April 17, 2008

STANFORD, CA - After capturing the ECAC Championship for the second consecutive season, the Temple men's gymnastics team is set to compete in the NCAA Championships from the campus of Stanford University beginning tonight and lasting throughout the weekend.

The # 13 Owls will be competing along with host Stanford, California, Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa tonight at 10 p.m. in Session II. Earlier in the day, Oklahoma, Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska, and William & Mary will take to the mats in Session I. The top three teams from each qualifying session will move on to Friday night's finals. The individual championships are set for Saturday evening.

The Owls earned their second consecutive bid to the NCAA Championships after narrowly defeating William and Mary 341.45 - 341.35 at the ECAC Championships on April 4th. Last year, while competing at the NCAA Championships at State College, the Owls finished in 11th place.

Leading the way the Owls is senior Luke Vexler. Capping off an amazing season for the Cherry and White, Vexler finished first in the all-around and floor exercise and was honored as the ECAC Senior Gymnast of the Year. Vexler was also one of seven nominees for the Nissen-Emery Award, which was awarded to nations' top senior gymnast Oklahoma's Jonathan Horton took home the Nissen-Emery last evening. Vexler was the first Temple gymnast nominated for the award since Mike Moran in 2000.

The NCAA Championships will be televised as the team finals are tentatively set to broadcast on tape-delay on ESPN2 on April 24, and the individual event finals are also tentatively slated to be broadcast on tape-delay on Comcast's CN8 channel on May 3 and May 10.