April 5, 2001

Columbus, Ohio - Senior Dave Johnson's (Chicago, Ill./St. Rita) seventh-place finish of 9.100 on the still rings in the second session of Thursday's NCAA National Qualifier Men's Gymnastics Championship propelled the Chicago native into Friday's National Individual Event Championships at 7:00 pm in the St. John Arena. . Johnson also turned in a solid performance on the vault in the second session as he tied for 12th with a score of 9.100.

UIC also had three individuals participate in the horizontal bar event in Frankie Pretzel (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way), Ambrose Jackson (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) and Mason Vernon (Skokie, Ill./Niles North).

Jackson earned the Flames' top score on the horizontal-bar with a 25th-place finish of 8.3 in the first session followed by Pretzel's 45th-place performance of 7.2. Jackson later added a 36th-place finish on the vault with a score of 8.7.

Vernon, in the second session, placed 49th on the horizontal bar with a score of 7.450. He also placed 41st on the vault with a score of 8.55.

Junior captain Matthew Soucie (Newmarket, Ontario/Cardinal Carter) placed 15th in the all-around in the second session with a score of 47.95 while teammate Chris Coorlim (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) placed 28th on the pommel horse with a mark of 8.450.