According to The New York Times, the campus is currently not in line with any of the three prongs of Title IX compliance test. The three prongs require all universities that receive federal funding to either have the male to female athlete ratio represent the male to female ratio of the campus population, demonstrate a consistent history of expanding women’s athletics on campus or have full and effective accommodation of the interest and ability of women in sports.

Though the campus claims to adhere to the law, The New York Times article states the campus is not compliant with any of the three criteria.

“Just 40 percent of the 965 participants on the university’s varsity teams were women in the 2009-10 academic year; its overall student enrollment was 53 percent female,” the article stated.

However, the most current number of student athletes, as released by the campus in September, was in fact 814 individuals. Campus officials said the numbers in The New York Times article were outdated and that the article was speculative.

Campus spokesperson Dan Mogulof said in an e-mail it was necessary to understand that the campus fully analyzed the Title IX consequences in the initial scope of the decision to cut the five teams – baseball, men’s rugby, men’s gymnastics, women’s lacrosse and women’s gymnastics – back in September.

“Once the campus completes its continuing review of philanthropic commitments provided to the ‘Save Cal Sports’ endeavor and determines the extent of its success, a final determination will be made about the future scope of the program,” he said in the e-mail.

Mogulof added that once the decision regarding the possible reinstatement of the athletics teams is announced Thursday, the campus will provide information and answer questions about how the campus will continue to fully comply with Title IX.

The campus plans to announce its decision on whether or not it will reinstate the athletics teams Thursday by noon.

Jack Wang of The Daily Californian contributed to this report.

Unable to stay steady on the balance beam, the No. 1 UCLA gymnastics team wobbled and wavered its way to a 195.7-195.3 season-opening loss against No. 5 Utah on Friday.

Despite two falls on beam in Salt Lake City, the Bruins showed flashes of potential worthy of their top ranking, including a career-high 9.825 on beam from sophomore Lichelle Wong.

“I think it was a good start to the season,” junior Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs said. “We didn’t win the meet, but we had some good moments. It’s really early, so the important thing is just working from there and improving.”

But with two additional falls on beam during the Pac-10 Showcase on Sunday, the apparatus looks to be the Bruins’ weakest link early in the season.

But for coach Valorie Kondos Field, the team’s struggles are all part of the learning process necessary for success in the postseason.

“First, we have to figure out who is competing because I have other athletes who may be able to do better and score higher,” she said.

“Then we need to figure out what our beam order should be because last year when we put (then-senior) Anna Li up front, it totally changed the chemistry.”

With the final lineup for beam largely undetermined, Kondos Field believes that her gymnasts may finally start to show a little intersquad competitiveness in the hopes of securing a spot in the rotation.

“Because everyone has been so nice to each other, there has been really no friction to work through so far,” she said. “That kind of sounds like a weird complaint but I think that as long as it is not destructive, friction works well with a team and now we have it.”

Although Kondos Field remains optimistic despite the Bruins’ inability to complete six routines on balance beam, there is one element of the problem that puzzles her.

“I’m wondering if there is a mentality of being national champions where they feel that they have to defend their title, because they are making silly mistakes,” said Kondos Field, who noted that the majority of the team’s major errors have been coming from her veterans.

“Look at Elyse’s fall on beam against Utah and (senior Niki Tom’s) today on the simplest skill in her routine. It is not like we haven’t trained consistently, so I don’t know what is going on, but we will figure it out.”

Freshmen make debuts
Among the four UCLA gymnasts to score 9.9 or higher during the Pac-10 Showcase was freshman Sydney Sawa with a 9.9 on uneven bars.

Sawa and fellow freshman Olivia Courtney made their first appearances as Bruins on Friday against Utah.

Kondos Field was pleased with both of their performances but expects them to continue developing throughout the season.

“I think they are great and just so much fun,” she said. “They are great competitors and team players, but they still need to clean up their skills.”

After facing the hostile environment of Utah, Sawa said the friendly fans at UCLA were a welcome sight, and described the feeling of walking into Pauley Pavilion as “kind of overwhelming but a rush of adrenaline at the same time.”

The NCAA Gymnastics Committee selected Penn State University to host the 2013 National Collegiate Championships at Rec Hall on Monday. The last time the university hosted the title in 2007, the Nittany Lions won their most recent title.

With eleven sophomores coming into the 2010 season, coach Randy Jepson is excited about what the future can bring, but he knows the team is a long way away from 2013. Jepson said without the right preparation and consistency the pressure of having the home gym could affect some of his athletes negatively. For now, that is what the team is focusing on ­- consistency.

“The biggest thing right now is we have to put ourselves in a position where our difficulty level is raised,” said Jepson. “We need to raise our star value.”

Matt Chelberg is one of the sophomores who will be a senior in 2013 and said that the energy the news brought to the gym is incredible. Chelberg said his excitement, along with his teammates comes from the fact their families will be there making the atmosphere that much better for them.

“I think it’s going to be great having such a large senior class,” Chelberg said. “We’ll have a lot of fans, and last time we were in this position we ended up winning, so I think it bodes well for us.”

With the right goals set and the correct amount of preparation, Jepson knows that a home gym advantage will certainly help his team. He said a strong comfort level should and will make the athletes compete at their best and at the highest levels.

“The biggest benefit is you’re in your own bed.” Jepson said. “You have several seasons behind you competing in the same venue.”

Gymnastics is composed of individual routines but a program’s success is based on the accumulation of all single scores. Jepson said the rising sophomore class has a lot of work to do to prepare and Chelberg said currently, it’s in the weight room.

“Right now we’re really increasing our strength and endurance,” Chelberg said. “Coach is putting us through a really rigorous regiment and I can already feel it’s helping us.”

Sophomore Scott Rosenthal said he was at Rec Hall in 2007 when the Lions won the title. He said he remembered some of the things that the team did then and hopes to use that to his teams’ advantage.

“The whole time they were on fire and looked like they were having so much fun and enjoying the competition,” Rosenthal said. “How excited they were to be there and that Rec Hall was absolutely packed made it a great place to be.”

Jepson said though you only compete one season at a time, it lingers in the back of his mind and he knows the players are excited too. For his will-be-seniors, he knows if they want to bring home another title in 2013, they have to be on point with their routines and be ready to win.

“We can’t have any weak events,” Jepson said. “We need to catch up a little but I’m confident that we can do that. We just have to develop the competitive tenacity.”

“Mark and Susan are true examples of outstanding student- athletes,” said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive in a news release. “They have competed at the highest level of collegiate athletics and through their hard work, dedication and commitment to excellence have been successful in their endeavors. They are fine representatives for their universities and this conference.  The SEC is proud to honor them for their accomplishments.”

Jackson joins former basketball player Seimone Augustus as the second LSU woman to win the award.

“This is a significant award that truly puts her performance and accomplishments in very elite company,” said LSU gymnastics coach D-D Breaux in a news release. “I am extremely proud for Susan, for LSU and for our gymnastics program.”

Jackson said she felt honored to receive the prestigious award to cap off her 20-year career in gymnastics.

“There’s so many wonderful women in the SEC,” Jackson said. “To be thought of as one of the top athletes, it’s a really cool feeling. It’s really humbling.”

The Spring, Texas, native said the awards she felt she earned meant the most to her, not the awards voted on by other people.

“It’s a huge honor,” Jackson said. “But the ones that you are fighting for and trying for the most, those are the awards that mean more. You can actually see the work happening.”

Winning a national title in the all-around as a senior was one of those awards.

“That was one I knew I had to work for,” Jackson said.

Now that Jackson’s collegiate career has ended, she hopes to perform in Cirque du Soleil.
“I think it would be a good transition from 20 years of gymnastics to the real world,” Jackson said.

Jackson said she will try out for Cirque du Soleil in September, and if she is hired, she’ll go to Canada for a three-month training period. During the training period, the performers learn the ins and outs of the show along with how to put on the costume and makeup.

During the summer, Jackson works for Harris County Houston Sports Authority. She said it was a weird feeling to be wearing business clothes and working in an office after years of being physically active.

“I get so bored sitting in a desk,” Jackson said. “Sometimes I just like to get up and do a handstand.”

Jackson said she doesn’t see herself working a nine-to-five office job in the future, but there is one job she would love to have.

“I’d love to have Coach D-D’s job,” she said, laughing.

Even if she doesn’t get back into gymnastics on the coaching side, Jackson said the 20 years she put into the sport have helped her grow as a person and will help in finding future jobs.

“You definitely make so many contacts,” Jackson said. “And Coach D-D will help you out if you need a job, even though you’re off the team. She won’t stop until you have your job or what you’re looking for.”

As for the ending of her career, Jackson said going out with two national titles and a few awards was a pretty good way to go out.

“It was definitely a great ending,” Jackson said. “I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

Even though the men’s gymnastics program meets the majority of certain criteria set by the athletic department, there are a few key factors that make the Men’s Gymnastics Program a very good target for being dropped. As a member and co-captain of the Cal Men’s Gymnastics team, this news is very devastating.

The program throughout the history of Cal Athletics has met and even superceded the criteria determined by the athletic department, by far. The Cal Men’s Gymnastics program has had throughout the years 29 NCAA Event Champions (14 of which are from the last 20 years), 195 Individual Top-10 NCAA individual finishes, 18 top-5 NCAA Team finishes, countless All-American Awards, and, to top it all off, 4 NCAA team championship titles. Surely, this array of athletic achievements should speak for itself when determining which sports should be considered to be dropped.

One of the main factors keeping us from being in the clear, however, is Title IX. Although I’m unclear about the specifics of Title IX, I do know that it deals with allocating equal amounts of funding to both the men and the women, while maintaining approximately equal men/ratios in collegiate athletics. The good news is that the budget of the Men’s Gymnastics program is so minute that it will barely put a dent in the millions of dollars that may be cut. The sad news, on the other hand, is that if there is more than one sport being dropped, Men’s Gymnastics is a good “adjuster,” so to speak, in maintaining the ratios of men and women due to Title IX.

Thus, in an effort prevent the program being dropped, the team, alumni, and coaches of Men’s Gymnastics have started to raise awareness throughout the gymnastics community and, hopefully, to the people who care about athletics at Cal. If you go to the website www.calgymnasticsforever.com, there is plenty of information found on the website that will tell you how you can help.

Essentially, there are two efforts we are trying to accomplish. The first effort is creating a pledge fund that may influence the decision of the Chancellor and the Athletic Director.

The second, more important, effort is to collect as many letters as possible directed to the Chancellor and Athletic Director stating the significance of the Cal Men’s Gymnastics Program. Fortunately, the latter effort, through email and a small amount of time, is free and encouraged to Cal Students and faculty. Again, if you go to www.calgymnasticsforever.com, all necessary information can be found there.

It’s important to note that no decision has been made yet to determine whether or not sports will be dropped in the first place. However, with the potential financial cuts the athletic department may be facing, the Men’s Gymnastics program wants and needs to do everything possible to develop a sense of urgency in the Cal community to save the sport of gymnastics.

With a large effort from the gymnastics and Cal communities, I’m sure that the success of Cal Men’s Gymnastics will continue to thrive and that a young boy beginning a gymnastics class will be able to say, “I want to be on Cal’s gymnastics team.”

The Penn State women’s gymnastics team has had enough trouble beating Michigan, winners of 18 Big Ten titles to Penn State’s none.

Now, the Nittany Lions will have another roadblock with Nebraska set to begin Big Ten competition in 2011.

The Cornhusker women own one of the most competitive gymnastics programs in the country. They finished No. 7 last season, higher than any Big Ten school, which was merely good enough for second place in the four-team Big 12. The closest-ranked Big Ten school was Michigan at No. 10.

Nebraska’s addition gives the conference eight women’s gymnastics programs, and leaves the Big 12 with just three.

“To add that competition to the Big Ten will just make our [Big Ten Championships] that much more exciting,” Lions junior co-captain Whitney Bencsko said. “It will be great to have another team seriously vying for a Big Ten title every year. I think it’s going to be great. I look at it as a completely positive thing.”

Though the Nebraska women have never won a national championship, only four teams — Alabama, Georgia, UCLA and Utah — have. The Huskers have finished fourth three times, most recently in 2003.

Penn State and Nebraska have faced off in each of the last three regular seasons — twice at Rec Hall and once in Lincoln — with the Huskers winning all three.

In 2009, however, Penn State placed ahead of Nebraska in the NCAA Northeast Regional and prevented the Huskers from competing at nationals, which Nebraska hosted.

“I think we’re very similar in terms of competition level so I think when we compete against Nebraska, it could be anybody’s game,” said Bencsko, who has faced off against the newest addition to the conference three times.

The landscape of men’s gymnastics will also change. The Huskers men’s program has won eight national championships, including five consecutive from 1979 to 1983. The only two schools with more titles are Penn State (11) and Illinois (9).

Penn State men’s gymnastics coach Randy Jepson said he is excited about the change, as Nebraska gives the conference a seventh men’s team, and raises the bar for the conference, even though the Huskers haven’t won a title since 1994.

“Although they haven’t been at the forefront in the past few years they certainly are up and coming,” he said.

The Penn State and Nebraska men’s squads haven’t met since 2005.

Dan Kendig, head coach of the Nebraska women’s team, is also excited about the move. Kendig said the biggest change for his team will be the travel. “All things considered, I think it’s a great thing for our university,” Kendig said. “I’m excited. I wish it would start this year in a lot of ways. There are a lot of good teams, a lot of good coaches in the Big Ten. And I personally am very happy to be a part of that.”

Though campus officials maintain that a decision about possible team eliminations will not be made until after the beginning of the fall semester, many within the world of men’s gymnastics – including officials from the U.S. Olympic Committee – are concerned. Some said there is reason to suspect that Cal’s team will likely be the first to go.

Team members started a website and letter-writing campaign last week, asking for donations and for supporters to write letters to Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, who will ultimately decide what changes will be made to the department.

But Athletic Director Sandy Barbour said no teams have been singled out.

“Why it would be a conversation about men’s gymnastics, I’m a little baffled,” she said. “Campus discussion has created a lot of unrest and uneasiness and concern about a variety of different programs across our 27-sport portfolio.”

Barbour said men’s gymnastics was the only team that approached her with concerns regarding the possible elimination of teams and criteria for a team’s preservation.

“We were obviously very devastated to hear (about possible cuts), but our first instinct was to take some action,” said team captain Daniel Geri. “We all just said that we need to react and do something about it instead of just waiting around and waiting for a response from the chancellor and (Barbour).”

Athletics Running in the Red

The “campus discussion” about athletics that Barbour referred to began last year. While other campus units were cutting corners to cope with budget cuts, it was revealed that the athletics department’s finances had been running in the red for years, receiving millions of dollars in subsidies from the campus. In 2008-09 alone, the department received about $13.7 million in campus support, according to the NCAA.

A Nov. 5 resolution passed by the campus division of the Academic Senate urged Birgeneau to end campus support to the department, prompting the formation of a faculty task force to examine the department’s financial model and make recommendations to Birgeneau. A second athletics advisory council was formed in April.

The final reports from the two groups – both expected to be completed sometime around the beginning of the fall semester – will be considered by Birgeneau before he makes any decisions about how to balance the department’s unstable budget.

The faculty task force’s June 12 interim report said the department should consider cutting teams to reduce expenditures “if necessary.”

Gymnasts Brace for Fall

Scaling back intercollegiate athletics is hardly new at other universities. Last year, the University of Washington eliminated both its men’s and women’s swimming programs for expected annual savings of $1.2 million. To combat a $1.4 million athletics deficit, UC Davis announced in April that it would cut women’s rowing, men’s wrestling, swimming and diving and indoor track and field.

Barbour said most sports on campus could be at risk – only football, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball are safe because they are required to keep Cal in “good standing” with the Pac-10 – but gymnasts said they do not meet criteria the department is using to evaluate teams.

The department must also factor in Title IX when assessing teams, Barbour said, and the amount of local competition. Geri said the team would not score high with this criteria; its only competition on the West Coast is Stanford.

Fueling the rumors is the retirement of head coach Barry Weiner and the resignation of assistant coach Aaron Floyd for undisclosed reasons at the end of the season. The status of those positions, however, will not affect discussions of cuts, said Barbour, and the department has already begun searching for Weiner’s replacement.

Geri expressed fear of a “domino effect” reverberating throughout collegiate gymnastics and other competitive levels if his team is cut. Cal and Stanford are the only Division I men’s gymnastics programs on the West Coast. Additionally, there are only 17 varsity teams nationwide, and eliminating one would hurt the sport at large, others said.

“Are there other universities that are going to carry on the sport? And if programs (do drop), that’s going to affect Stanford and that’s going to affect every program,” said Stanford men’s gymnastics coach Thom Glielmi. “Why would the NCAA hold a national championship if there’s five teams left?”

If any team is eliminated at Cal, it would most likely not occur until the 2011-12 school year, Barbour said. Athletes would retain their scholarships through the end of their eligibility, unless they chose to transfer schools.

“I don’t think anyone’s really thought about (transferring),” Geri said. “Just because of Cal’s academics, I’m not sure if you can get the same type of education anywhere else with a gymnastics program.”

Madison Merriam rushed through the double doors and tracked him down in the hallway as he was leaving the White Building.

She wasn’t about to miss her chance to wrap her arm around and take a picture with the legendary coach — even if she didn’t realize the significance of it.

“I’m only a freshman,” Merriam said, “so I don’t know if it’s that crazy like, ‘Oh my God, it’s JoePa!’ But knowing how everyone else is so crazy about him and everyone else is dying to get that picture with him. … I was like, ‘Maybe I will get a picture, because this probably won’t happen again.’ ”

Asked what she knew about Penn State U. football coach Joe Paterno before enrolling at Penn State, Merriam said, “Nothing. I didn’t even know him as JoePa.”

But Merriam and the rest of the Penn State women’s gymnastics team got a pep talk from the winningest coach in college football history Thursday at practice as they prepared for the NCAA Regional Championships at 6 p.m. Saturday in Rec Hall.

Paterno stressed the same principles he tells his players each Saturday before they take the field in Beaver Stadium: have confidence in yourself and, most importantly, have fun.

“If you’re uptight, it’s not fun,” said Paterno, whose daughter Mary Kay did gymnastics growing up. “Don’t get yourself in a state of mind where you’re so uptight when you take that last flip.”

Senior Alexandra Brockway had no idea Paterno was set to visit the team. Women’s gymnastics coach Steve Shephard got the word from associate athletic director for football administration Fran Ganter Thursday morning. Shephard ran to his car, picked up Paterno and hauled him to the White Building.

Brockway said to assistant coach Jess Bastardi she couldn’t believe she had just seen Paterno in the hallway. Bastardi then told her he was speaking to the team and to hurry up and get in the gym.

The fact Paterno took time right before spring football practice meant a lot to Brockway and the rest of the Nittany Lion gymnasts.

“It helps knowing how many people are in it for us, and he’s not just in it for his own football team but he’s there for us,” Brockway said. “It just shows you how much Penn State pride everybody has around here.”

Fellow senior Allie Southard thought she was dreaming when she saw Paterno walk through the doors. In her four years at Penn State, it was the first time she ever had the chance to “hang out” with Paterno, she said.

“I think I literally died,” Southard said. “I was like, ‘Is this real life?’ That was incredible.”

Southard said Paterno’s appearance alone gives her extra motivation for Saturday, when she will be fighting to keep her career alive. If the Lions don’t finish in the top-two, their season will end prematurely.

Paterno, on the other hand, didn’t put much stock into his speech with the team. Everything they need they already had, he said.

“They were gonna do all right without me, for crying out loud,” Paterno said. “I didn’t do a tumble. I didn’t do a flip.”

They don’t isolate themselves from the rest of the team, and they don’t wait for permission to practice their routines.

Instead, they fit in and have become a reason for optimism with the NCAA championships in the immediate future.

Freshman Matt McGrath, Broderick Shemansky, and Anton Gryshayev have come a long way from the beginning of the season in practice, school, and competition. Their maturation from unseasoned collegiate gymnasts to important veterans has catapulted the Hawkeyes to a No. 9 national ranking.

“We rely on them now,” head coach Tom Dunn said. “I think they have a real good feel for college meets now that we’ve had [10] of them. They know what collegiate gymnastics is all about, what their role is, and how to prepare.”

Shemansky concurred that the difference in preparation has been the main change from the beginning of the season.

“The way that I work out with the team is different now,” he said. “I was new at first, so I didn’t know the guys as well, and they didn’t know who I was. I’ve become more comfortable with the team and now they help me out all the time.”

Gryshayev agreed.

“What’s different now is that I know how much the whole team contributes in meets and practices. It’s not just about you, it’s about the whole team,” he said. “At my club sport, it was more individual, but here, we cheer other teammates on for a win.”

The change in attitude has not gone unnoticed. Senior captain Reid Urbain will end his collegiate career after the NCAA championships on April 15, but said he knows the team will continue to improve with the efforts of the young trio.

Their improvements have put them among the nation’s elite.

McGrath leads the way, with a No. 20 ranking on floor exercise, No. 26 on vault, and No. 33 on still rings.

Shemansky is No. 51 on rings and is ranked statistically among the top 100 collegiate gymnasts on vault and floor exercise.

Gryshayev had planned on performing in the all-around, but a dislocated ankle at the beginning of the season forced him to specialize on rings, where he ranks 30th.

The three are accustomed to individual success, and they attracted interest from schools such as Oklahoma, California-Berkley, and Michigan.

But the gymnasts on the Hawkeye team attracted them to Iowa.

“I didn’t fit personality-wise well with other gymnastics teams,” Shemansky said. “Gymnastics is more exciting than I thought it’d be [in Iowa]. We have all these guys on a team with a common goal, and we enjoy doing it together.

“I chose Iowa because of the team spirit,” McGrath said. “I think it is unique how we all bond and get along really well every single day. A lot of teams get to practice, and it’s like, ‘Oh man, I got to work.’ But we come here to have fun. It’s a good time all the time.”

With midterms past them and finals in their future, gymnastics is an escape for the freshmen.

McGrath said if there’s one thing they will learn from being Hawkeyes, it’s how to manage their time while staying encouraged as a team.

“Keeping yourself motivated and pushing yourself toward the right level that the coaches and teammates want is tough.” he said. “But it’s what we got to do to peak at the right time for the NCAAs.”

The last home meet was also Senior Night. The five seniors on the team were honored before the meet in front of the 13,633 people in Coleman Coliseum. The high attendance gave Alabama a season average of 13,786 fans per meet, breaking the school and SEC record, which was set originally at 12,578 in 2006. It was also the second-highest attendance average in the history of collegiate gymnastics.

Head coach Sarah Patterson said she had been worried about the attendance for her seniors after learning Senior Night fell during the University’s spring break.

“I just think it’s such a testimony to the fans and their affection for these athletes and the program,” she said. “I couldn’t have been more excited to see those people there tonight, not for any other reason but for the seniors.”

Both teams tied on the vault, each scoring 49.350. However, Alabama’s 49.350 on the uneven bars trumped Michigan’s 49.075 on the bars, giving the Tide the edge after the first two events, with a total score of 98.700-98.425.

Patterson said the emotion of Senior Night affected the Crimson Tide’s vault scores, and her team needed to settle down initially.

“I think everybody’s vaults were bigger than they normally are,” she said, “and we had a hard time sticking our landings, but the ladies did a great job coming back on the next few events.”

On the vault, senior Morgan Dennis earned the team-high score of 9.950, and Michigan’s Kylee Botterman matched it with her own 9.950. While on the uneven bars, junior Kayla Hoffman earned a 9.9 and sophomore Ashley Priess earned a 9.925. Michigan’s highest score on the bars was a 9.875.

Priess and Dennis tied for second in the all around with 39.500, but Botterman took the title with a 39.550.

After Dennis completed her floor routine, the team came out onto the floor mat, hugging all the seniors together. When the meet officially ended, pink and white streamers fell to further honor the seniors.

“It was amazing,” Dennis said. “I’m never going to get anything like that again. My years here have been so awesome. When everybody came and started cheering, that was when it hit that it was my last routine.”

Michigan had defeated No. 4 Georgia the weekend before, moving them up into the No. 10 slot. This was the third week in a row for Alabama to be No. 1 and the sixth week for the season. The team had a weekend off prior to this meet.

“It definitely helped me physically, mentally and emotionally to recharge and relight the passion for the postseason,” Priess said.

Next up for the Tide is its first postseason meet this Saturday, the Southeastern Conference Championships, where the team will defend its 2009 SEC title. In this conference for gymnastics, there are only seven schools competing, but all of them are ranked in the top 20.

“I think the biggest thing is we’re not any better than any team on any given night,” Patterson said, “but there’s no team that’s better than us. If we come out and do our very best job, I think we are the best team in the country.”