Men's Gymnastics Alumni Update: Justin Toman ('02)
5/6/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
Justin Toman came to Michigan in the fall of 1997 as part of coach Kurt Golder's first full recruiting class. His career as a Wolverine included an NCAA team championship, two Big Ten team championships and two NCAA individual titles. We recently caught up with Justin to see what he's been up to.
Date of Birth: 5/19/79
Hometown: Wallingford, Conn./Lyman Hall HS
Education: B.S. in Movement Science in 2001, M.A. in Sport Management in 2003
Currently: living in Ann Arbor, working in Michigan's athletic media relations office, and training for this summer's U.S. Championships & Olympic Trials
Michigan Milestones:
5 NCAA All-Americas citations
Two-time NCAA parallel bars champion (1999, 2000)
Two-time Big Ten parallel bars champion (1998, 1999)
1999 Michigan Male Athlete of the Year
2000 Newt Loken Scholarship Recipient
2002 Dr. George May Scholarship Recipient
Captain of Michigan's 1999 NCAA championship team
Captain of Michigan's 1999 & 2000 Big Ten Conference championship teams
Four-year team captain (1999-2002)
U.S. National Team member (1998-2002)
2000 U.S. Olympic Trials competitor
Member of the United States 1999 World University Games team
Competed internationally for the U.S. in Mexico, Canada and Spain
Quick Q & A
Q: You last competed for Michigan in 2002. What have you been doing since then Since I completed my college eligibility, I have continued to train at Michigan. In addition to training I served as volunteer assistant coach for the team in 2003 before beginning my current work with Michigan's athletic media relations office. I have also applied to Michigan's Business School for this fall, and beginning in August I will be working for the compliance office. I've tried to keep myself busy outside of the gym and gain some work experience in the process.
Q: How is training going and how do you manage to train and work just about full time For the most part training has been going well. I have spent much of the last year recovering from two surgeries (shoulder in September and foot in December) to get ready for this summer's U.S. Championships and hopefully the Olympic Trials. Trying to stay healthy has definitely been my biggest challenge. Working and training is sort of like being a student-athlete all over again. Working most of the day and then heading to practice makes for a busy day, but as long as you're organized and motivated, you can give 100 percent to both and make it work.
Q: What is your most memorable Michigan moment from your gymnastics career My best memory from my Michigan career definitely has to be winning the 1999 NCAA championship. A close second would be winning the 1999 Big Tens. Both were indescribable feelings because we were kind of the underdog and no one expected our team to win. It was great to be a part of such a special team and add to Michigan's athletic history.
Q: If you could be a pro athlete in any sport, what would it be Being a professional football player would be great, but I don't think I have quite the size to make it in the NFL. I'd love to be a pro golfer because you can have such a long career and you get to play outside in usually nice weather. If you're good, the pay isn't bad either.
Q: What are your plans for the next 4-5 years, gymnastics and otherwise Hopefully I'll get into Michigan's Business School, so I'll be going to school for the next three years. I'd also like to keep working for the athletic department and I'm considering continuing gymnastics, but only three or four events because doing all six events is just too much stress on my body. After that I hope to continue to work in collegiate athletics.
