MINNESOTA

Head coach Mike Burns

Opening statement
¡°Well this is a great moment for Minnesota gymnastics. I think it has been 17 years since this program has been in the team finals in the NCAA Championship. It is a great day indeed. I am really proud of my team. They never gave up from the beginning to the end. We had a few mishaps along the way. And our team has been like this every meet this year. One guy has a little mishap and the next guy picks up the slack. It has been a great effort all year long for these guys, and I couldn¡¯t be happier for them.¡±

What does this mean to your program?
¡°It is huge for us. Like I said earlier, it has been a long time since we have been here. It has been a long, strong tradition of gymnastics at Minnesota. This 2007 team will be right at the top of the list. It solidifies our program and it gives us a lot of recognition. Our program will be battling for the top spot.¡±

Did the Ohio State elimination open your eyes?
¡°Ohio State¡¯s demise really did nothing for us. It wasn¡¯t really a factor at all for us. We had our job to do. I am sorry they didn¡¯t make it, but that is not really our problem. We just did our job.¡±

Jacob Lee
¡°All I can say is wow. I couldn¡¯t be more proud of my team. This was one of our goals from the beginning of the season, to make NCAAs, and we did it. We peaked at the right time and I am just so proud of everyone on my team.¡±

OKLAHOMA

Head coach Mark Williams

Opening statement
¡°We are happy to advance. We put ourselves in the National Championship. We will look forward to a great competition tomorrow. We are looking to improve on our performance tomorrow and put ourselves in the hunt for another National Championship.¡±

Did the Ohio State elimination open your eyes?
¡°I don¡¯t think it affected our performance today, but we wanted another shot at them tomorrow.¡±

Jonathan Horton

Opening statement
¡°I am excited about tomorrow. I am proud of how the team performed. As Mark said, I am really excited about tomorrow. It is going to be a battle, and we are in the hunt for another National Championship. I am looking forward to every event and every routine tomorrow.¡±

PENN STATE

Head coach Randy Jepson

Opening statement
¡°We too are thrilled to be healthy so we can go for another day. We did not want to be fourth in the meet today. We have a chance. Tomorrow is a brand new day. Nothing counts from today. Anything can happen. My guys know that and the other guys up here know that and I think it is going to be a slugfest. The fans are going to be treated to a fantastic meet. This is something that you are not going to want to miss. I think it is kind of ironic that we have the World Championship coaching staff tomorrow.¡±

What did you see in starting two freshmen on the vault?
¡°Nick (Virbitsky) has been real been real consistent on the vault all year. And Allen Harris has really come in to his own over the past two weeks. He was ready to go and he did a nice job.¡±

Comment on the floor exercise tonight
¡°We haven¡¯t had good landings all year long. The guys put in their routine and did a pretty good job tonight. We just have to fine tune, but the team did pretty well tonight.¡±

Comment on the pommel tonight
¡°We have a very strong horse team. We have guys that look good and we have guys that just have to stay on and do their routine to get a good score. The bottom line is that if we don¡¯t give up a lot, we are in the mix. We just have to be solid and go out and do their job. The guys are pretty confident in there. It is just a matter of just doing their jobs.¡±

Matt Cohen

Opening statement
¡°We are also extremely excited to be through the first day. The first day is the nerve-racking day to be honest with you. As Randy said, you do not want to be fourth on the first day. My team was a little bit nervous to start the meet, but we did great right off the bat. We had a few misses here and there, but we kept on fighting. We are excited to be going on for another day. The whole team is excited. We will get some rest and we will be back for a slugfest tomorrow.¡±

Can you talk about the crowd tonight?
¡°It was great to have all of the fans and our families cheering us on tonight. That just gave us a lot of energy tonight.¡±

Did the Ohio State elimination open your eyes?
¡°No one else¡¯s performance really affects our team. We weren¡¯t really concerned about the first session or the other teams in our session.¡±