2007 GMM at NCAA Qualifier -- Notes & Quotes
4/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
N O T E S
The Wolverines advanced to the NCAA Team Finals on Friday (April 13) after edging No. 1-ranked, three-time Big Ten Champion Ohio State by 0.100 points.
Freshman DJ Chan competed in his first-ever NCAA Championship meet, performing on the vault for the first-time in a meet. Chan finished tied for eighth with U-M's second-highest score of 8.900.
Freshmen Torrance Laury and Mel Santander competed in their first-ever NCAA Championship meet. QUOTES
Fifth-year senior co-captain Justin Laury competed in his first NCAA Championship meet since 2005. Laury missed the 2006 season.
Michigan Head coach Kurt Golder
Opening statement ..."It was a real close one. A year ago we didn't advance to the super
six and we were extremely disappointed, it was the first time in about
eight years. So we, as a team, decided to commit ourselves and work
hard all summer and all fall. I think we started out the season very
dynamic and on a very high note and stayed there for about a month.
Then we hit a little plateau and I hope tomorrow that we can do better
than we did today because I think we have a lot of room for
improvement."
Senior/junior Co-Captain Andrew Elkind
Opening statement ... "Like Kurt said, we started off on an extremely high note for a good
portion of the season. Then we started turning downward where it was
hard not to get negative. At this meet, we were able to come together
and gel with each other and throughout the whole meet keep the
intensity up. That was probably the best feeling. I'm just speechless
still because it was that close we worked so hard and we were number
one for a good portion of the season and we believe we are number
one."
On the parallel bar and how exciting that was ... "I thought the meet was over so it was a little excess celebration, it
was a little inappropriate but I just kind of jumped out of my body. I
just tried to relax and let my body take over."
On how nervous he was beforehand ... "I was pretty nervous with the judges from all over. I knew I had to be crisper, but I felt pretty confident that I had done about a
9.200."
