Umphrey Paces U-M in Big Ten Individual Event Finals

Saturday, March 26

Ann Arbor, Mich.

7:00 PM

Michigan

Big Ten Individual Event Finals

3/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan men's gymnastics team placed five gymnasts in the top three on their respective events and competed 11 routines total in tonight's (Saturday, March 26) Big Ten Conference Individual Event Finals at Crisler Arena.

Umphrey was second on the floor exercise, third on rings and fifth on parallel bars.

The Wolverines opened the competition with a strong showing in the floor exercise, placing three individuals among the top seven in the event. The third performer in the rotation, senior Eddie Umphrey (Albuquerque, N.M./La Cuerva HS), scored 9.550 -- matching his career best recorded during last night's team competition -- to lead the field through five routines before being clipped by Iowa's Michael Reavis (9.762) in the final turn. Umphrey cruised through a nearly flawless routine and capped his performance with a stuck one-half twisting back, front layout, Rudi tumbling combination. Junior Luke Bottke (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage HS) claimed third place with a clean set for a 9.512, while junior Justin Laury (Marietta, Ga./McEachern HS) took seventh (8.512).

Just 10 minutes after completing his floor routine, Laury returned to score a 9.525 in a fifth-place pommel horse performance, his second routine of the evening. Laury's score was just 0.025 shy of matching his season best, set against Minnesota (Feb 12).

Competing in his first Big Ten individual finals, freshman Daniel Rais (Livonia, Mich./Franklin HS) paced the Wolverines on the vault, earning a third-place finish with a score of 9.375. Bottke tallied his second top-five finish of evening, claiming the fifth spot with a score of 9.262. Both Wolverines used a full-twisting Kasamatsu and clean landings to earn their scores.

The lone Wolverine in the still rings competition, Umphrey boasted his second career-best score of the evening to claim third place. The U-M senior used his trademark level strength positions and a perfectly stuck double layout dismount to earn a mark of 9.662, improving his previous best mark by 0.012 points.

Junior/sophomore Andre Hernandez (Round Rock, Texas/Round Rock HS) shattered his career best in the parallel bars to lead the group of three Wolverines among the top seven. Hernandez scored a 9.525 to best his previous career mark of 9.25 set against Ohio State earlier this year (March 13). Umphrey, competing in his third event of the night, notched a 9.125 for fifth place, just shy of his career best of 9.2 which he set last night in the team competition. Laury scored a 9.012 on the parallel bars, also his third event of the evening, for seventh place.

In his conference individual finals debut, senior Dave Flannery (Niwet, Colo./Niwot HS) was Michigan's only competitor on the high bar, taking seventh place with a mark of 8.950. He was Michigan's top scorer in the event from last night's team competition, when he tied his personal best of 9.425. Flannery's stuck double layout dismount put an exclamation point on a weekend of steller individual and team performances at the 2005 Big Ten Championships.

Michigan returns to competition April 7-9 in West Point, N.Y., for the 2005 NCAA Championships. The competition will feature the top 12 teams in the country vying for the title of NCAA national champion as well as the individual all-around national title and NCAA All-America status.

Complete Results

FLOOR EXERCISE 1. Michael Reavis, Iowa 9.762 2. Eddie Umphrey, U-M 9.550 3. Luke Bottke, U-M 9.512 4. Randy Monahna, Ohio State 9.325 5. Justin Spring, Illinois 9.225 6. Chris Silcox, Illinois 9.187 7. Justin Laury, U-M 8.512 8. Guillermo Alvarez, Minnesota 8.300 POMMEL HORSE 1. Ted Brown, Illinois 9.700 Ben Newman, Illinois 9.700 3. Guillermo Alvarez, Minnesota 9.637 4. Ronald Ferris, Ohio State 9.587 5. Justin Laury, U-M 9.525 6. Justin Miklos, Penn State 9.500 7. Derek Helsby, Penn State 8.962 8. Jacob Becker, Iowa 7.937 STILL RINGS 1. Randy Monahan, Ohio State 9.687 2. Tyler Yamauchi, Illinois 9.675 3. Eddie Umphrey, U-M 9.662 4. Kenny Lin, Iowa 9.650 5. Cody Trobaugh, Ohio State 9.625 6. Ben Newman, Illinois 9.600 7. D.J. Bucher, Ohio State 9.525 8. Mat Cohen, Penn State 9.487 9. Luis Vargas, Penn State 9.325 VAULT 1. Guillermo Alvarez, Minnesota 9.512 2. Santiago Lopez, Penn State 9.475 3. Daniel Rais, U-M 9.375 4. Adam Plummer, Illinois 9.300 5. Luke Bottke, U-M 9.262 6. Cody Trobaugh, Ohio State 9.062 7. Luis Vargas, Penn State 8.987 8. Justin Spring, Illinois 8.950 PARALLEL BARS 1. D.J. Bucher, Ohio State 9.737 2. Justin Spring, Illinois 9.712 3. Andre Hernandez, U-M 9.525 4. Nicholaus Searcy, Ohio State 9.225 5. Eddie Umphrey, U-M 9.125 6. Steve Tobin, Penn State 9.087 7. Justin Laury, U-M 9.012 8. Willie Ito, Ohio State 8.825 9. Adam Plummer, Illinois 8.225 HORIZONTAL BAR 1. Ronald Ferris, Ohio State 9.862 2. Randy Monahan, Ohio State 9.850 3. Willie Ito, Ohio State 9.725 4. Justin Spring, Illinois 9.700 5. Linas Gaveika, Iowa 9.687 6. Ludwig Kern, Penn State 9.175 7. Dave Flannery, U-M 8.950 8. D.J. Bucher, Ohio State 8.725