The sole Michigan representative in yesterday's NCAA men's gymnastics championships, Tim DeGraw, did what no other male Wolverine has done in five years - he became an All-American.
Placing fourth in the only exercise in which he competed, the floor, DeGraw beat Olympian Blaine Wilson in the NCAA final in Iowa City.
DeGraw's score of 9.75 was good enough to surpass Wilson, who won the all-around title.
"He was so close to being the national champion," Michigan coach Kurt Golder said. "But, the field was very tight."
DeGraw put up his best routine of the season on Saturday, landing his difficult tumbles. He also was aided by having the last draw in his event.
California won the meet with a score of 233.825, which beat the second place finisher, Oklahoma, by more than a point (232.725). Iowa, favored by many, finished third.
DeGraw finished behind Iowa's Brian Hamilton (9.825), Oklahoma's Andy Howard (9.8) and Jeremy Killen (9.7875).
For DeGraw, Saturday was a day of firsts. He had never been to the final before and had never won an All-America award.
Those two accomplishments are remarkable for a Wolverine whose team didn't win a dual meet all season.
"The All-American title will give Tim more confidence, and make him more well-known next year," Golder said. "That should improve his scores greatly with the judges next year."
Having an All-American greatly improves Michigan's status for next year, according to Golder.
The reinstatement of scholarship money does not hurt the Wolverines either. With the the extra scholarship the men's team received this year, the Wolverines were able to capture DeGraw and Jose "LaLo" Haro.
Haro had a great season under his belt, ranked seventh in the all-around going into the NCAA preliminaries.
Unfortunately for the Wolverines, however, Haro placed 11th in the preliminaries, and failed to qualify for the finals in any event.
"The only thing I am upset about is LaLo," Golder said.
Not making the finals not only frustrated Golder, but also Haro himself, who spent the rest of the weekend watching from the sidelines.
"It was hard for LaLo to watch the competition when he knows that he can beat the guys competing," Golder said. "But all I heard were compliments about him from other coaches."
The contributions that these two have made to the men's gymnastics program is immeasurable, but coaching has also played a part in the success.
In Golder's first year at Michigan as coach, he already has an All-American to brag about.
"A lot of coaches have coached a while and have never gotten an All-American," Golder said. "So I am happy to have done it in my first year."
As for next year, Golder has set his standards high for the Wolverines.
"I want to get them to nationals as a team," Golder said. "But it depends on recruiting."
Michigan is far from ever winning a national championship, but not from contending for an NCAA berth.
"We are on our way back," Golder said.