Caesar, Makowske Capture Big Ten Individual Event Crowns

Saturday, April 2

Champaign, Ill.

7:00 PM CT

Michigan

Big Ten Individual Event Finals

Caesar, Makowske Capture Big Ten Individual Event Crowns

4/2/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics

April 2, 2011

• Complete Results | Photo Gallery

Site: Champaign, Ill. (George Huff Hall)
Event: Big Ten Championships (Event Finals)
U-M Team Result: No Team Scoring
Next U-M Meet: Thu-Sat., April 14-16 -- at NCAA Championships (Columbus, Ohio), 1 p.m./7 p.m.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Junior Syque Caesar (Port Saint Lucie, Fla./Lincoln Park Academy) and senior Ian Makowske (Redding, Conn./Joel Barlow) won the parallel bars and high bar, respectively, as the No. 6-ranked University of Michigan men's gymnastics team qualified seven individuals into 12 event finals at the Big Ten Championships on Saturday (April 2) at the George Huff Hall Arena. The top 10 event finishers from Friday's (April 1) team and all-around finals qualified into tonight's finals.

The competition began on the first three events going one routine at a time. Freshman Sam Mikulak (Corona del Mar, Calif./Carona del Mar) was the first Wolverine to compete, going second on pommel horse. Struggling on a single pommel circle to Russian and on a Magyar travel, he suffered two falls, scoring an 11.40.

Sophomore Rohan Sebastian (Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness Catholic) competed next, going third on the floor exercise. He struggled on his second pass, landing short and bobbling several of his landings to score a 13.90.

Senior Thomas Kelley (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) was the next to go on rings, competing fourth. He nailed his routine with solid strength holds, topping the set off with a stuck front double pike dismount and scoring a career-high 15.30 to move into the first-place spot.

Redshirt junior Adam Hamers (Salem, Ore./South Salem) followed, going seventh on pommel horse. He was nearly through a perfect routine when he struggled on his Tong Fei travel, falling off the horse but because Hamers' swings were very clean, he managed to score a 14.10, which put him in first place. Meanwhile, Penn State's Miguel Pineda and Scott Rosenthal bested Kelley's 15.30 on rings, pushing him to third.

Senior Andrew Vance (Plymouth, Mich./Catholic Central) came next for the Wolverines on rings, seventh up. Vance hit a strong routine with a small step on his double layout dismount to score a 15.00. Last up on rings, senior national team member Brandon Wynn from Ohio State dominated his strength packed routine, scoring a 16.10 to win the event, pushing Kelley to fourth. Following all the competitors, the top six athletes on each event were recognized on the award stand. Kelley placed fourth overall on rings and Hamers was awarded bronze on pommel horse.

Following the awards ceremony for the first three events, competition started on the back three events, with Mikulak leading off on vault. Trucking down the runway like a bullet train, he blasted off the vaulting table, performing his triple twisting vault and landing with two small steps back to score a 16.20. Next up, Kelley, competing third on parallel bars, was a little short on his first skill, a peach half, having to use strength to push to handstand. He settled into his routine and stood up a nice double pike dismount, the skill he struggled with yesterday in team finals, to score a 14.25.

Mikulak was up again, this time sixth on high bar. He got ahead of himself on his two release combo, fumbling the bar on the first release to slip off; he quickly remounted, reattempting the release combo with success and going on to score a 13.95.

Caesar was next for the Maize and Blue, competing ninth on parallel bars, having qualified in as the top seed. The high score posted prior to Caesar was a 14.90 from Minnesota's Russell Dabritz. Caesar had a minor bobble on his first skill, a lock arm peach, but finished his routine out with perfection, landing his double pike dismount, as the judges posted a 15.25 score, propelling him into the top spot with only teammate Mikulak left to go.

Three more competitors on vault competed outstanding 2.5 twisting vaults, one tying Mikulak and two just nudging him out of the winning position with a 16.25.

Mikulak was up again on his fourth event of the night, competing last on parallel bars. He hit his routine, scoring a 14.60.

The last competitor of the night was Makowske on high bar. Qualifying into finals in the top position, the score he needed to beat was a 14.80. Shining under the pressure, he scored a career-high 15.50 as teammates erupted into cheers and joined him on the landing mat to celebrate.

In the final three rotations, seven Wolverines made it on the podium.

At the conclusion of the competition, Mikulak was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, making this the third year a Michigan athlete has won the Gymnast of the Year award -- Kelley in 2009 and senior Chris Cameron (Winter Haven, Fla./Lake Region) in 2010.

The Wolverines are in action again in two weeks at the NCAA qualification round on Thursday (April 14) in Columbus, Ohio. Team and all-around finals will take place on Friday (April 15), with event finals on Saturday (April 16).

Event-By-Event U-M Individual Scores

FLOOR EXERCISERohan Sebastian  13.90 (t9) POMMEL HORSESam Mikulak      11.40 (10)Adam Hamers      14.10 (3) STILL RINGSAndrew Vance     15.00 (t7)Thomas Kelley    15.30 (4) VAULTRohan Sebastian  15.70 (t6)Sam Mikulak      16.20 (t3) PARALLEL BARSSam Mikulak      14.60 (t4)Thomas Kelley    14.25 (6)Syque Caesar     15.25 (1) HIGH BARIan Makowske     15.50 (1)Sam Mikulak      13.95 (6)

• Previous Results: Team & All-Around Finals

BIG TEN AWARD WINNERS

Gymnast of the Year: Sam Mikulak (MICH)
Freshman of the Year: Sam Mikulak (MICH)
Coach of the Year: Justin Spring (ILL)

ALL-BIG TEN TEAMS
Top six in all-around and event winners

First Team
Tyler Mizoguchi (ILL)
Chad Wiest (ILL)
Daniel Ribeiro (ILL)
Thomas Kelley (MICH)
Rohan Sebastian (MICH)
Sam Mikulak (MICH)
Syque Caesar (MICH)
Ian Makowske (MICH)
Zach Chase (MINN)
Mike Behles (MINN)
DJ Repp (MINN)
Kris Done (OSU)
Brandon Wynn (OSU)

Second Team
Russell Dabritz (MINN)
Scott Rosenthal (PSU)
Ty Echard (OSU)
Jeff Treleaven (OSU)

Big Ten Sportsmanship Honorees
Jordan Valdez (ILL)
Sam Wright (IOWA)
Thomas Kelley (MICH)
Mike Paulus (MINN)
Kris Done (OSU)
Matt Albrecht (PSU)