Michigan
Big Ten Team and All-Around Finals
Michigan Claims Fourth at Big Ten Championships
4/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
Site: State College, Pa. (Rec Hall)
Score: #6 Michigan 353.000 (4th place of six teams)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, April 5 -- at Big Ten Championships Individual Event Finals (State College, Pa.), 7 p.m.
STATE COLLEGE , Pa. -- Sophomore David Chan(Singapore/Hale School) of the No. 6-ranked University of Michigan men's gymnastics team earned U-M's highest score of the season in any event with a 16.200 on vault and junior/sophomore Phil Goldberg(Ringgold, Ga./McCallie) earned the team's season high on the rings with a 15.600 Friday (April 4), as the Wolverines finished in fourth place for the second straight year with a score of 353.000 at the Big Ten Championships in Rec Hall.
Freshman Ben Baldus-Strauss(Wheaton , Ill. /Warrenville South) earned a personal record on vault with a 15.600. At the end of the vault -- U-M's final rotation -- Michigan had a team score of 353.000 to take fourth place.
Freshman Thomas Kelley (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) took fifth place in the all-around, earning a 15.450 on floor, a 12.300 on pommel horse, 14,800 on rings, 15.400 on vault, 13.700 on p-bars and a 13.950 for an combined score of 85.600.
The Wolverines started out on the parallel bars. Senior/junior co-captain Paul Woodward(Tallahassee , Fla./Lawton Chiles) earned a personal best and the best score for U-M in the event with a 14.800. After the first rotation, Michigan was in fourth place with a 58.400.
In the second rotation, Michigan hit the high bar. Ben Baldus-Strauss gave the Wolverines momentum with his season-high on the high bar of 13.700. Thomas Kelley earned U-M's highest score on the high bar with a 13.950. At the end of the second rotation, the Wolverines had fallen to sixth place with a combined score of 113.450.
Michigan took to the floor for its third rotation. Baldus-Strauss was strong again as the first floor performer with a 14.950 -- another season-best tally for him. For the second rotation in a row, Kelley earned U-M's highest score with a 15.450 in the floor exercise. At the halfway point of the meet, the Maize and Blue climbed back to fourth place with a 173.550.
On the pommel horse in the fourth rotation, freshman Chris Cameron(Winter Haven , Fla./Lake Region) and sophomore Mel Santander(Southborough , Mass./Algonquin Regional) each earned Michigan's highest score of 14.850. At the end of four rotations, Michigan was in sixth place with a 231.150.
U-M moved to the rings for the next-to-last rotation. Goldberg, who is currently ranked No. 8 in the country on the rings, earned a 15.600 -- Michigan's highest score in the event this season. The team went into the final rotation in fifth place with a 290.050.
Michigan continues competition at the Big Ten Championships with the individual event finals on Saturday (April 5) at 7 p.m. 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 -- Kelley (floor, all around), junior Jamie Thompson(Lakemont, Ga./Oconee County) (floor), Cameron (pommel horse), Santander (pommel horse), Phil Goldberg (rings), Chan (vault), Woodward (p-bars).
Final Team Standings
Team Scores FX PH SR V PB HB Total 1. Penn State 61.150 57.900 61.250 62.900 59.800 57.450 360.450 2. Illinois 60.550 57.200 60.950 62.600 59.000 57.000 357.300 3. Ohio State 60.150 55.950 58.800 63.750 59.150 56.550 354.350 4. MICHIGAN 60.100 57.600 58.900 62.950 58.400 55.050 353.000 5. Minnesota 58.650 56.150 58.150 64.150 58.100 56.250 351.450 6. Iowa 59.350 56.050 56.950 62.600 54.750 54.800 344.500
U-M Individual Event Scores
FLOOR EXERCISE Ben Baldus-Strauss 14.950 Chris Cameron 14.050 Ralph Rosso 14.550 Jamie Thompson 15.150 (t7) Daniel Rais 13.500 Thomas Kelley 15.450 (t3) POMMEL HORSE Phil Goldberg 12.800 Ben Baldus-Strauss 14.400 Chris Cameron 14.850 (t3) David Chan 12.100 Paul Woodward 14.300 Mel Santander 14.850 (t3) Thomas Kelley 12.300 STILL RINGS Joe Catrambone 14.050 Arren Yoshimura 14.450 Ralph Rosso 13.800 Chris Cameron 13.700 Thomas Kelley 14.800 Phillip Goldberg 15.600 (t2) VAULT Ben Baldus-Strauss 15.600 Dan Rais 15.550 Thomas Kelley 15.400 Ralph Rosso 14.950 Jamie Thompson 15.600 David Chan 16.200 (3) PARALLEL BARS Chris Cameron 14.550 Mel Santander 14.400 David Chan 13.100 Arren Yoshimura 14.650 Joe Catrambone 14.300 Paul Woodward 14.800 (t7) Thomas Kelley 13.700 HORIZONTAL BAR Ben Baldus-Strauss 13.700 Daniel Rais 12.850 Mel Santander 13.600 Arren Yoshimura 13.800 Thomas Kelley 13.950 Joe Catrambone 12.750 ALL-AROUND Thomas Kelley (5) 85.600
N O T E S
David Chan's 16.200 on vault is the highest score by the Wolverines since the new scoring system has been implemented.
Phil Goldberg's 15.600 is the team's highest score in the event this season.
Michigan finished fourth at Big Tens for the second year in a row.
Michigan qualified eight routines for Big Ten event titles for the second year in a row.
Paul Woodward earned a personal best on parallel bars with a 14.800.
Ben Baldus-Strauss earned a personal best on vault with a 15.600 and a 14.950 on floor.
Q U O T E S
Head Coach Kurt Golder
On the competition overall... "We didn't live up to our capabilities. I thought we were very well prepared. I wouldn't have predicted that we were going to win but I thought we were capable of winning. We just underachieved. I think this is one of the better teams that I have prepared for Big Tens but it was definitely the most underachieving. There is nothing we can do about it now. Football lost their last two games but came back and won the Capital One Bowl. We've always had a history of doing better at NCAAs than here and that's what I emphasize. I do emphasize the Big Tens but not as much as the NCAAs. This is definitely adversity and it's about what we do with it between now and NCAAs."
On tomorrow's individual titles... "The team is always the most important thing. Coming away with individual titles is rewarding. Guys get their names up on the wall and that's Michigan gymnastics history forever. It's really important to the individuals in the finals. They will focus on the event. They don't need reassurance. The work will be with the team and the guys who had some problems."
Sophomore David Chan
On the meet... "We were feeling pretty good going into p-bars and afterwards. I don't know what happened on high bar. We tried to get it back. We did pretty well on floor, rings and vault but it wasn't enough. It is a bit disappointing."
On his school record vault score... "I missed p-bars so I knew I had to get something right. It was the same routine. This horse was magic and it went alright."
Freshman Thomas Kelley
On the meet... "As a team, we were a little disappointed with how things went. I don't think it was preparation. All of us can hit routines, we just didn't come through today."
On the success of the freshmen... "It seemed like we were getting caught up in our misses and I didn't want to think about that until the very end. I think we just focused on our routines and didn't let what happened to everyone else affect us."
On making the all-around finals... "I am a little disappointed with my pommel horse and high bar routines but I felt like everything else went really well. I am really happy about my floor, rings and vault routine. I think those went really well. I think p-bars was pretty good. I know I can hit high bar much, much better."
Contact: Stacy Schwartz (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
