The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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big ten/NCAA championships: Men's gymnastics Wolverines Capture 16th Conference Title The powerhouse No. 3 Michigan men's gymnastics team added some hardware to its strong 2013 campaign with a conference title at the Big Ten Championships April 5-6 in Minneapolis. Despite starting slowly with average performances in events in which they typically thrive, the Wolverines were able to overcome adversity throughout the weekend. "We got off to a little bit of a tough start," head coach Kurt Golder said. "We got through From left to right, sophomore Adrian de los Angeles, junior all of our pommel horse Sam Mikulak, sophomore Stacy Ervin, fifth-year senior Syque routines, but we didn't Caesar and junior Matt Freeman powered U-M to its first Big perform up to our ca- Ten crown since 2009. photo courtesy michigan athletic media relations pabilities. Then we went to rings and we had trouble with two dismounts, and that kind of kept us in a hole." But champions recover, and that is exactly what Michigan did to outduel a tough crop of conference foes, which included Penn State — the nation's topranked squad. "We went to vault and we set the world on fire and didn't let up until the meet was over and, consequently, we ended up winning," Golder said. U-M scored a season-best 75.65 points on the vault, but the comeback was truly fueled by 2012 Olympian Sam Mikulak, who set an NCAA record with a 15.95 outing on the parallel bars en route to capturing the conference's allaround championship (89.85 points). The junior edged past sophomore teammate Adrian de los Angeles, who earned the runner-up spot in the all-around competition with 87.85 points. "I knew they were the top two guys if they hit their routines," said Golder, who was named Big Ten Coach of the Year. "I knew they would come in number one and number two, I just didn't know what the order would be. I'm just very, very happy for both of them — they deserve it." "I am just so proud of him," Mikulak said of de los Angeles' performance. "We didn't care who ended up on top, we just wanted to go out there and win the