Dec. 14, 1999
Chicago, Ill. - The UIC men's and women's gymnastics teams kicked off the 2000 season Saturday with the UIC Mixed Pairs Intrasquad meet.
With the Flames' first regular season dual meet over a month away, the Intrasquad meet allowed UIC to gain real meet experience before hosting Illinois on Jan. 8. The UIC gymnasts - both men and women - were divided into five teams and competed against each other as though it was a regular meet.
?It?s a chance for our teams to simulate a real meet by getting on the floor in front a judge and an audience,? said UIC Women?s Gymnastics Coach Peter Jansson. ?They get to experience the adrenaline and the nerves that they would have in a normal meet.?
The Flames showed little rust even at this early stage in the season. Both the men's and women's teams are expected to have strong seasons in 2000, and Saturday's meet confirmed that the teams are indeed headed in right direction.
Tony Cirullo, Chris Coorlim and Dave Johnson from the men's squad teamed up the women's Tara Rhoden, Nadia Ori and Jackie Messerges to lead "Team Four" to the Intrasquad title a 9.14 team scoring average per event.
Cirullo finished the meet with the highest men's score on the floor exercise (9.700) and tied for first on the vault (9.500). Johnson turned in the top men's performance on the rings with a 9.650.
Messerges led the women's side on the uneven bars with a 9.650. Tara Rhoden helped pace her team with scores of 9.650 on the vault and 9.550 on the bars.
On the men's side, junior Frankie Pretzel turned in an outstanding performance, indicating that he could emerge as a standout performer for UIC in 2000. He tied for second on the floor exercise (9.100) and turned in a score of 9.100 on the vault.
"There were several highlight performances, and Frankie's was definitely one of them," said UIC men's coach "CJ" Johnson. "He's really starting to come into his own. He's making the transition from being a high school gymnast into becoming a college gymnast."
The women also had numerous bright spots, including the team's performance on the uneven bars.
"Our depth on the bars was very encouraging," Jansson said. "That's where we struggled last year, but 10 of 12 scores on the bars were above a 9.000 on Saturday. It was very promising to have this meet as a gauge of where we are at this point in the season. I feel we are ahead of where we were last year at this time."
