After retaining its Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference title the night before, No. 13 men’s gymnastics (17-6) carried on its success into Saturday night’s event finals, hosted at Springfield College. Nine Temple gymnasts qualified for the event finals, and six came away with medals (top six in each event receive medals), and to cap of the night, head coach Fred Turoff and his second-year assistant Patrick McLaughlin were named the ECAC’s Coach and Assistant of the Year and senior Alex Tighe was named ECAC Senior Athlete of the Year.
On winning ECAC Coach of the Year, Turoff said, “It’s a terrific honor, some of the other coaches did a excellent job this year so I didn’t vote for myself in the voting even though I could’ve, because I thought some of the other guys took their team far and to a very high level. But I’m flattered that my fellow coaches felt that way.”
On winning his accolade, Tighe said, “It’s a nice award and definitely a great honor to be selected by all the coaches that thought that I was the gymnast that produced the best results of the season and had good routines throughout the year, and it’s definitely a nice thing to get.”
As for the event finals, Tighe came away with a bronze medal in parallel bars with his 14.250 performance, as well as a fourth place medal on pommel horse where he scored a 14.100.
Senior Allan Malone came away with the highest medal of the night for a Temple gymnast. Malone’s 15.100 on floor exercise earned him a silver medal on the apparatus. Graduate student and team co-captain Evan Burke also medaled on floor exercise with his 13.300 allowing him for a sixth place finish.
On rings, senior Assaf Zoor led the way for the Owls. The native of Holon, Israel earned a fourth place medal scoring a 14.300, beating out fellow native of Israel graduate student and team co-captain Taylor Brana (14.030) who earned a fifth place medal.
On vault, senior Brett Statman was granted a fourth place medal for his 14.500 performance on the apparatus.
With the ECAC season now in their rearview, men’s gymnastics will look to the NCAA Championships hosted at Penn State University on April 20.
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