Cameron Bock took a deep breath and finished his floor routine with a flourish in front of the judges. The sophomore then had a nearly flawless performance before a missed landing off the parallel bars. Bock earned a score of 13.950 on floor and took home all-around honors with a total score of 85.250 for the six events.
“I thought I did pretty well on everything except for the parallel bars, so that was a little disappointing.” Bock said. “But it’s still the beginning of the season so just have to fix those. Overall, it was good.”
Bock was a star in the Maize & Blue Intrasquad meet Saturday afternoon for the Michigan men’s gymnastics team.
“Well, two people stood out to me,” said Michigan coach Kurt Golder. “One is Cameron Bock, he did a really really good job right down to that last skill, and that was his first mistake.”
The competition dictated that four scores count per event, but only gymnasts on the Maize team competed in all six events. The Blue team was down just 2.55 points after the second event rotation, though the Maize team was clearly the stronger of the two squads. The ultimate goal for the meet was not to win, but to prepare for the upcoming season.
“I think this is one of our better Maize & Blue meets since I’ve been here and one of our highest hit percentages,” Golder said. “I think it sets us up well for the rest of the season. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Ultimately, the Maize team came out on top of the Blue squad, 332.850 to 321.800. Junior Mack Lasker was the sole event winner on the Blue team with a score of 14.550 on the pommel horse. The Blue team found most of its success on the pommel horse, claiming three of the top four scores.
Junior Justin Murphy of the Blue team was named an outstanding performer for his parallel bars display. Murphy had a score of 13.600.
“Justin Murphy, because he had a surgery two years ago and struggled all last year recovering from it. (He) never got in the lineup and then today had a really good day,” Golder said. “So just on a personal level, (I’m) really happy for him.”
It was the Maize team, however, that dominated the day. Seniors Emyre Cole and Matthew Whitaker had strong performances as well. Cole had the high score on vault, while Whitaker took the top spot in parallel bars. Bock was the top performer in three of the six events.
“I’m just trying to increase my (all-around) score,” Bock said. “Just to push the envelope a little bit to get an even better score on every event.”
Added Golder: “It’s everybody reach their potential, the team reach their potential and shoot for a national title. I think that this isn’t one of the strongest teams, but it’s a team that is capable of contending for it and if you can get into the Super Six, you can win it. And we’re definitely one of the top six teams in the country.”