MGoShoe

April 17th, 2010 at 7:07 AM ^

Final Team Standings: 1. Michigan: 360.500 2. Stanford: 359.800 3. Oklahoma: 357.050 4. Illinois: 354.900 5. California: 354.700 6. Ohio State: 347.350 All Around: 1. Chris Cameron (U-M): 90.500 2. Legendre (OU): 88.950 3. Mel Anton Santander (U-M): 88.900 This is Michigan's 4th Men's Gymmastics NCAA Championship and their first since 1999. It's also Michigan's first NCAA Championship since the Softball team's 2005 WWS win. This was the splash screen on MGoBlue.com right after the conclusion. Sweet picture of Chris Cameron after sticking one of his dismounts. Here's the one they have up now.

Joined: 04/23/2009

MGoPoints: 20734

JustGoBlue

April 17th, 2010 at 9:39 AM ^

for men's it's really close, as they don't do the "perfect 10" system, but score on execution added to difficulty, I believe, allowing a wide range of scores, which generally leads to bigger spreads. But I don't think you generally blow-out opponents, playing for an NC (unless you're BC...) and I will take it! Softball (#2 in the country) and women's tennis (currently #4) have pretty good shots at a possible title. Women's gymnastics competes for one next weekend. Men's tennis, water polo and rowing (both womens) are usually solid and last year men's golf played to a surprise third place finish. I would say our next NC will come from either softball or (next years) hockey. Followed in 2 years by NCs in all 25 of Michigan's varsity sports (Stanford will still win the Director's Cup, though).

Joined: 06/15/2009

MGoPoints: 895

Raoul

April 17th, 2010 at 10:30 AM ^

In last year's finals, Michigan finished second to Stanford by 1.3 points--a nearly as close result. Nice to turn the tables on the Cardinal. AP story on the victory with quotes from Chris Cameron and the coach can be found HERE. Thought this was interesting:
Cameron unveiled a new vault which made the difference at the NCAA men's gymnastics championships on Friday night. Cameron scored a 15.450 on the vault, which gave him enough points to capture the all-around title for the first time.
Note also this:
The team and all-around finals will be televised by ESPN2 on April 23 at 1:30 p.m. ET.

Joined: 09/29/2009

MGoPoints: 13957

Raoul

April 17th, 2010 at 1:53 PM ^

Found a feature article on Chris Cameron at ncaa.com. Of note is this passage regarding the rings fiasco:
On a night in which the still rings had to be dismantled and repaired twice, Michigan appeared to be the only team not sweating the event. "At our home arena, the rings have been notoriously crooked now and then," he said. "So we were like, 'We got this. We train on this.' It was like a little bit of home here in, where are we? New York? "We actually started goofing off and trying to see how many funny things we could do," he continued. "I have great teammates and they're all about having a good time."

Joined: 09/29/2009

MGoPoints: 13957

Feat of Clay

April 20th, 2010 at 2:58 PM ^

Kind of condemnation of U-M's facilities/equipment for men's gymnastics, isn't it? Glad it worked in their favor. Do men get to practice in the Shepherd center? I seem to recall seeing them through the windows of the Coliseum as I've driven by.

Joined: 08/10/2009

MGoPoints: 3759

Michigasling

April 17th, 2010 at 12:16 AM ^

I came onto the live blog (MgoBlue.com) late, and clicked the posted link to the Army website (the meet was at West Point) for the scores-- and though the folks on the blog were cheering and implying victory was in the bag, the "final" scores on the meet site (PDF yet), even as the bloggers seemed to think the meet was still continuing, showed Michigan finished in third. Apparently they were wrong. Wish I weren't on a train during the broadcast next Friday afternoon (ESPN2, for those that are curious). And loved going to MgoBlue and finding that picture!

Joined: 11/21/2009

MGoPoints: 7751

Mr. Robot

April 17th, 2010 at 12:30 AM ^

I've been so busy with the hockey game I wasn't paying any attention to the fact our boys in blue were playing. Awesome job guys. We're proud of you, and GO BLUE!

Joined: 10/27/2009

MGoPoints: 3031

zapata

April 17th, 2010 at 12:42 PM ^

UM's gymnastics team back in the 80s. I was at WMU, which no longer has a team - a Title IX casualty. I don't necessarily have anything against Title IX, but a lot of men's gymnastics programs disappeared right after it was implemented. M is one of only a handful of teams left, which is too bad, 'cause it's a great sport. Anyway, to the M team, and my old friends who used to tumble for them, congratulations. It's a huge accomplishment.

Joined: 03/10/2010

MGoPoints: 1094

Raoul

April 17th, 2010 at 1:42 PM ^

Pretty drastic trend, according to the Men's Intercollegiate Gymnastics Support Program:
In 1969, there were 230 men’s collegiate gymnastics teams in the United States. Today, there are 20 NCAA teams and approximately 15 college club teams.
More than a "handful," but those numbers must be out-of-date, as the GymInfo "Top 20" rankings list only 19 men's teams! For the record, there are 67 NCAA Div. 1 women's gymnastics teams, but those numbers have been on the decline as well according to this site:
In 1980, there were over 175 women’s collegiate gymnastics programs throughout the U.S. Today there are 67 Division 1, 4 Division 2 and 15 Division 3 programs, for a total of 86. Over the past 28 years, this is a decline on average of over 3 programs per year; with only one addition in the past decade (University of Arkansas).

Joined: 09/29/2009

MGoPoints: 13957

mattkast

April 18th, 2010 at 12:52 PM ^

Training equipment, along with actual peformance equipment, can be pricey to maintain and upgrade when necessary. A lot of schools lack the necessary training facilities, or the funding to keep them open and operating, not to mention the cost of travel. Places without a strong background often find it hard to attract fans (and therefore revenue) - Michigan has a large tradition of gymnastics superiority in the B10, and I'm pretty sure women's gymnastics meets have the highest average attendance out of any of the Olympic/non-revenue sports. Men's gymnastics, as a whole, has been losing popularity in America, on every level of competition. It doesn't help that only 4 schools have won NCAA championships for women's gymnastic, and so new programs do not garner much hope.

Joined: 11/03/2009

MGoPoints: -234

AnnieO

April 25th, 2010 at 9:24 AM ^

Not only is it a very expensive individual sport, but because of the few "Elites", I believe they're called, in the country, it can be hard to garner a great response and increase following. Because there is not much room for athletes at top, it lacks the "star power" that many other sports can afford to have because of greater numbers and a larger, next-level platform, like a professional league. However, with an all-around champ and an NCAA title with the men's, it's gives a good boost of U of M powerhouse juice that the entire sports program has been needing this year. You can only increase your following with great wins, so cheers to the movement because more following means reciprocal money back into the program for more domination.

Joined: 04/13/2010

MGoPoints: 11

mattkast

April 18th, 2010 at 12:52 AM ^

Today was the event finals, and Michigan almost swept the high bar medals), with Ryan McCarthy taking the gold, Ian Makowske the silver, and Mel Anton Santander sharing the bronze with Andrew Stover of UIC. Santander also took silver on the Pbars. Looks like Chris Cameron couldn't match his AA performances, and didn't take home any individual medals, but a team gold and all around gold is not such a bad thing to take away from the meet!

Joined: 11/03/2009

MGoPoints: -234