Men's gymnastics destroys Illinois-Chicago

The Michigan men's gymnastics team had an all-around great week.

The Wolverines moved up in the rankings five spots to No. 4 in the country. The team - already decimated by injuries - lost Bryan Pascoe, but others started to recover. But the high point of the week was the team's decisive victory over eighth-ranked Illinois-Chicago on Saturday night.

The final score was 228.475-219.70, in favor of the Wolverines. Although the score seems to be close, in gymnastics, it was a complete blowout.

Expectations were that the Flames would be anxious to face Michigan, one the teams that had just defeated them in their tournament this past weekend.

DANA LINNANE/Daily After topping Illinois-Chicago at the Windy City Invitational a week ago, the Michigan men's gymnastics team extinguished the Flames again.

Illinois-Chicago seemed to be having an off-day, though. They had trouble sticking their landings, and were imprecise in their routines. They also faced a team that came out on top of its game amid some adversity.

The Wolverines entered the meet with only 10 gymnasts healthy enough to compete. Jesse Coleman, Tim Dehr, Brad Kenna and Kevin Roulston were injured before last weekend. Pascoe had shoulder surgery this week, knocking him out of competition. Justin Toman has also been nursing an ankle injury, and was limited in his range of events.

Despite his injury, Toman had a spectacular meet. He won the high-bar with a personal best and meet-high score of 9.85. Toman's day also included him tying his personal best in the pommel horse. His performance earned him Michigan coach Kurt Golder's coveted "performer of the day" award.

"To be able to step up the difficulty, as well as having the adversity of an injury, to stick it perfectly, after the best routine of his life in that event, that's definitely the performance of the day," Golder said.

Although Toman was named performer of the day, his injury kept him out of the all-around competition. That was dominated by the freshmen on the team.

Daniel Diaz-Luong and Scott Vetere again led the Wolverines to victory. Last week, Diaz-Luong edged Vetere to claim fifth in the all-around competition. Saturday, it looked as if Vetere was going to claim the all-around title. Not only was he consistent in his scoring, but he was consistently high.

Entering the last rotation of the evening, Vetere had a solid lead over Diaz-Luong, and teammate LaLo Haro. The final event for the Wolverines was the high bar. Vetere had an unfortunate fall which dropped him from the title and left him with a second-place finish. Diaz-Luong had a solid routine in the high bar, and stuck his landing for a 9.75, giving him the title.

Solid performances have led the Wolverines to a 5-2 record. Michigan has only lost to the first and third-ranked teams in the country.

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