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Gymnasts drop final meet of season

The Michigan men's gymnastics team competed in a meet of "lasts" on Saturday in East Lansing.

It was the last meet for the seniors.

The last chance to get a team victory.

The last chance for regional hopefuls to up their overall averages.

The last competition for the Western Michigan program - ever.

The last meet for Michigan coach Bob Darden.

The 0-12 Wolverines dropped their final team performance of the season to Michigan State (226.9) and Western Michigan (220.35). The Michigan team total of 211.95 is the second-best output of the season.

For the seniors, Brad Terris, Kris Klinger and Chris Onuska, this was their last regular-season opportunity to compete. Terris didn't disappoint, scoring a career-high and team-high on the floor exercise with a 9.45.

Onuska and Klinger are two of the Michigan gymnasts hoping to enter regional competition. Onuska, who placed seventh overall, received a 9.3 on the parallel bar and a Klinger got a 9.6 on the high bar -- both scores are season-highs for the individuals. Klinger tied teammate junior Jason MacDonald and Western Michigan's Jeff Kraft for first on the high bar.

MacDonald and junior Flavio Martins are both hoping to enter regional competition as well. MacDonald's 9.6 on the high bar should help him to earn a selection into regional competition.

Martins is hoping to be selected in the all-around, but didn't compete in it over the weekend.

Regional participants are determined by an average of all scores received throughout the season. Those gymnasts on the six teams that qualify for regionals are factored out, and the top individuals from the remaining teams are invited to the regionals.

The NCAA determines who goes to regionals today.

"The selection reaches pretty low into the individual qualifiers, so our three hopefuls have a good chance," Darden said.

Also contributing for Michigan were sophomore Justin Semion, junior Edwin Ledgard and sophomore Tim Lauring. Semion scored season bests on floor exercise (9.3) and rings (8.15), Ledgard on the rings (9.05) and high bar (8.95) and Lauring on rings (9.1), as well.

Western Michigan, which finished second in the meet with 220.35, competed in its last meet, not of the season, but forever. Or at least until the powers that be decide to resurrect the program.

"(Western Michigan) went through the year trying to get the program reinstated like we did a couple years ago," Darden said. "Our guys were sympathetic to their problem."

The top performer for the Broncos was Jeff Kraft. He not only tied for the top spot on the high bar, he also scored an amazing 9.9 on the pommel horse.

Although Michigan State was using this meet as a tune-up for a probable team selection in the NCAA East Regional, they managed to sweep all six events and posted two Spartan team records. The 38.55 on the rings and the 37.25 on the vault, along with Joe Duda's 9.9 on the parallel bars and 57.5 in the all-around are all Michigan State records.

The biggest "last" of the meet, for the Wolverines at least, was the last meet for Darden as head coach. After 13 years, Darden has decided to retire from coaching.

His announcement came two weeks ago.

"I looked forward to this meet with mixed emotions," Darden said. "On one hand, I enjoyed the attitude of the gymnasts in competition. There were a lot of personal highs.

"I'm happy that the team did end their season on an up-beat note."

A couple years ago, Darden had to deal with the same situation that faced Western Michigan this year. The gymnastics program was in danger of being stripped of its varsity status, and several scholarships and privileges were sacrificed in order to keep the program alive.

"We really felt the aftermath of the program being cut, this year," Darden said. "With a little amount of luck, however, the team will be able to turn itself around.

"I'm looking forward to hanging up that particular `hat,' and being a supporter of Michigan gymnastics," Darden added. "I'll enjoy being apart from the competition, but I'll miss it as well."