Feb. 13, 2015

CHICAGO - The UIC men's gymnastics squad will travel to Philadelphia on Saturday (Feb. 14) to take on Temple. The meet is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. (CT) inside McGonigle Hall. Temple recently completed a $48-million renovation and expansion to McGonigle Hall in 2012.

Senior Brett Valin enters this weekend's competition nationally ranked on vault at the No. 9 position. Valin averages a score of 14.800 on vault and has collected a season high of 15.000, which he recorded Jan. 9against Illinois.

Last weekend, the Flames collected a season-best team score of 402.800 and improved by 4.2 points from the previous week. UIC fell short to Minnesota (429.900) and Nebraska (422.050).

Jason Gaides and Valin were strong in their respective events, collecting team-best scores for each competition. Gaides competed on pommel horse (14.100), rings (14.400) and high bar (13.800). He finished the night with an all-around score of 83.150. Valin took top scores on vault (14.450) and parallel bars (14.100) while recording an all-around score of 80.75.

Be sure to check back to UICFlames.com for results and a full recap on the Flames' performance this weekend.

"We'll finally be visiting a conference rival and it's our mission to walk out of there with a win," said head coach Charley Nelson. "The Owls are no push overs, and it will take everything we've got. Our mantra walking into Minnesota last week was 'find .2.'"

Flames Gymnastics has been making steady progress through the season and that remains the goal for this weekend. "