1972 NCAA UNIVERSITY GYMNASTIC CHAMPIONSHIPS
DIVISION
by Dick Criley photography by Dick Criley & Ray Lorenz
Judges (back to front): Wileos, Cuminsky, Goldbar, Muzyczko, Sasvary, Sullivan, Fisher, Culbertson, Ohannes, Harlacher, Stout, Orlofsky.
Helms Hall of Fame: Vince D' Autorio and James Rosannas.
N isse n Award: (left to right ) Prese ntin g th e award. Mr. N issen , Coach Bill Meade and recipient Tom Lindner.
College & University Coach of the Year: Dick Wolfe.
High School Coach of the Year: John Hinds.
A n ew format was adopted for the NCAA University Division Championship. As in international competition, conference champs and teams were grouped into one o f 3 sessions each day for the compulsory and optiona l exercises. A complete rotation took only 2V2 hours, and everyone but the judges was done for the day. An hour warm-up separated each session . Iowa State, New Mexico, and Southern Illinois were assigned the f irst session for compulsories. SIU was most consistent across the six events ranging from a high of 26.40 on PB to a low of 25.15 on HB. Their strength lay with AA men, Tom Lindener and Gary Morava but even more so in the depth of their back-up men. New Mexico showed streng th on vaulting but suffered breaks from 3 out of 4 men on PB to total but 24.25. Jim Ivicek, Mark Hopkins, Jon Aitkins, Fred Cardenas and Dana Shelley were the Lobos ' mainstays . With only 3 men for the rings event, they still managed a 25.35. Defending Champs Iowa State logged a high of 26.20 on PB but thanks to poor FX and HB performances lagged 2.4 points behind New Mexico overall. Iowa State showed real team consistency with a very young team. In the compulsories, their AA men, Bob Roth and Jim Stephenson, were supported by veterans Russ Hoffman, Dennis Mazur and Stewart Buck, but the rest of the team was largely sophmores. In the second session, the Air Force Academy and University of Washington shared the floor with individuals from the College Division, Pac 8, Independents, and Pacific Coast College Conference. Pac 8 Champion , California, was forced by the NCAA to sit this year out because of all eged vio lations in another sport. Neither team showed any real flair for the compulsories although var ious individuals of the teams did perform well, notably Bil l Ritter (AFA) on FX and Washington 'sChuck Sanders (PH) and Rich Gaylor (V). Both teams hit their highest event totals on vaulting. In this sess ion, individuals such as John Crosby and Steve Hug attracted more attention than did the team race. In the final session, SIGL Champs, Georgia Southern , made their first appearance at a National Gymnastic Championship. They were overshadowed by Penn State and the University of Iowa , both of which powered through the co mpulsory exercises. Penn State fielded three strong AA men in Marshall Avener , Jim Kruest. and Billy Mitchell while Iowa relied upon Dean Showa lter and Carl Walin with support from Bob Salstone, Kerry Ruhl and Chuck Citron (who turned in one of the highest non-qualifying PH scores, a 9.1) . Some observers charged that the judges were fatigued by the 3rd session, and that the scores had crept up as the day wore on. Whatever the truth , Penn State finished first in the team standings with 154.55 followed by Iowa at 153.95 and SIU at 153.50. New Mexico at 150.90 and Iowa State sti ll had shots at a berth in the team finals if they could hit their optionals. In optional competition, teams performing first in the compu lsories were last up. The Penn State an d Iowa, the leaders, faced the judges in the first session. Penn State got off to a good start on rings with a 26.65 while Iowa was logging a 26.40 on PH . After the second events, Iowa with a 27.30 on rings overtook Penn State 207.65 to 207.45. Penn State remained behind 15