University of Michigan Men Win the 2010 NCAA Team Title

University of Michigan Men Win the 2010 NCAA Team Title

Apr 17, 2010 by Anne Phillips
University of Michigan Men Win the 2010 NCAA Team Title

The No. 3-ranked University of Michigan men’s gymnastics team upset the field at the NCAA Championships on Friday night (April 16), taking home the first NCAA title for the program since 1999 and the fourth in its history inside Army’s Christl Arena

Here are the final standings: 

1) Michigan 360.500

2) Stanford 359.800 

3) Oklahoma 357.050 

4) Illinois 353.150 

5) California 353.150 

6) Ohio State 347.350

There was  huge fiasco with Rings that caused a situation similar to the horrible vault mistake in the women's All Around final in the 2000 Olympics. A ring broke during Illinois gymnast Tyler Williamson's routine. (Last I heard he was okay.) They ended up bringing in a new ring tower with brand new rings, which delayed the meet about half an hour and caused all sorts of confusion. 

Once the new rings were up the drama continued as the first 3 gymnasts to compete on them (including Illinois' top gymnast Paul Ruggeri and OU's top gymnast Steven Legendre) peeled and crashed on their dismounts because of the lack of chalk on the new equipment. The rings caused problems through the next rotation as well and yet another All Around contender, Kyle Bunthuwong of Cal missed his rings set. So, they brought in yet another set of rings right before Michigan moved to the apparatus. 

Despite a slip from their final Rings competitor, Thomas Kelley, Michigan looked unfazed, bettering their qualifying rings total by nearly eight tenths with a 59.550. Chris Cameron posted a career-best 15.450. 

At the conclusion of the meet, Michigan appeared to have won, but in an attempt to remedy the situation, the meet directors allowed competitors with slip ups on Rings to repeat their routines in an impromptu 7th rotation. These scores would replace their original scores and count towards All Around and team totals. In the end, no one could surpass the Wolverines who took home their first team title since 1999. 

The All Around competition was definitely affected by the Rings disaster, but in the end, Michigan's Chris Cameron won his first NCAA all-around title with 90.5 over defending NCAA champion Legendre (88.95). Mel Anton Santander of Michigan was third (88.9)

If you're looking for a more detailed recap of the meet, Michigan had a great live blog of the competition. Competition will conclude Saturday night with the Individual Event Finals. 

Related: Previous Video interviews with Chris Cameron