyson Bunthuwong occupying eighth place in the individual rankings, while Cal's rings and high bar teams are fifth and second, respectively. Cal was tabbed the No. 5 team in the country, according to the College Gymnastics Association's preseason poll.

Coming Attractions
The Bears will have three weeks off from competition before traveling to Lincoln, Neb., to partake in the MPSF Championships on April 5. Cal will make a run for an NCAA championship at Stanford on April 17-19 at Maples Pavilion.

The McNeill Report
Senior and three-time NCAA Champion Tim McNeill will be updating a blog this season. In his entries, McNeill gives updates regarding the happenings of the men's gymnastics team as the Bears progress through the season. To read McNeill's blog, go to the men's gymnastics page on CalBears.com

Former Cal Gymnast Caleb Kirk Wins Scholarship Award
Caleb Kirk, a four-year letter winner on the Cal gymnastics team, was awarded the Pac-10 Conference's Living the Dream Scholarship, it was announced Jan. 17. The award recognizes student-athletes who participated on their school's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and also demonstrated leadership outside of athletics, and the winners receive $5,000 for post-graduate study. Kirk helped lead the team to its highest event score at the 2007 NCAA Championships when he posted a 9.45 on rings, which equaled his career high.