NCAA Championships Team and All-Around Finals -- Notes & Quotes

N O T E S

Tonight's finish is the highest for U-M since the 2000 season, in which it was also the national runner-up.

The Wolverines made their 32nd all-time NCAA appearance, as well as their 11th consecutive showing.

In the past 11 seasons, head coach Kurt Golder has led his team to10 Super Six finishes at the NCAA Championships.

U-M's 361.500 mark is its best of the 2009 campaign.

Michigan registered a season-best 60.750 on still rings.

On vault, U-M earned a 62.900 for a season high.

A 61.200 on floor exercise is team best for the Maize and Blue.

Freshman Adam Hamers equaled his career high with 14.900 on pommel horse -- the personal best was originally set last night at NCAA Team Qualifiers.

Junior Mel Anton Santander gained a season-high score on pommel horse (14.850).

Sophomore Chris Cameron registered a team season best on pommel horse with a 15.300.

Santander tied his career high of 14.300 on still rings for the third time this season.

Senior Ralph Rosso garnered a season best on still rings with a 15.050.

Senior co-captain Phil Goldberg collected a team season high of 15.400 on still rings.

Rookie Syque Caesar's 15.650 on vault is a personal best.

Santander tabbed a season-high 15.700 on vault.

A 15.850 on vault from junior co-captain David Chan is a season high.

Sophomore Thomas Kelley gained a 14.750 on parallel bars to equal his career high for the second time this season.

Sophomore Ben-Baldus Strauss tallied a 14.500 to set a personal best on high bar.

Senior Ryan McCarthy registered a career-best 14.600 on high bar.

On floor exercise, Santander tied his personal-best 14.050.

Rosso equaled his season high of 15.050 on floor.

Cameron grabbed a team season best of 15.650 on the floor exercise.

Kelley nabbed a 15.300 on floor to tie his season high.

Q U O T E S

Michigan Head Coach Kurt Golder
On his team's performance... "My team's performance was exceptional. I dont know exactly what our hit percentage was, but out of 33 routines I think we hit about 36 of them. We got off to a good start. I think we surprised a lot of people, but it didnt surprise me because I knew we were capable of it. In the end we had a good meet, and that was all I was asking my guys to do. I was very pleased with this runner-up position."

On how he wants to build on this momentum for next season... "We're not losing too many scores that we counted tonight -- I'd say only about three or four. We have a lot of guys coming back and some that have redshirted and so forth. I think we'll be right back in the thick of it again next year, and I think this gave us a lot of confidence. A lot of these guys needed this kind of experience to gain that confidence. Next year I think everyone's goal internally will be to be No. 1."

On if he thought the team would have this good of a performance... "We've worked so hard over the past 12 months, and we haven't had a really good meet since January. So I knew we were primed, we were doing the work and that it would happen eventually. Sometimes it doesnt happen for a whole season, but again, it did here. I am very pleased about that."

On when he realized Michigan had locked up second place... "I didnt know for sure to be honest with you. I didn't know exactly what the scores were and really what position we were in. You're so focused on the guys that are right in front of you and what's going on with your team that you dont have time to look up at the scoreboard. I just pretty much through the meet not knowing what's going on from a team-score perspective. Maybe that helps me too."

On not being in the front of the standings towards the end of the competition... "For us, we started on a bye, so everyone else had done one event. Maybe that helped us. Maybe had we started on a really high-scoring event and been in the lead, the nerves may have gotten to us or something. But, coming from being in the hole so to speak, we just kept climbing up, kept having a good meet and kept going though -- good things happened in the end."

U-M Sophomore Thomas Kelley
On the feeling right now... "I feel pretty awesome. It was a long journey and we have enjoyed every second of it. This is an amazing moment for us to come together as a team and hit routines. I think we only had two missed routines the entire meet, and that is about as good as we could have done. For us, this is just awesome - an awesome experience and an awesome year. We will be ready to go tomorrow and represent Michigan as best we can."

On his favorite memory of the night... "I think when I watched the ESPN broadcast of me jumping up and down like a sixth-grade schoolgirl, screaming at the top of my voice when we got second. I think we could possibly be happier than the first-place Stanford team right now, just because of all we have been through. They were expected to win. No one expected us to get second. They had a lot more pressure. They did a great job and they handled it very well. They had a great competition, and I congratulate each and every one of them for being the No. 1 team in the country."

U-M Sophomore Chris Cameron
On his favorite memory of the season... "When I look back at the 2008-2009 season, Im going to remember it as how it started in April 2008. We just kept checking off these little check marks - boom, boom, boom. This was the step we needed to take. Were a championship team. This was the last step."

U-M Senior Ralph Rosso
On what it means as a senior to finish second after not advancing to the Super Six as a freshman... "To go from eighth to second, it was quite an amazing journey. I don't know if there are any good words to describe it right now. Everything that we have gone through, from the disappointment to our triumphant success, it has been worth it all."

U-M Senior Joe Catrambone
On his favorite memory of the night... "How well we went out there and competed and pretty much everything clicked. We only had two or three misses the entire meet. Our hit percentage -- we have never, ever hit this high. It was just one great routine after another, and we knew how to build from performance-to-performance."

U-M Senior/Junior Phil Goldberg
On his favorite memory of the night... "When I look back at 2009, I will think of our class setting the precedent for other classes at Michigan. We set the precedent that we hit during big meets. We did that twice this year. I told the guys in the locker room, when I come back five years from now, I want to see different faces, but the same result. Everybody is hitting."

U-M Senior/Junior Ryan McCarthy
On his most memorable moment of the night... "For me going into the last rotation, I was so nervous. I did my job on my two events, and then we had floor. I was so nervous going into that event. I was watching every other team and watching us as we came together as a team. Coming to that realization that we are doing this -- we're coming together, we're hitting and we're rocking out. Looking up at that board and watching us jump ahead of two huge teams, for me, that was the moment that we all came together. It was awesome."