Weekly Release #4

Upcoming Schedule
Fri-Sat., Feb. 4-5 -- at Winter Cup (Las Vegas, Nev.), 3 p.m./8 p.m. PST
Saturday, Feb. 12 -- at Minnesota (Minneapolis, Minn.), 2 pm. CST

Viva Las Vegas
For the seventh consecutive year, members of the No. 3-ranked University of Michigan men's gymnastics team will travel to Las Vegas, Nevada to compete in the USA Gymnastics-sponsored Winter Cup Challenge at the Sports Center Arena. This year's event will be held Friday and Saturday (Feb. 4-5) and will feature many of the nation's top gymnasts vying for six spots on the U.S. National Team. The annual event provides valuable experience for the Wolverines against the nation's best competitors.

Michigan is again sending a strong contingent of athletes, including seniors Geoff Corrigan (Colorado Springs, Colo./Palmer HS) and Eddie Umphrey (Albuquerque, N.M./La Cueva HS), juniors Justin Laury (Marietta, Ga./McEachern HS), Luke Bottke (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS), Andrew DiGiore (Buffalo, N.Y./City Honors School) and Gerry Signorelli (Colorado Springs, Colo./Mitchell HS) and sophomore Andre Hernandez (Round Rock, Texas/Round Rock HS).

The competition is split into two days, with the first consisting of the all-around finals and individual event preliminaries and the second day featuring the top eight gymnasts in each event in the individual event finals. Winter Cup on the Web: www.usa-gymnastics.org/events/2005/wintercup.

Last Year at the Winter Cup
At the 2004 Winter Cup, Laury was the top Wolverine, taking sixth place on high bar in event finals (9.075) and placing 23rd in the all-around (52.075).  Hernandez placed 25th in the all-around (51.95).

Michigan Beats Team Records, Oklahoma
On Saturday night (Jan. 22) Michigan took on the Oklahoma Sooners at Cliff Keen Arena. Junior Justin Laury won the all-around and led the No. 3-ranked Wolverines to victory as U-M posted a school-record score of 222.275 to O.U.'s 219.050. Laury's winning all-around total of 56.05 was also a Michigan record.

Michigan led from the start and after three events had amassed a score of 110.150 to Oklahoma's 109.525. Highlights included Signorelli's 9.425 on the floor and freshman Paul Woodward's (Tallahassee, Fla./Lawton Chiles HS) 9.45 on the pommel horse. Both resulted in first place finishes.

The duo of Laury and Geoff Corrigan led Michigan on the vault, with Laury recording another career mark of 9.55 for first place. Corrigan followed suit with a clean vault of his own and second place with a score of 9.30.

Corrigan outdid the competition on parallel bars, winning the event with a new Michigan mark of 9.60. The Wolverines finished the evening on the high bar by taking the top four spots in the event. Co-captain Corrigan led the way by posting another career-best mark of 9.70 and Laury notched a 9.60 for second. Hernandez recorded a 9.525 for third and seniors Dave Flannery (Niwot, Colo./Niwot HS) and co-captain Chris Gatti (Chelmsford, Mass./Chelmsford HS) notched career bests of 9.40 and 9.30, respectively.

Ending the Sooner's Streak
Before Saturday, January 22, Oklahoma had not lost a regular season competition since March 9, 2002. The Sooners had retired 28 straight opponents until the Wolverines brought that streak to an end by a score of 222.275 C 119.050.

Wolverines in the National Rankings
Several Michigan gymnasts are ranked nationally as of January 31. Eddie Umphrey is ranked fourth on the vault with an average score of (9.425) while Corrigan holds third place on parallel bars (9.433) and in the all-around (55.40). Laury is ranked eighth on vault (9.383), first on the high bar (9.467) and second in the all-around (55.50)
National Rankings on the Web: GymInfo Site.

GymInfo National Rankings (1/31/2005)

 1. Ohio State 221.562 2. Illinois 221.425 3. Michigan 219.900 4. Oklahoma 217.725 5. Penn State 217.225 6. Iowa 216.375 7. California 214.912 8. Stanford 214.900 9. Minnesota 213.269 10. Army 211.325

Contact: Justin Toman (734) 936-8256