Weekly Release #11
4/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
Upcoming Schedule
Thu-Sat., April 6-8 -- at NCAA Championships (Norman, Okla.)
April 6 -- National Qualifier, 1 p.m. CDT
April 7 -- Team and All-Around Finals, 7 p.m. CDT
April 8 -- Individual Event Finals, 7 p.m. CDT
Looking Ahead to NCAA Championships
The No. 8-ranked University of Michigan men's gymnastics team (9-14, 7-9 Big Ten) travels to the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, this week (April 6-8) to take on the top teams in the nation at the 2006 NCAA Championships.
The Wolverines will compete Thursday (April 6) at 7 p.m. in the second of two national qualifying competitions. The top three teams from each qualifying round will then move on to the Team Finals on Friday (April 7) at 7 p.m., where the 2006 national champion will be crowned as well as the all-around champion. The top eight individuals on each event (plus ties) will move on to compete in the Individual Event Finals on Saturday (April 8) at 7 p.m., where they will vie for individual national titles and All-America status. NCAA Championships on the Web: www.ncaasports.com.
The 2006 NCAA Championships: Ticket Information
Tickets for the 2006 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships (April 6-8), hosted by the University of Oklahoma inside the Lloyd Noble Center, are now available for sale to the public through the OU Athletics Ticket Office and Soonersports.com. Fans can purchase tickets for a single session or a package that includes all four sessions of the championship. Prices for adults and youth are $25 and $20, respectively. Group tickets are also available for all-sessions at $15 (a group consists of 10 or more people of any age).
Fans interested in purchasing tickets can call the OU Athletics Ticket Office at (405) 325-2424 or (800) 456-4668 or visit www.soonersports.com.
Determining the Top 12 Teams Heading to the NCAA Championships
The top 12 teams in the country and select individuals have qualified for the 2006 NCAA Championships using their National Qualifying Average score. The NQA is computed by selecting the four highest regular-season scores, counting no more than two home meets, with the highest of these scores then being dropped. The conference meet score is then doubled and added to the three remaining regular-season scores. The average of these five scores, which includes the doubled conference score, is the National Qualifying Average.
The following schools have qualified to the national qualifying competitions Thursday, April 6:
| Session 1 (1 p.m.) Stanford (216.775) Ohio State (214.620) Penn State (212.005) Iowa (211.740) Minnesota (206.335) William & Mary (205.990) | | Session 2 (7 p.m.) Oklahoma (217.680) Illinois (213.910) California (213.240) Michigan (210.070) Nebraska (206.580) Temple (202.990) |
Last Year's NCAAs
In 2005, Oklahoma claimed the title of national champion for the third time in four years with a team score of 225.675. Ohio State finished in the runner spot with a score of 225.450, followed by Illinois (223.750), Penn State (222.400), California (222.075) and Michigan (219.775).
Penn State's Luis Vargas won the all-around for the second consecutive year with a score of 57.175, just ahead of Ohio State's Randy Monahan (56.55) and Okahoma's Jonathan Horton (56.425). Michigan had two athletes in the all-around finals. For the third consecutive year Justin Laury (Marietta, Ga./McEachern HS) earned All-America honors with a fifth place (55.45) finish, while Geoff Corrigan was 13th (51.725).
The Wolverines also placed three athletes in the individual event finals: Luke Bottke (vault), Geoff Corrigan (parallel bars), and Edward Umphrey (floor). Corrigan and Umphrey earned All-America status by placing fifth and third in their respective events.
Michigan at the NCAAs
The Michigan men's gymnastics team has won the NCAA championship three times, in 1963, 1970 and 1999. Head coach Kurt Golder has led his Wolverine squads to top-six finishes in each of the last seven years. Michigan won the 1999 national title, was runner-up in 2000, placed fourth in 2001, 2002 and 2003, was fifth in 2004, and sixth in 2005.
Golder has produced five individual national champions, the most recent being senior Andrew DiGiore, who won the 2003 vault title as a freshman. Former Wolverine Daniel Diaz-Luong won the high bar in 2002, while Kris Zimmerman tied for the parallel bars title in 2000 with teammate Justin Toman. Toman also won the event in 1999. In his nine seasons Golder has guided 17 different gymnasts to 45 NCAA All-America citations. Current Wolverine assistant coach Scott Vetere, a ten-time All-American, accounts for almost one-fourth of those.
Recapping the Big Ten Championships
At last week's (March 24) 2006 Big Ten Men's Gymnastics Championships held in Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Michigan scored a 210.775 to take fourth place in the team competition. Ohio State won the Big Ten title with a 215.625, followed by Illinois (214.800), Iowa (213.750), Michigan, Penn State (210.250) and Minnesota (205.400).
Senior Gerry Signorelli (Colorado Springs, Colo./Mitchell HS) grabbed All-Big Ten honors with his sixth-place finish in the all-around with a 52.40. Illinois senior Justin Spring won the all-around with a 54.15.
Michigan began the evening on still rings, and juniors Aaron Rakes (Lexington, Ky./Dunbar HS) and Andrew Elkind (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East) got the team off to a solid start with scores of 9.00 and 8.95, respectively. In his first Big Ten Championships, freshman strongman Phillip Goldberg (Ringgold, Ga./McCallie HS) led the Wolverines on the event with a 9.175.
Moving to the vault, seniors Luke Bottke (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS) and Signorelli began with a 9.05 and 9.15, respectively, to set up sophomore Daniel Rais (Livonia, Mich./Franklin HS), who notched a 9.25. Last up on the event was senior vault standout Andrew DiGiore (Buffalo, N.Y./City Honors School), who delivered a stellar 9.55. After two events, Michigan was in third place in the team standings.
The parallel bars, the lowest scoring event of the evening for most teams, slowed but did not stop the Wolverines' momentum. Freshman standout Joe Catrambone (Deptford, N.J./Gloucester Catholic HS) and Elkind turned in a pair of admirable 8.10s. Next up was Rakes, who notched the team's highest mark on the event with an 8.50.
Highlights on the high bar came in the form of two superb routines from Catrambone and Signorelli. Both scored 9.25 and earned berths into Saturday's event finals. Elkind added an 8.80 of his own to put Michigan in third place after four rotations with a 141.175.
With two events to go Michigan was on its best event, the floor exercise. Freshman Scott Bregman (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State HS) began with a 9.00, followed by a 9.10 from Rais. Next up, Signorelli and Bottke turned up the heat with a pair of 9.25s. With one event to go Michigan was in second place behind Ohio State.
Finishing on the pommel horse, a difficult task for any team, proved too much for Michigan to maintain its second-place position. Although Signorelli and Goldberg turned in an 8.30 and an 8.20, respectively, the Wolverines fell to fourth in the final standings.
Individual Accolades at the Big Tens
The Big Ten individual event finals were held on Saturday (March 25) and featured the top eight gymnasts (plus ties) on each event from the previous night's competition. The Wolverines qualified a total of seven routines to the finals. The highlight of the weekend came as Andrew DiGiore stuck his trademark two-and-a-half twisting Kasamatu and won the Big Ten title with a 9.638. The win marked DiGiore's third vaulting crown in four years, a feat never before accomplished by a Michigan gymnast.
Signorelli qualified for two events, floor and high bar, and placed seventh (9.25) and eighth (8.325), respectively. Bottke made his mark with a sixth place finish on floor (9.375) while Catrambone added a seventh place finish (8.35) on the high bar. The rings saw two Wolverines, Goldberg and Rakes, notch seventh (9.10) and tenth (9.00), respectively.
Michigan in the National Rankings
Michigan maintained its eighth place ranking this week in the final GymInfo national polls before the NCAA Championships this weekend (April 6-8). Oklahoma holds a firm grip on its No. 1 position, ahead of Stanford in second and Ohio State in third.
Several Michigan individuals are also ranked nationally this week. On floor, Bottke is seventh with a 9.39 just ahead of Signorelli in ninth with a 9.25 average score. On the vault, Big Ten champion DiGiore is ranked second with a 9.48. Catrambone is ranked seventh on his best event, the high bar, with a 9.31 average. Signorelli remains Michigan's top all-arounder at eighth in the nation with a 51.18.
Teams and individuals are ranked 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 (3/28/2006)
1. Oklahoma 217.680 2. Stanford 216.775 3. Ohio State 214.620 4. Illinois 213.910 5. California 213.240 6. Penn State 212.005 7. Iowa 211.740 8. MICHIGAN 210.070 9. Nebraska 206.580 10. Minnesota 206.335
Contact: Justin Toman (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
