Michigan
Windy City Invitational
Michigan Blows Past Competition at Windy City Invite
1/17/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
Event: Windy City Invite
U-M Result: 1st Place of 6 Teams (346.100)
Record: U-M (5-0)
Attendance: 1,076
Next U-M Meet: Saturday, Jan. 24 -- at Penn State (State College, Pa.), 7 p.m.
CHICAGO, Ill. -- The No. 6-ranked University of Michigan men's gymnastics team won four out of six events to earn first place out of six squads with a score of 346.100 in the 39th Windy City Invitational on Saturday night (Jan. 17), held at the UIC Physical Education Building. U-M surged past a tough field of host No. 12 UIC, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Illinois, No. 8 Minnesota and No. 9 Iowa in the fifth rotation to claim the tournament crown for the second time in three years; the other win came in 2007.
Preseason All-Big Ten sophomore Chris Cameron(Winter Haven, Fla./Lake Regions HS) fueled the victory, capturing the evening's all-around and pommel horse titles, scoring 88.100 and 15.100, respectively, and a share of the still rings crown with 14.800.
After earning a collective 54.450 on horizontal bar, the Wolverines found themselves in fourth place after the first rotation. Preseason All-Big Ten sophomore Thomas Kelley(Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville HS) earned Michigan's top score on the event, recording 14.200 on his 2008 All-America event. Illinois led the competition after registering a 59.450 on vault in the first rotation.
Michigan moved to the floor exercise for the second rotation, which was highlighted by sophomore Ian Makowske's (Redding, Conn./Joel Barlow HS) career-best performance of 15.300. As a team, the Maize and Blue garnered a 59.650 on the event, moving into third place, while Ohio State took the overall lead. Michigan trailed the Buckeyes by 3.900 points, 118.000-114.100, entering the third rotation.
Cameron then claimed the pommel horse crown, earning a personal-best 15.100. Senior Ralph Rosso (Morganville, N.J./St. John Vianney HS) also registered his best score to date on the apparatus with a 14.050. Despite the slew of solid performances, the team remained in third place with a 170.650 total through three rotations. The Wolverines did, however, narrow their deficit with leader Ohio State to 3.15.
Cameron paced the Maize and Blue once again, earning another career best on still rings with a 14.800 to give him a share of the event's title during the team's fourth rotation. A total of four Wolverines garnered scores above 14.000 on the apparatus, pushing the squad into a tie for second place with the Buckeyes, 228.600, heading into the fifth event. Illinois retook the field's lead, tallying a 229.850 -- 1.250 ahead of U-M and OSU.
With the scores tightening, Michigan took to vault and collected a 59.400 on the event. The high marks pushed U-M into sole possession of first place, creating a 2.200-point advantage over second-place Ohio State, 288.000-285.800. Kelley led the pack, recording a 15.200, and freshman Syque Caesar(Port Saint Lucie, Fla./Lincoln Park Academy) tallied an impressive 14.900 in his career debut.
Holding the lead, the first-place Wolverines moved to parallel bars for its sixth and final rotation of the night, earning a 58.100 to give themselves enough to hold on to the top spot and claim victory with a total of 346.100 points. Junior David Chan(Singapore/New Hale School, Perth, Western Australia) earned a 14.700 on the event to place second overall on parallel bars.
Next Saturday (Jan. 24), the Wolverines will travel to State College, Pa., to take on Penn State in the season's first dual meet. The competition is slated to start at 7 p.m.
Team Standings
| Team | FX | PH | SR | VT | PB | HB | Final |
| MICHIGAN | 59.650 | 56.550 | 57.950 | 59.400 | 58.100 | 54.450 | 346.100 |
| Illinois | 59.600 | 55.400 | 57.000 | 59.450 | 56.700 | 54.100 | 342.250 |
| Minnesota | 58.150 | 54.050 | 56.750 | 60.500 | 56.350 | 55.600 | 341.400 |
| Ohio State | 57.200 | 51.850 | 57.400 | 60.600 | 55.800 | 54.800 | 337.650 |
| UIC | 55.250 | 51.250 | 55.750 | 59.550 | 53.800 | 52.100 | 327.700 |
| Iowa | 57.500 | 50.800 | 54.800 | 59.450 | 52.600 | 50.750 | 325.900 |
Event-By-Event U-M Individual Scores
FLOOR EXERCISE Ralph Rosso 14.600 Syque Caesar 13.400 Chris Cameron 14.950 (5) Jamie Thompson 14.500 (t-10) Thomas Kelley 14.700 Ian Makowske 15.300 (2)
POMMEL HORSE Phillip Goldberg 13.350 Ralph Rosso 14.050 (3) Ryan McCarthy 13.950 (4) Paul Woodward 13.450 Ian Makowske 11.450 Chris Cameron 15.100 (1)
Still Rings Thomas Kelley 14.400 (t-7) Andrew Vance 14.250 (10) Ralph Rosso 13.950 Phillip Goldberg 14.500 (5) Chris Cameron 14.800 (t-1)
VAULT Syque Caesar 14.900 Andrew Vance 14.550 Thomas Kelley 15.200 (7) Ralph Rosso 14.500 David Chan 14.200 Chris Cameron 14.750
PARALLEL BAR Syque Caesar 13.000 Paul Woodward 14.400 (7) Ryan McCarthy 11.850 Ralph Rosso 14.350 (t-8) David Chan 14.700 (2) Chris Cameron 14.650 (t-4)
HIGH BAR Chris Cameron 13.850 (t-9) Ben Baldus-Strauss 5.500 Ian Makowske 13.450 Jamie Thompson 12.950 Thomas Kelley 14.200 (3) Ryan McCarthy 11.100
( ) denotes place in the Top 5
N O T E S
With an event-best 346.100 team total, Michigan claimed its second Windy City Invitational crown in three seasons after finishing in the top spot in 2007.
Michigan collected top team scores in four events en route to the competitions' team title: floor exercise (59.650), pommel horse (56.550), still rings (57.950) and parallel bars (58.100).
Preseason All-Big Ten sophomore Chris Cameron captured the all-around title in his first service as an all-arounder, compiling an individual total of 88.100. He earned the pommel horse title and tied for first on the still rings with marks of 15.100 and 14.800, respectively. Cameron earned the pommel horse title two previous times -- against Ohio State (March 22, 2007) and Oklahoma (Jan. 26, 2008).
During the contest, Cameron earned his first collegiate marks in two events, recording 14.750 on vault and 13.850 on high bar.
Senior Ralph Rosso earned a personal-high 14.050 on pommel horse during the invitational, eclipsing his previous best of 13.700 against Ohio State last season (March 22, 2007)
Leading the team on floor exercise, sophomore Ian Makowske registered a career-best 15.300 in the event, ranking second amongst all competitors.
Sophomore/freshman Andrew Vance made his collegiate debut at the Windy City Invitational, recording 14.250 on rings and 14.550 on vault.
Freshman Syque Caesar earned a lineup position in his first collegiate meet with the Wolverines, scoring 13.400 on floor exercise, 14.900 on vault and 13.000 on parallel bars.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Kurt Golder
On who he was most impressed with... "I would say Chris Cameron. I am also very, very pleased with Andrew Vance. Its his first time competing in a collegiate meet, and vault is not really a main event for him like rings is. To get out in a high-pressure situation after not competing since Junior Nationals when he was a high school senior all the way to here, probably over a year and half, so I was real pleased about that. Chris won a couple events and won the all-around, but to be honest with you, thats what I was expecting. He was looking real good in practice. I was pretty sure he was going to hit all his routines, which I think he did."
On losing sophomore Ben Baldus-Strauss to injury in the first rotation... "It was tough, but we talked a lot about overcoming adversity during the preseason, and I talked about that when I spoke to the team before we competed. So, I just referred to that. They had heard it before and that is what I was talking about. That is what we have to do. A good team handles adversity. We put it behind us. There is nothing we can do about it and we go forward from there. They did a great job of doing that."
On the turning point of the event... "I dont think there was a turning point tonight. I dont think we were panicking or anything. I think that was a preparation that we had with all the work that we did overcoming adversity. A good team handles it, so I think it was the process which eliminated the need for a turning point."
U-M Sophomore Chris Cameron
On winning the all-around and team title... "It feels great, it really does. I love winning. It is what I train so hard to do, and it feels great to do it with the team and individually. When I first found out I was doing all-around, I told Xiao (Yuan) Put me up there, and I am going to go in there to win it. We trained for that and I did (win). As far as the team is concerned, I am so proud of them because high bar started off rough."
On the significance of the victory... "It was a tournament. We had this marked on our calendars, and it feels great. It was definitely the best feeling Ive had. Its better than a dual victory because you had to beat more teams. All I can say is its the best feeling I have had. I expected that because we just trained hard enough to feel well after meets. We are not going to be losing, and if we do come out behind, were definitely going to finish like champions, because we know we should be ahead."
Contact: Rob McBurnett, Hannah Maier (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
