Two Big Events Show Wolverine Depth

Two Big Events Show Wolverine Depth
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2009

Senior Scott Bregman (Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence Free State) keeps the men's gymnastics team player blog rolling as he takes some time to reflect upon Michigans performance at last weekends meet against UIC (Feb.7) and the Winter Cup Challenge (Feb. 5-7) in Las Vegas, Nev. Bregman specializes on floor exercise and vault and has served as an essential competitor in these events since his inaugural season in 2005-06. Last year, Bregman broke his ankle in competition prior to the Big Ten tournament, but head coach Kurt Golder has said "he has the potential to be an All-American and Big Ten finalist" in both floor and vault.

In his first competition of the 2009 campaign, Bregman earned the floor title with a 14.850 en route to U-Ms victory over Iowa (Jan. 30) The senior is also a three-time College Gymnastics Association Academic All-American and has twice garnered academic All-Big Ten honors.

With seven members in Las Vegas representing Michigan at Winter Cup, illness going around and a meet with a "depleted" lineup against the University of Illinois-Chicago, last week offered a bit of a shake up for our team. But like we've been doing all season, we persevered, putting on fantastic shows both in Vegas and here at home in Ann Arbor.

Assistant coach Xiao Yuan, Ryan McCarthy, Chris Cameron, Paul Woodward, Ralph Rosso, Mel Anton Santader, Thomas Kelley, and Phil Goldberg all got a reprieve from the bitter cold of Ann Arbor with a trip to Sin City. But it wasn't all fun and games. The guys competed in a two day competition with high stakes -- a chance to be named to the U.S. Senior National Team. All of the boys in Blue performed well, showing the rest of the country that Michigan is a force to be reckoned with. Chris had a fantastic meet and was named to his first (of many, likely) Senior National Team! Quite an amazing feat!

Back at home, we worked hard to prepare for our meet against UIC. Unfortunately, midweek illness struck the team -- most notably assistant coach Scott Vetere and freshman Syque Caesar. So, with Scott out and Xiao away in Vegas, we only had two coaches -- head coach Kurt Golder and volunteer coach Derek Croad -- and seventeen guys in the gym, but it was no matter as we all stepped it up, helping each other in whatever way we could. Thankfully, Syque recovered by Saturday and was able to give an unbelievable performance, taking first on floor and vault!

The UIC meet gave us a chance to put some guys into the lineup for the first time in their collegiate careers, including redshirt freshman Steve Crabtree. Sophomore Evan Heiter, junior John Sawicki and senior Joe Catrambone also saw meet time for the time this season. Evan performed on the floor and turned the event around following a missed set right before him. Steve came through with much-needed depth on the rings and parallel bars. Joe, who is still recovering from ankle surgery in November, competed on the rings and high bar, displaying his trademark style and form to win high bar and his third Newt Loken award of his career!

Additionally, the meet showed the country that even with a seven guys missing, we can close down teams. Everyone stepped up their game. Jamie Thompson added a difficult handspring double front on vault, Dave Chan returned to the lineup after some problems with his back, and Ben Baldus-Strauss competed for the first time since suffering a minor injury in a scary fall at the first meet of the season.

We've got this week off then it's off to California for the Pacific Coast Classic, where we plan to show the West Coast just how tough we are! Go Blue!