2009 Big Ten Men's Gymnastics Championships Quotes
4/3/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
On the conference title and finishing with the top two all-arounders... "All of it feels great. To get back (and win a conference championship) after nine years and to finish one and two in the all-around, that is a coach's dream. That is what I have worked so hard for the last nine years, to get back to that level again."
On senior/junior Ryan McCarthy... "It was questionable whether we were going to use him or not and he was under a lot of pressure last week. He came through like a trooper in the last week and then he came through really well and (is in) the high bar finals as well as the parallel bars finals."
U-M Sophomore Thomas Kelley
On learning he won the all-around title... "I was not expecting it at all. My goal was to get in the top six and I had the meet of my life tonight. I have just never been more on in my life. I stuck four out of six dismounts. Overall, it was pretty crazy. Chris (Cameron) is by far the better gymnast, but I just had the better night. He had an uncharacteristic parallel bars routine and that is a shame. He just didn't have his night, but if we were to do this night again, he would have definitely won."
On the feeling learning about the shared conference title... "It was shocking and awing like 'Wow, how often does that happen' We were all pretty excited because we saw our teammates up there holding up the No. 1. It was kind of up and down mostly tonight; it was cool. How often do teams get to experience co-champions It was pretty awesome."
Iowa Head Coach Tom Dunn
On the event... "I was fairly pleased with our meet. We don't have a real strong team this year, but we competed fairly well. The score was pretty much what we might expect, so I was fairly pleased."
On individual performances... "Well, we had one guy who made the finals and won the vault and (placed sixth) on floor, Geoff Reins. He is a senior and he was the only one who we would really expect to be in contention for a Big Ten championship and he is, so that is good too."
On what his team can take from the meet... "We are hoping we did well enough -- and I think we did -- to qualify for the NCAA championships in two weeks and we finish up with that."
Penn State Head Coach Randy Jepson
On the conference championships... "Well, we really struggled tonight. We came out of the blocks and were a little bit rough on floor, but we missed every pommel horse routine. It was tough to rebound from that. We will hopefully get healthier for a rebound for the NCAAs."
On standout performances... "We just never really got the ball rolling, so it was more just of an impression of the team showing heart and fighting through when it was tough. Casey (Sandy) came through with some things even though he was injured and Shaun Antonio did a decent job. There were some bright spots. Allen Harris was pretty strong tonight."
On heading into the NCAA championship... "We have got to get healthier. If we don't have a chance to heal up, it is going to be a challenging meet for us. We are going to have to do what we can to get better and keep the health."
Minnesota Head Coach Mike Burns
On the competition... "The Big Ten (championship) meet is always a phenomenal, exciting meet and tonight was no different. Obviously at this level, you cannot give away too many tenths. Illinois and Michigan had great competitions tonight and to end in a tie is phenomenal. We had a decent meet. We had a few mistakes, but we were able to pick up where other guys left off. To take fourth was a little disappointing, but in a conference that is as tough as the Big Ten, we are pretty pleased with our performance tonight."
On individual performances... "We had a couple of good performance from our freshman, Russel Dabritz. (He was) in the top two or three on parallel bars, so that was a great routine for him. He just had a good meet all the way around. He did four events and went four-for-four. Aaron Fortunato took fifth in the all-around; Cole Storer's floor routine was really good. He came back and picked it up after a rough high bar, so that was good to see. You can get depressed a little bit and be a little bit down in the dumps, but he didn't let it bother him and he came back and did a great job on floor. We had a lot of good performances. We had a couple of spots that brought us down a little bit, but the guys did a nice job of pulling it back up."
On hosting the NCAA championships... "We know what kind of work goes into hosting an event like (the NCAA championships). We have got two weeks to put the final touches on it. I think it is going to be an exciting competition, it always is. It is just a phenomenal meet and the competition is down to the wire just like this. I think this meet though, the Big Ten (championships), is probably the most exciting meet in the world. I put the NCAAs at a very, very close second, but we are going to try to make it even more exciting at Minnesota this year."
Illinois Head Coach Yoshi Hayasaki
On the competition... "It was a classic Big Ten finish. The best part about tonight was that our guys were behind all evening and didn't give up. They kept fighting. It was so great to see our last three events coming back to win the title. I knew and expected a close competition, but I didn't expect that close. It turned out to be good. We are champions and neither team had to lose. I think Michigan did a great job on their home court and they had a good performance."
On closing the season strong... "The fight in our last three events was unbelievable and something we hadn't done all season. We had a good season, but that was the best comeback we've had all year."
Ohio State Head Coach Miles Avery
On the competition... "It was typical of our year in terms of being inconsistent and that is exactly how this competition went for us. It was great for us to stay in the top three of the league for the 22nd consecutive season."
Players Mentioned
