Michigan State University Athletics
Men's Gymnastics Handles No. 12 Minnesota
2/5/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
Feb. 5, 2000
EAST LANSING, Mich. - -The MSU men's gymnastics team overpowered Minnesota on Saturday, February 5 by a score of 227.550-222.900. The Spartans' 227.550 was their highest total of the season. The win was the Spartans' first Big Ten Conference victory of the season. With the win, No. 11 MSU improves to 2-8, 1-2 in the Big Ten.
Jonathan Plante (So., Easton, Pa.) tied his own school record, which he set earlier this season vs. Ohio State, of 9.950 on the pommel horse. Plante also notched his highest score of the season on the horizontal bar with a 9.775. Freshman Brad Golden (Orlando, Fla.) was the only Spartan in the all-around competition and scored a 56.225.
The Spartans scored their highest team totals of the year on the pommel horse, still rings, parallel bars, horizontal bar and on the floor exercise. David Ruiz (So., Oviedo, Fla.), 9.800 in the floor exercise, and Troy Takagishi (Sr., East Lansing, Mich.), 9.550 on the still rings, each scored the highest individual totals for MSU this year.
Michigan State coach Rick Atkinson knew his team performed well, "We are getting better as a team, but we still have room to grow. We are right where we need to be now and that makes me very happy. Tonight was our best performance buy our underclassmen."
Top Three ScoresAll-Around56.225 Brad Golden, Michigan State54.700 Justin Conner, Minnesota52.850 Chad Conner, Minnesota
Vault9.550 Brad Golden, Michigan State9.550 Brady Grimm, Michigan State9.450 Bob Goss, Minnesota
Floor Exercise9.800 David Ruiz, Michigan State9.775 Clay Strother, Minnesota9.750 Brad Golden, Michigan State
Parallel Bars9.550 Jonathan Plante, Michigan State9.400 Lindsay Fang, Minnesota9.150 Brady Grimm, Michigan State9.150 Jamie Shepard, Michigan State
Pommel Horse9.950 Jonathan Plante, Michigan State9.875 Lindsay Fang, Minnesota9.825 Russell Young, Michigan State
Horizontal Bar9.775 Jonathan Plante, Michigan State9.550 Brad Golden, Michigan State9.450 Chad Conner, Minnesota
Still Rings9.550 Troy Takagishi, Michigan State9.500 Marc Chiappetta, Michigan State9.425 Chris Weedon, Michigan State
