Weekly Release #1

Upcoming Schedule
This Week: Michigan Men's Gymnastics Maize and Blue Intrasquad
Friday, Dec. 16 Cliff Keen Arena 7 p.m.

Next Event: Wolverines at Windy City Invitational
Saturday, Jan. 13 UIC Physical Education Building 7 p.m.

Preparing for the 63rd Season with the Intrasquad Meet
The mens gymnastics team will prepare for the 2007 season with a friendly competition amongst teammates at the Maize and Blue Intrasquad on Friday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. in Cliff Keen Arena. The Intrasquad splits the Wolverines into two teams (Maize and Blue) to compete against each other like a regular dual meet.

Tentative lineups for the Intrasquad:

Maize Team
Jamie Thompson
Mel Santander
Ralph Rosso
Kent Caldwell
Aaron Rakes
John Sawicki
Andrew Elkind
Joe Levine
Arren Yoshimura

Blue Team
Phillip Goldberg
Joe Catrambone
Torrance Laury
Justin Laury
Ryan McCarthy
DJ Chan
Paul Woodward
Daniel Rais
Scott Bregman

Last season, the Blue team claimed the Intrasquad title for the second year in a row 196.400-196.250. The Blue team was led by Gerry Signorelli (2003-06), who posted an 8.7 in the floor exercise and sealed the win with a solid 9.0 on the high bar. Signorelli also won the all-around with 48.60 points.

Andrew Elkind (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East) led the Maize team with a pair of titles in the pommel horse (8.90) and the parallel bars (8.70), while teammate Joe Catrambone (Deptford, N.J./Gloucester Catholic HS) finished as the still rings runner-up (8.70) and placed third in the high-bar (7.80) and the all-around (47.90)

A Look at the 2006 Wolverines
Michigan returns nine letterwinners from the 2006 squad, including two-time College Gymnastics Association Academic All-American senior Aaron Rakes (Lexington, Ky./ Paul Laurence Dunbar High School) and 2006 CGA Academic All-American senior/junior Andrew Elkind.

Fifth-year senior Justin Laury (Marietta, Ga./McEachern) returns to the squad after sitting out the 2006 season due to injury. Laury is the 2005 Big Ten all-around champion and is a 2005 All-American in the all-around.

Michigan also welcomes six freshmen to its 2006-07 roster: DJ Chan (Singapore, Singapore/Hale School), Torrance Laury (Marietta, Ga./McEachern), Joe Levine (Springfield, N.J./Columbia), Josh Miele (Sterling Heights, Mich./Henry Ford II), Mel Santander (Southborough, Mass./Algonquin Regional) and Bruno Savard (St-Jean-Sur-Richleieu, Quebec/ St-Jean-Sur-Richleieu).

A New Face on the Coaching Staff
The Wolverines welcome new volunteer assistant coach Derek Croad to the staff. Croad is no stranger to Michigan gymnastics as he was a student-athlete under head coach Kurt Golder from 2003-06. During his career as a Michigan gymnast, Croad was a prime example of what the term "student-athlete" meant. In the classroom, Croad was on the 2006 Academic All-Big Ten team, 2005 Dean's List and received the U-M Athletic Academic Achievement Award. Athletically, Croad was a four-year varsity letterwinner and posted an average score of 9.325 on the vault.

Notable News and Notes
Wolverines Eighth in Preseason Poll
Michigan was ranked eighth in the GymInfo Preseason Coaches Poll. Defending national champion Oklahoma topped the list (nine first-place votes), while Stanford was second (one first-place vote). Ohio State was the highest-ranked Big Ten team at third, while California (one first-place vote) and Penn State (two first-place votes) were fourth and fifth, respectively.

Demystifying the GymInfo Ranking
The GymInfo ranking changes its criteria as the season progresses. From January 15 to February 12, the GymInfo rankings are based on total season average (average of all scores). From February 19th to March 5th, the rankings shift to being based on three score average. From March 12th to the end of the regular-season, the GymInfo rankings are compiled by a modified three score average (select the four highest scores, counting no more than two home meets, and drop the highest score. Average the three remaining scores). On March 26th, the final rankings are based on the national qualifying average (NQA).

The Chance to Beat the Best
During the 2006-07 season, Michigan will face eight teams ranked in the GymInfo Preseason Coaches Poll including preseason No. 1 Oklahoma on Jan. 27, preseason No. 2 Stanford on March 3 and preseason No. 3 Ohio State on March 17. No. 5 Penn State on Feb. 3, No. 6 Illinois on March 10. No. 7 Illinois on March 10, No. 9 Minnesota on Jan. 26 and No. 11 University of Illinois-Chicago on Jan. 13 round out the ranked teams U-M will face on its regular-season schedule.

Contact: Joseph Conrad (734) 763-4423