University of Massachusets Athletics
Weekly Notes
November 30, 1999 | Men's Gymnastics
Nov. 30, 1999
UMASS OPEN: UMass will host the ninth-annual UMass Open on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. in Curry Hicks Cage. The eight-team field will feature Army, M.I.T., Southern Connecticut State, Springfield College, Temple and Vermont. It will also feature several individuals from various gymnastics club teams. The Minutemen won last year?s UMass Open with a score of 223.475. Senior All-American Jeff La Vallee (Stafford Springs, Conn.) earned three individual event titles on his way to claiming the all-around. Tim Daggett Gymnastics placed second with a score of 204.725, while Capital Gymnastics finished third at 195.650. Southern Connecticut State ranked fourth with a score of 185.800.
1999-2000 SQUAD: UMass returns 13 letterwinners from last year?s team, including La Vallee, who earned four All-America honors at the NCAA Championships in the all-around, floor exercise, vault and still rings. Junior Bryan McNulty (Springfield, Va.) also returns for the Minutemen. McNulty placed 12th on the vault at the NCAA East Regionals last year and finished second in the floor exercise at the ECAC Championships. Junior J.J. Hershey (Ephrata, Pa.) placed third on the high bar at the ECAC Championships.
1998-99 IN REVIEW: The Minutemen won their first ECAC Championship last season, placing first out of 10 teams in the conference. UMass finished the year with an 8-2 mark en route to the NCAA Championships.
HEAD COACH ROY JOHNSON: Johnson is in his 22nd season as head coach for the Minutemen. The 1999 ECAC Coach of the Year, he has guided UMass to 15 of the last 16 ECAC Championships, including 11 straight appearances, in addition to the Minutemen?s first appearance in the 1999 NCAA East Regional. The winningest coach in UMass history, Johnson has sported a mark of 165-89 while at UMass.
