Former Golden Gopher Guillermo Alvarez hit his final five routines of the night to place ninth at the 2008 Winter Cup Saturday evening at the Las Vegas Sports Center.

Alvarez, who finished with a two-day all-around total of 170.55 points, scored 86.150 points Saturday, which was nearly two points higher then his point total from Thursday’s opening rounds.

The lone Gopher standing at the competition following the withdrawal of Jake Lee due illness, Alvarez started slowly with a fall on his parallel bars dismount, but roared to life down the stretch, posting clean routine after clean routine.

Alvarez aced his high bar routine for a score of 13.400, sticking his signature front double layout with one-and-a-half twists to bring the crowd to its feet.

The former Gopher then posted a solid score of 14.150 on floor exersize and tallied a 14.000 on his pommel horse routine, which includes a difficult E-flop sequence and a dynamic loop to handstand straddle pirouette that travels halfway across the horse

Alvarez was awarded a 14.850 on still rings, finishing the set with a double twisting double back dismount, then scored a 16.000 on vault with a nearly perfect double twisting layout Yurchenko.

Paul Hamm won the all-around competition with a combined score of 185.85. The defending Olympic all-around champion was the star of the show and appears to be well on his way to defending his all-around title at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

The Minnesota men’s gymnastics team returns to dual-meet action this week, when the Golden Gophers host Illinois-Chicago at the Sports Pavilion at 7 p.m.

2008 Winter Cup Challenge
Las Vegas Sports Center
Las Vegas, Nev.
Feb. 9, 2008

Final All-Around Results (two-day totals)
1.  Paul Hamm, Waukesha, Wis., 185.850
2.  Raj Bhavsar, Houston, Texas, 178.600
3.  Alexander Artemev, Morrison, Colo., 178.100
4.  David Durante, Garwood, N.J., 177.200
5.  Joseph Hagerty, Rio Rancho, N.M., 176.450
6.  David Sender, Arlington Heights, Ill., 175.200
7.  Sean Townsend, Dickinson, Texas, 174.250
8.  Luis Rivera, Puerto Rico, 171.250
8.  Paul Ruggeri III, Manlius, N.Y., 171.100
9.  Guillermo Alvarez, Denver, Colo., 170.550
10.  Danell Leyva, Miami, Fla., 168.750
11.  Wesley Haagensen, Belleville, Ill., 167.850
12.  Bryant Hadden, Wichita, Kan., 167.700
13.  Jake Bateman, Kingsport, Tenn., 166.850
14.  Ryan Lieberman, Lake Forest, Ill., 165.900
15.  Alexy Bilozertchev, Hilliard, Ohio, 165.050
16.  Tyler Mizoguchi, Houston, Texas, 164.750
17.  Derek Helsby, Orlando, Fla., 164.350
18.  Thomas Kelley, Libertyville, Ill., 163.800
19.  Josh Dixon, San Jose, Calif., 163.750
20.  Tim Gentry, Plano, Texas, 163.700
21.  Luis Vargas, Puerto Rico, 163.050
21.  Alexander Rodriguez, Puerto Rico, 162.950
21.  Sho Nakamori, Albany, Calif., 156.400
22.  Rafael Morales, Puerto Rico, 156.000
22.  Steven Legendre, Flower Mound, Texas, 155.000
24.  Kyle Bunthuwong, El Cerrito, Calif., 137.500
25.  Geoff Corrigan, Colorado Springs, Colo., 137.300