Michigan Pre-Meet Quotes and Notes at NCAA Championships
4/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
1999 NCAA Championships
Wednesday, April 21 -- Practice Day
Bob Devaney Sports Center, Lincoln, Neb.
QUOTES
Michigan Head Coach Kurt Golder
On East and West region competition ... "I haven't met any of the teams from the West, I don't know what to expect. The East is very tough. We've been beating each other up all year long. I think it's going to be real close between the teams from the East. I just don't know how the West fits into the picture."
On Michigan's team depth ... "Well, I've learned this from (Nebraska head coach) Francis (Allen) -- recruit blue-chip all-arounders, and that's what I've tried to do. Unfortunately this year we've had a few injuries, and not all of those guys are back. We're very fortunate to have numbers in the depth in the specialist catagories to fill in, so even though we have a lot of injuries it hasn't hurt our team a lot due to the depth that we have."
On the top all-arounders ... "Jamie Natalie from Ohio State is a strong competitor in the all-around event. We have a couple of guys that I think will be in contention. Actually, I think that every team that has somebody in the all-around sometimes faces the situation in which you can't compete an all-arounder because he happens to be a little weak on one event and you have a specialist that is very good on that event. Consequently, the athlete ends up competing on only five events. We have a guy that will probably do that. LaLo Haro, who was fourth in the NCAA last year, will probably not compete on rings because we have somebody else taking his place."
On preparing for nationals ... "We are approaching this competition like it's any other meet. That's the way we approached the dual meet season right through the Big Ten Championships to the NCAA East Regionals. It's just another meet, it's nothing special, just go out there and do your job. We haven't done any special preparation for this meet. The athletes will go out and do their job like they have all year long and we'll see where we end up."
U-M Junior Bryan Pascoe
On nationals ... "We've been working for this as a team all year, but we focus on one meet at a time. We're going into this competition like it's any other, not worrying about the hype or status of this particular meet. For us, this is another day at work, go and do our job and then go home."
On the intimidation of nationals ... "A few of us have watched for the past few years, and we've seen what it's all about. The fact that we're in it this year doesn't change much for us. We've gone up against very tough teams all year, and we've been able to beat those teams. Sometimes those teams have beaten us, but I don't think the competition level is going to intimidate us. I think all the teams are very good, but I think that we can compete with all those teams."
NOTES
Fresh Faces at 1999 NCAAs
Including Michigan, four of the six teams at the 1999 NCAA Championships were not in the national meet a year ago. The defending national champion, California-Berkeley, along with 1998 national competitors Oklahoma, Iowa and Illinois have been replaced by Michigan, Nebraska, Penn State and Stanford. Brigham Young and Ohio State make return NCAA trips after finishing fifth and sixth, respectively, in 1998.
Most NCAA Titles
Five of the six teams in the national meet have won NCAA championships, with only Brigham Young searching for title No. 1. Michigan owns two NCAA titles (1963, 1970) and is looking for its first national championship in 29 years. Penn State, with nine championships, has a chance to break a tie with Illinois for the most national crowns, while Nebraska (8, including a record five in a row from 1979-83) has a chance to tie the Nittany Lions and Fighting Illini with its ninth title. Stanford owns three national titles and Ohio State has two.
Big Ten Dominates NCAAs
The Big Ten Conference has turned into quite the men's gymnastics powerhouse this season, making up half the NCAA field after holding on to the top spots in the national rankings throughout the season. Through Michigan winning the Big Ten Championships, Ohio State claiming NCAA East Regional, and Penn State holding first place in the national rankings for much of the season, these three teams now face each other to fight for the title of the best in the nation.
Changing Faces in the All-Around
Freshman Daniel Diaz-Luong (Harrisburg, Pa./Bishop McDevitt HS), one of the Wolverines' most consistant all-arounders, will be participating in only five out of the six events at the NCAA Championships. Diaz-Luong tore his hamstring in two spots prior to the NCAA East Regional competition, preventing him from competing on the floor exercise for either of the NCAA postseason competitions.
Sophomore co-captain Justin Toman (Wallingford, Conn./Lyman Hall HS) came off of a biceps injury to compete in the all-around for the first time at the Big Ten Championships. Toman quickly bounced back to contribute a career-high score of 57.625 for a second-place finish at Big Ten meet. Toman will be competing for the all-around national champion honor on Thursday (April 22).
Players Mentioned
