2009
NCAA
CHAMPIONSHIPS
MEN
LEFT:Illinois sophomore
Paul Ruggeri placed
third all-around and won
individual titles on parallel bars and high bar.
BELOW:Fourth-ranked
Michigansurged to second this year, while second-ranked Oklahoma
(bottom), the defending
champion, slipped to
third.
OPP. LEFT:Cal freshman
Glen Ishino(top) placed
second all-around and
helped the Golden Bears
finish fourth, while Chris
Cameron(bottom)
helped Michigan finish
second as a team.
OPP. RIGHT:Cal’s Evan
Roth(top) won rings, and
Daniel Ribeiro (bottom)
of Illinois claimed the
pommel horse title.
The Cardinal put up a stellar rings rotation.
Both Gentry and sophomore Nicolas Noone
posted identical scores of 15. 45 and showed
similar skills in their routines (piked to tucked
Yamawaki; layout full-out dismount). Senior
Bryant Hadden sewed up the team title for Stanford, earning an event-high 15.55 (Evan Roth of
Berkeley matched this score) and an overall team
total of 362.800.
Stanford coach Glielmi gave credit for the
team’s win to its maturity. “They have been in
this situation where they know it’s not over until
the last event and the last guy,” he said. “Your
best gymnastics, your best routines, are when
you’re just going after it, being aggressive and
enjoying it. And that’s … what they did tonight.”
The gymnasts also wanted to prove that they
learned a lesson from 2008’s defeat. “
Sometimes teams have to go through that process,”
Glielmi said. “It’s painful, but it’s very motivational.”
Williams knew that his Sooners could produce
high scores on vault, and they did just that.
Legendre boomed a high handspring-double
front with good distance, while Czeschin’s double-twisting layout Yurchenko was drilled into the
mat. The Sooners’ 64.05 total was the highest of
not only that event, but of the entire team competition. Their overall team score was 361.200,
but it wasn’t enough—even for second place.
Oklahoma ended the evening in third, its lowest
finish since 2000, when it placed fourth.
Russ Czeschin, a 6-foot-3-inch senior, scored
15.55 (Arabian double front; tucked full-in),
Brooks followed with a 15.65 (front layout,
punch double front; layout Thomas, tucked full-out), and Legendre closed the rotation with an
even 16.00 (Hypolito; piked and tucked Arabian
double front) to move Oklahoma less than two
points behind Stanford.
Unfortunately for Oklahoma, its weakest event
followed. The Sooners were the lowest-scoring
team on pommel horse by 0.6 points, due mainly to their low levels of difficulty.
After a bye in the fifth rotation, Stanford
rejoined the meet on pommels. While it was only
fourth on this event as a team, its gymnasts all
showed clean form and technique, and Ter-Zakhariants scored a season-best 14.90 here.
The Sooners also had a difficult time on rings
(59.95 for sixth), with only McNamara and
senior Jacob Messina (stuck layout full-out dismount) scoring above 15.00. After five events,
Oklahoma uncharacteristically found itself sitting
in fifth.
“We knew that vault would put us back in it,
but we felt like we probably had to be behind by
about three points if we had a chance to win,”
Williams said after the meet. “So after rings I felt
like it was going to be a stretch.”
Going into the final rotation, 7. 15 points separated the leader California from sixth-place
Ohio State. Stanford was only 1.10 points out of
first, and Michigan and Illinois were also breathing down Berkeley’s neck. Oklahoma, almost
five points behind California, would end the meet
on vault, its strongest event, and couldn’t be
counted out, either.
