Wolverines Place Fourth at Big Ten Championships

Friday, March 30

Minneapolis, Minn.

7:00 PM CT

Michigan

Big Ten Team and All-Around Finals

3/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- The University of Michigan men's gymnastics team finished in fourth place with a score of 214.350 at the Big Ten Championships Friday (March 30) at Minnesota's Sports Pavilion. For the third-year in a row, Ohio State claimed the team title, posting a score of 217.750, followed by Penn State (217.650), Minnesota (215.250), Michigan, Illinois (211.900) and Iowa (210.000).

Freshman Mel Santander (Soutborough, Mass./Algonquin Regional HS) was the lone Wolverine in the all-around, tallying a seventh-place score of 50.850 to miss All-Big Ten honors by 0.70 points. University of Illinois' Wesley Haagensen took first place with 54.450 points.

Michigan began the evening on parallel bars with senior/junior co-captain Andrew Elkind (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East) leading the team, posting the third-highest score of 9.550. The Wolverines earned a team score of 35.750, tying for third with the Minnesota Gophers.

The Maize and Blue next moved to the high bar, posting a team total of 34.600. Senior Aaron Rakes (Lexington, Ky./Dunbar HS) was the lone Wolverine to earn a place in the top-eight, scoring an 8.950 to tie for seventh. Junior Daniel Rais (Livonia, Mich./Franklin HS) rounded out the top-10, tying for 10th with a score of 8.750.

U-M entered the floor exercise after the first set of rotations with a last-place team score of 70.350. Sophomore Kent Caldwell (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin HS) scored the second highest floor average of 9.750, assisting the Wolverines to a team total of 37.500 in the event. U-M's running score after the floor exercise was 107.850, putting the Wolverines in second place.

In the pommel horse, Michigan continued to post strong performances, with sophomore Ralph Rosso (Morganville, N.J./St. John Vianney HS) and Santander earning top-five finishes. Rosso and Santander tied for fifth place with scores of 8.650; the marks advanced the duo to the individual finals on Saturday (March 31).

Michigan then moved to the still rings. Rosso tied for first with a personal-best score of 9.650, while Elkind tied for eighth with a 9.500. The performances gave the Maize and Blue its highest team score of the evening with a 37.800. The Wolverines earned a total of 71.050 points after the fourth and fifth rotations.

On the vault, fifth-year senior co-captain Justin Laury (Marietta, Ga./McEachern HS) led the Wolverines with U-M's ninth top-eight finish of the evening, tying for seventh with a season-best score of 9.050. Rosso fell short of the top-eight, scoring a ninth-place finish of 8.900, missing qualification for the finals by 0.150.

Michigan continues competition at the Big Ten Championships with the individual event finals on Saturday (March 31) at 7 p.m. CDT. Event titles for each of the six events are up for grabs; the top-eight athletes from each event from Friday's competition qualified for tomorrow's finals. Michigan qualified eight routines into the event finals -- one more than last year: Caldwell (floor), Elkind (rings, p-bars), Laury (vault), Rakes (high bar), Rosso (pommel horse, rings), Santander (pommel horse) will all participate Saturday.

Final Team Standings

Team Scores	FX	PH	SR	V	PB	HB	Total
1. Ohio State	38.250	33.450	37.750	35.500	37.100	35.700	217.750
2. Penn State	36.600	34.650	38.300	35.650	37.350	35.100	217.650
3. Minnesota	37.900	34.550	36.050	35.650	35.750	35.350	215.250
4. MICHIGAN	37.500	33.250	37.800	35.450	35.750	34.600	214.350
5. Illinois	37.850	32.050	36.500	35.250	35.500	34.750	211.900
6. Iowa	35.200	33.150	37.250	34.550	35.550	34.300	210.000

Event-By-Event U-M Individual Scores

FLOOR EXERCISE Mel Santander 8.900 Ralph Rosso 9.400 Jamie Thompson 9.450 Daniel Rais 8.650 Kent Caldwell 9.750 (2) Justin Laury 7.250 POMMEL HORSE Ralph Rosso 8.650 (t5) Mel Santander 8.650 (t5) Paul Woodward 7.700 DJ Chan 7.800 Andrew Elkind 7.800 Justin Laury 8.150 STILL RINGS Joe Catrambone 9.050 Torrance Laury 8.900 Aaron Rakes 9.350 Andrew Elkind 9.500 (t8) Ralph Rosso 9.650 (t1) Mel Santander 8.450 VAULT Kent Caldwell 8.800 Daniel Rais 8.700 Torrance Laury 8.550 Ralph Rosso 8.900 Justin Laury 9.050 (t7) Mel Santander 8.150 PARALLEL BARS Ralph Rosso 8.600 Paul Woodward 8.200 Mel Santander 8.350 Torrance Laury 8.900 Justin Laury 8.700 Andrew Elkind 9.550 (3) High BAR Daniel Rais 8.750 Mel Santander 8.350 Aaron Rakes 8.950 (t7) Joe Catrambone 8.550 Andrew Elkind 7.150 Justin Laury 8.150 ALL-AROUND Mel Santander 50.850 (7) ( ) denotes place in Top 8