Correction appended
Posted Feb. 24, 2008
OAKLAND, Calif. - After a third straight fourth place at the Pacific Coast Classic, Michigan men's gymnastics coach Kurt Golder had finally seen enough.

Away from the other celebrating teams, in the furthest corner of the warmup area, Golder laid into his team for a good 15 minutes.

"I talked about underachieving and I talked about their work ethic," Golder said. "They have problems with skills, deductions, they're just not perfect, and they seem to accept it and just not do anything about it. . This is so far from a championship performance, it's unbelievable."

Michigan's fate was all but sealed halfway through the meet. After three rotations, the top-three teams had pulled away, leaving Michigan, Illinois and Air Force straggling behind.

The Wolverines, in fourth, stood 10 points behind then-leading Oklahoma - and nearly eight points out of third place. Michigan finished with a 348.95 - decent, but not close to Stanford's 361.65.

Throughout the meet, when the Wolverines needed reliability, they got inconsistency.

Their night began with two missed routines on parallel bars, and the pattern continued. No event went off without a hitch, not even Michigan strengths like floor and vault.

The shaky performance might have been acceptable earlier in the season, but as the Big Ten and NCAA Championships loom ever larger, Golder's patience is running out.

"We have a culture of not living up to what you're capable of (being) okay," Golder said. "That's bullshit, and it's got to stop."

Junior Scott Bregman agreed, noting that the team seemed refocused after the meeting. However, the longevity of the "wake-up call" remains to be seen.

"The hard part is to take it through for every week, not just work hard for four days or even two weeks," Bregman said. "It has to be for six more weeks, until the end of the season."

The meet did have a few bright spots.

Bregman, after being left out of the starting lineup and added back in the day before the team left, knocked out his floor set to post the team's second-best score.

Junior Kent Caldwell said he found a rhythm on floor for the first time since his surgery in October. His floor score was Michigan's highest of the evening.

Golder cited sophomore David Chan as his performer of the night. Chan came through with a hit parallel-bars routine after the first two Wolverines turned in rough performances. It was just the third time Chan had competed in the event in the past three years. Later, he placed second overall on pommel horse.

And junior Joe Catrambone capped the night. Anchoring the mistake-marred high-bar rotation, he knew the team needed him to come through with a huge hit. Despite a rough set earlier on parallel bars, Catrambone calmed his nerves for his best event, finishing with a stuck triple backflip dismount. He took first place (15.35).

Catrambone, too, hoped the team would take the post-competition meeting to heart.

"It needed to be said, for sure," Catrambone said. "When we go against Stanford (next Sunday), we'll be ready to go. We're not going to be a joke next weekend."