Gymnasts Chicago-bound once again By Dan Dingerson Daily Sports Writer After toppling Big Ten foe Iowa and reclaiming the nation's No. 1 ranking, the Michigan men's gymnastics team heads to Chicago for the second time in 15 days in hopes of dousing the Flames of Illinois-Chicago on Saturday. The situation seems perfect for an upset: the Wolverines are on the road against the No. 13 team in the nation. Gymnastics; though, is not a sport of upsets. UIC's top score is over nine points behind the Wolverines' top score. The Flames rising to meet Michigan would be like trying to leap to the top of the Sears Tower. Needless to say, there will be no Phoenix rising from Chicago this weekend. So, the Wolverines will use the meet to enter more gymnasts into the lineup and try to improve their routines in preparation for their individual competitions in the near future. Bryan Pascoe and Jesse Coleman both may see their first action of the season, and Michigan's three freshmen will continue to crack the roster. "This meet gives us a chance to highlight some of the guys who don't get to compete a lot," Michigan coach Kurt Golder said. Individually, some of the gymnasts will have the opportunity to refine their routines, and experiment with new skills before they perform them at the Winter Cup in two weeks. The Winter Cup helps to determine who qualifies for the U.S. National Team, and will feature eight Michigan gymnasts. "I was going to give Tim Dehr a rest, but he is going to try a new element in his pommel horse routine," Golder said. "He will be using it in the Winter Cup, and he wanted to do it so that if there was a problem, he could have a redemption meet (the following weekend) before doing it at the Winter Cup." The matchup also offers the Wolverines' a chance to improve in events in which they have not been up to the bar. Although the team has historically been strong on the parallel bars, it did not show against Iowa. Golder was very disappointed with the event, calling it the worst part of the the last meet. After a poor showing on the high bar at the Windy City Invitational, the Wolverines rebounded by posting the third-highest high bar score in the nation against Iowa. "I still feel like we can be better. Our two best guys are out of high bar, Daniel Diaz-Luong and Justin Toman, and it forces the other guys to step up their routines," Golder said. Injuries have also impacted the team's performance on the vault. Both of the All-American vaulters have been injured thus far this season. Diaz-Luong will definitely not return this weekend, and Brad Kenna is still questionable. Of the gymnasts competing in the vault, two are attempting new routines and have not perfected them yet, although they have posted good scores. "We are very close on vault, we just need to land it," Golder said. "We have been doing it in practice, and now we just need to bring that to the meets." While the meet does not offer many external challenges for the Wolverines, the team has plenty of challenges to fan their internal flames. Originally on page 11A in the 1-27-2000 issue of the Daily.