Weekly Release #5
2/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
Upcoming Schedule
Saturday, Feb. 11 C vs. Minnesota (Cliff Keen Arena), 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 18 -- at Iowa with Illinois (Iowa City, Iowa), 7 p.m. CST
Looking Ahead
The No. 8-ranked University of Michigan men's gymnastics team (3-4) hosts the No. 9-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers this Saturday (Feb. 11) in Cliff Keen Arena at 7 p.m. The following weekend (Sat., Feb 18) Michigan heads to Iowa City, Iowa to face No. 5-ranked University of Iowa.
Scouting Minnesota
The Minnesota Gophers are currently ranked ninth in the country with a season-average score of 202.250. They are led by juniors Jacob Lee and Steve Vuong. At the 2005 NCAAs, Lee earned All-America honors on the all-around. Michigan fans might remember Minnesota head coach, Mike Burns. Burns, in his second season at Minnesota, was the Wolverine's assistant coach from 1997-2004. This will be the first time the former Michigan assistant returns to Ann Arbor for dual meet competition.
Last year, Michigan traveled to Minneapolis and lost a closely contested match by only .125 points. Prior to that narrow loss, Michigan had prevailed over the Gophers four straight times in regular season competition. Minnesota comes into this weekend's match with a 2-7 record.
Recapping the Winter Cup
Six members of the University of Michigan men's gymnastics team traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada last week (Feb. 2-4) to compete against 75 of the nation's top gymnasts in the USA Gymnastics-sponsored Winter Cup. Senior Gerry Signorelli (Colorado Springs, Colo./Mitchell HS) logged his highest ever national finish by placing ninth in the all-around with a two-day combined score of 169.20. Signorelli also notched fifth place on high bar with 29.10.
Despite trouble on pommel horse, freshman Joe Catrambone (Deptford, N.J./Gloucester Catholic HS) placed 21st in the all-around with a score of 80.40. Catrambone placed in the top 20 on two events, the parallel bars (19th) and high bar (20th), with scores of 14.00 and 13.60, respectively.
Senior Luke Bottke (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS) also had a strong showing, grabbing Michigan's highest placing on the floor with his ninth place effort on a score of 29.20.
Juniors Andrew Elkind (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East) and Aaron Rakes (Lexington, Ky./Dunbar HS) and freshman Ralph Rosso (Morganville, N.J./ St. John Vianney HS) also competed, but did not advance past the first day of competition. Elkind only competed in five events, while Rosso and Rakes placed 13th and 16th, respectively, in the all-around in their session.
Scores from this meet are unusual due to the newly instituted International Federation of Gymnastics (FIG) scoring rules that were used. The new scoring system, which will be used at all elite level meets, incorporates credit for the routine's content, difficulty and execution. Scoring is open-ended and a gymnast's score is no longer limited to a maximum of 10.0.
Wolverines Return to Collegiate Action After Week Off
Michigan returns to collegiate action this weekend against Minnesota after a week off from team competition. While six Wolverines made the trip to Las Vegas for the Winter Cup, the remainder of the team used that valuable time off from the grind of the regular season to heal injuries and fine-tune routines. The refreshed Wolverines are aiming for a win against Minnesota this weekend to stop a two meet skid in which they lost to Penn State (Jan. 21) and Oklahoma (Jan 27).
Wolverines Ranked Nationally
Michigan held its eighth place national ranking from last week, and looks to improve its scoring average of 205.197 this Saturday (Feb. 11) at home against Minnesota. As a team, the Wolverines are ranked fifth on floor (34.917), sixth on pommel horse (32.800), fourth on rings (34.783) and vault (36.400), and sixth on high bar (34.183).
Individually, senior Andrew DiGiore (Buffalo, NY/City Honors HS) is ranked fourth on vault (9.367) and sophomore Daniel Rais is ninth (9.233). Catrambone is fourth on the high bar (9.117) and ninth in the all-around (50.30) while Signorelli holds his ground as Michigan's top all-arounder in sixth (51.00).
Until February 13th teams will be ranked according to the average of all of their posted scores. After that date, rankings will be determined using a modified three-score average approach, which accounts for home, away, and post-season scores. GymInfo Poll on the Web: www.troester.com.
GymInfo National Rankings (2/6/2006)
1. Ohio State 212.500 2. Oklahoma 211.773 3. Illinois 208.223 4. Stanford 207.137 5. Iowa 207.025 6. Penn State 206.312 7. California 205.987 8. MICHIGAN 205.917 9. Minnesota 202.250 10. Army 201.820
Contact: Justin Toman (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
