Weekly Release #5
2/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
Upcoming Schedule
Saturday, Feb. 14 -- vs. Minnesota (Cliff Keen Arena), 7 p.m.
Saturday Feb. 21 -- at Oklahoma with Minnesota and Nebraska (Norman, Okla.), 7 p.m. CST
Looking Ahead to Minnesota
The No. 7-ranked Michigan men's gymnastics team (4-3) continues its 2004 home schedule against Big Ten opponent and No. 9-ranked University of Minnesota on Saturday (Feb. 14) at 7 p.m. in Cliff Keen Arena. The Wolverines hold a 3-1 advantage over the Golden Gophers in dual meet competition dating back to the 2000 season.
Scouting the Gophers
The Gophers are currently ranked ninth in the country with a season-average score of 208.194. This weekend's meet will mark the second of three regular-season meetings between Michigan and Minnesota, as the two teams met at the Windy City Invitational earlier in the year and will again square off with Oklahoma and Nebraska next Saturday (Feb. 21) in Norman, Okla. Michigan placed third at the Windy City while Minnesota mustered a sixth-place effort. The Gophers are led by junior Guillermo Alvarez, who is currently ranked seventh nationally in the all-around. Minnesota on the Web: www.gophersports.com.
Recapping the Winter Cup Challenge
Seven Wolverines traveled to Las Vegas, Nev., last Friday and Saturday (Feb. 6-7) to compete against almost 100 of the nation's top gymnasts in the Winter Cup Challenge for a spot on the U.S. National Team. Sophomore Justin Laury (Marietta, Ga./McEachern HS) was Michigan's top finisher, taking 23rd place in the all-around (52.075). He was followed by fellow sophomore Andre Hernandez (Round Rock, Texas/Round Rock HS) in 25th place (51.95), junior Geoff Corrigan (Colorado Springs, Colo./Palmer HS) in 43rd (49.175) and freshman Aaron Rakes (Lexington, Ky./Dunbar HS) in 47th place (48.80).
The other three Wolverines in the meet only competed on select events. Sophomore Gerry Signorelli (Colorado Springs, Colo./Mitchell HS) had a strong showing on four events (did not compete rings or parallel bars), junior Eddie Umphrey (Albuquerque, N.M./La Cueva HS) competed on the floor and vault, and alumni Brian Peterson performed on the pommel horse.
Laury Takes Sixth on High Bar
Justin Laury was the only Wolverine to qualify for the Event Finals portion of the Winter Cup Challenge on Saturday (Feb. 7). He qualified seventh in the high bar preliminaries with a 9.375 and improved to sixth place in the finals with a score of 9.075.
Wolverines Return to Action After Two Weeks
Michigan returns to the NCAA regular season Saturday (Feb. 14) after a two-week hiatus. The team's last dual meet was Jan. 23 against then top-ranked Penn State. The Wolverines followed their defeat of the Nittany Lions with a bye week, followed by the Winter Cup in which only seven team members competed. Michigan returns to the second half of its collegiate season with a focus on peaking at the Big Ten and NCAA championships.
Wolverines Ranked Nationally
Several Wolverines are currently ranked in the top 10 nationally on various events. Geoff Corrigan and Andre Hernandez are ranked third (53.775) and fourth (53.675) respectively, in the all-around thus far in the season, followed by Justin Laury in ninth place (52.975). Laury is also ranked fourth on the high bar (9.508) and fifth on the floor (9.3). Hernandez is currently sixth on the high bar (9.433) and ninth on parallel bars (8.933), while Eddie Umphrey holds the 10th spot on the rings (9.25).
GymInfo National Rankings (2/10/04)
(by Season Average)
Rank, Team Score 1. Ohio State 216.875 2. California 216.412 3. Illinois 216.275 4. Oklahoma 215.517 5. Penn State 215.344 6. Iowa 214.187 7. MICHIGAN 213.708 8. Nebraska 209.900 9. Minnesota 208.194 10. Stanford 207.483
Quoting Head Coach Kurt Golder
On the Winter Cup ... "I was really very pleased with pommel horse. That's been a thorn in our side this year but the guys went out there and hit five for five, which should help us a lot. That's been the missing link. Every time you look at the results, if we scored two points higher on pommel horse that would have really helped us, so we made a great stride in this competition."
On the strategy going into the meet with Minnesota ... "We're going with a little bit weaker lineup on rings to give Justin Laury and Geoff Corrigan a break. The plan right now is to give them a rest and to get Eddie Umphrey some more experience on that event. We'll fill in the rest of the line up this week."
On the status on recovering team members ... "Gerry Signorelli probably won't see action on parallel bars for a few more weeks and rings is questionable the rest of this season. I don't know if he'll return to the all-around, but if he can, we will (get him back). It's possible that Chris Gatti will be ready this week, but it might be a little bit of a rush. We definitely want to get him in the lineup in the next couple of weeks because we're planning on him being one of the guys we can chose from as we go into our last (regular-season) meet with Ohio State and into the championship portion of the season. We definitely plan on him being right in the mix."
Contact: Justin Toman, Matt Godfrey (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
