Michigan
Windy City Invitational
Wolverines Place Third at the 38th Windy City Invitational
1/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
Site: Chicago, Ill. (UIC Physical Education Building)
Records: U-M (4-2)
U-M Finish: 3rd Place of 7 Teams
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Jan. 19 -- vs. Penn State (Cliff Keen Arena), 7:00 p.m.
CHICAGO, Ill. -- Sitting in fifth place after the first event, the No. 6 University of Michigan men's gymnastics team battled on to a third-place finish at the Windy City Invitational in Saturday (Jan. 12) in the UIC Physical Education Building.
Freshman Chris Cameron(Winter Haven, Fla./Lake Region) had a great night for the Wolverines, earning the team's highest score in the pommel horse during his first intercollegiate competition.
The Wolverines started off slowly in their first rotation on the parallel bars and ended in fifth place with a score of 56.400. Senior co-captain Arren Yoshimura's (Denver, Colo./George Washington) 14.450 guided the Wolverines into the high bar.
U-M competed hard on the high bar, building ts way up to third place after the second rotation with a score of 55.250. In his first inter-collegiate competition, freshman Thomas Kelley(Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) led the Maize and Blue with a 14.400.
Michigan became reenergized on its third event, the floor exercise. Each member of the team garnered a score of at least 14.000 with junior Kent Caldwell(Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin) earning the highest score of the night for Michigan -- a 15.000 on floor.
Michigan competed next on the pommel horse after taking a bye in the fourth round. The group. Despite being in sixth place after the bye, Michigan went into the event with great confidence. An inspired performance by Cameron got his teammates up and cheering, keeping Michigan in the thick of the meet and motivated to tackle the still rings. After four rotations, the Maize and Blue sat in sixth place with a 226.050 combined score.
Junior/sophomore Phillip Goldberg(Ringgold, Ga./McCallie) made his long-awaited return to competition after taking a redshirt during the 2007 season. He came out strong on bars to earn a 13.650 and Michigan had an overall score of 283.000 for fourth place.
In the seventh and final rotation of the night, Michigan took to the vault where they shined with a team score of 55.250 and Kelley's high score of a 14.400.
The Wolverines return to action next weekend in their home opener when they host preseason No. 2 Penn State on Saturday (Jan. 21) at 7:00 p.m. at Cliff Keen Arena. The meet will on a delayed broadcast by the Big Ten Network.
Final Team Standings
Team Scores FX PH SR V PB HB Total 1. Stanford 60.500 56.700 58.850 63.050 57.700 57.650 354.450 2. Illinois-Urbana 60.100 55.800 56.800 62.000 56.050 56.600 347.350 3. MICHIGAN 59.250 55.150 56.950 61.450 56.400 55.250 344.450 4. Ohio State 58.750 54.400 56.750 60.700 54.400 56.200 341.200 5. Minnesota 58.400 54.750 54.200 62.800 55.100 55.100 340.350 6. UIC 55.050 52.750 56.350 60.450 53.850 53.600 332.050 7. Iowa 58.400 53.150 51.450 62.050 51.950 54.750 331.750
U-M Event Scores
Floor Exercise Ralph Rosso 14.900 Chris Cameron 14.900 Jamie Thompson 14.450 Joe Catrambone 14.200 Thomas Kelley 14.000 Kent Caldwell 15.000 Pommel Horse Chris Cameron 14.350 David Chan 13.950 Torrance Laury 11.200 Ralph Rosso 13.000 Mel Santander 13.850 Paul Woodward 11.150 Still Rings Joe Catrambone 14.400 Phil Goldberg 13.650 Thomas Kelley 13.500 Torrance Laury 11.500 Ralph Rosso 14.300 Arren Yoshimura 14.600 Vault Kent Caldwell 15.650 Joe Catrambone 15.200 Thomas Kelley 15.100 Torrance Laury 15.100 Ralph Rosso 15.500 Jamie Thompson 15.000 Parallel Bars Ralph Rosso 13.750 David Chan 11.750 Arren Yoshimura 14.450 Mel Santander 13.250 Paul Woodward 14.000 Chris Cameron 14.200 Horizontal Bar Kent Caldwell 13.350 Jamie Thompson 13.650 Mel Santander 13.500 Joe Catrambone 13.500 Thomas Kelley 14.400 Arren Yoshimura 13.700
Q U O T E S
Head Coach Kurt Golder
On the meet ... "It's a benchmark. It shows us where we stand and what we have to do. The main thing for me is that we came out of it healthy. We see a lot of areas that we can improve. You see a lot of different things in competition than in practice with some people. The main thing is that we have to do a lot of perfection work. We have to eliminate the mistakes we did have. The guys have to realize that, too."
On Chris Cameron ... "He is a great competitor. I was really pleased with what he did tonight."
On the upcoming meet against 2007 NCAA Champion Penn State ... "I think we have to be intense. I don't think I'll have to say much. If I can just get the guys to buy into the perfection work that needs to be done, if we can eliminate half of our mistakes, whether we win the meet or not, I'll be pleased with our progress."
Senior/Junior Co-Captain Paul Woodward
On the meet ... "It's not where you start off, it's where you end the season. We had a really good start here last year. It's good to see where our weaknesses are. We have a lot to work on and we're looking forward to getting back in the gym."
On what needs to be worked on ... "Personally, I do well on parallel bars, I just need to add some difficulty. On pommel horse, I need to hit a routine. For the team, we need to become a high bar team. For the pommel horse team, it is going to be an event that turns meets for us that we can go into confidently. It's traditionally an event that everyone is nervous on. We're not this year and fortunately I can help the team this year in developing freshmen and on my own."
On going into Penn State ... "We need improvement and consistency. We need to make the next step up and the next meet is a chance to get better and work towards our goal."
Freshman Chris Cameron
On his first intercollegiate performance ... "It feels great. I trained really hard since intrasquad to be able to do this so I knew I could hit my sets and that my body was capable. I knew the only thing that could stop me was psychologically not being confident. The great thing about this meet was that I had a team behind me. I didn't have time to think about myself, it was all about the team. It was about the block M on my chest. I didn't have time to get nervous. As soon as I had guys out of my head, I was raising my arm and focusing on the event. That helped me compete and perform."
On adjustments he has made ... "Since intrasquad, I put a lot more endurance work in on floor. The transition between the first and second pass, I wasn't doing that as much as I needed to in the gym so I went back and worked on that during winter break. I also got my breathing under control."
Contact: Stacey Schwartz (734) 647-4423
Players Mentioned
