Pile another one on. Women's gymnast Joanna Sampson takes home the NCAA National Championship in the Floor Exercise event.

Michigan as a team finished in the semifinals of the Championships. Sampson is only the fourt gymnast in the women's program history to win an individual championship.

To recap-

• Men's Gymnastics team National Championship
• Sam Mikulak takes home 3 NCAA Individual Championships
• Women's tennis wins their 4th straight B1G Championship
• Sampson takes home NCAA Individual Championship

Not too shabby. 

Kylee takes the all around for the early session by a pretty wide margin.

At Saturday's NCAA Regionals, host and 9th ranked U-M placed first in the team competition to secure its spot in the NCAA Championships in Cleveland on Fri-Sun., April 15-17. The Wolverines won three of four individual event titles and the all-around competition.  Kylee Botterman captured the all-around title for the second straight year and her third straight floor exercise crown. Jordan Sexton and Trish Wilson shared the uneven bars title with matching scores of 9.900, vault title, and Joanna Sampson scored a season-best 9.900 to capture Michigan's first vault crown at regionals since 2002.

In a major upset, 4th ranked Stanford failed to advance after finishing in a tie for 4th with Minnesota.  Instead, 24th ranked Kent State secured the second spot in the Championships.

Kylee Botterman

Jordan Sexton

[Edit: Amended with details not available when the original entry was made last night. Thanks to Raoul for pointing out the misreported beam title. The original data was taken from the preliminary MGoBlue.com blurb before they posted their story.]

In advance of the NCAA Regional that the Michigan women's gymnastics squad is hosting at Crisler on Saturday, annarbor.com ran a profile of senior tri-captain Trish Wilson, who deserves some special attention heading into her final appearance at Crisler given that:

Wilson has torn her anterior cruciate ligament four times and had six knee surgeries since her days at Nequa Valley High School in Naperville, Ill.

Her fourth torn ACL, and the third on her right knee, came just before her junior year, and she sat out that entire season. According to a profile in the winter 2011 edition of M Magazine, Wilson had initially decided not to return to competition during her senior year but eventually changed her mind. She returned for the fifth meet of the 2011 season, competing only on the uneven bars. Amazingly enough, after all those surgeries, she won her event twice this year and matched her career high of 9.925 in the tri-meet against Nebraska and powerhouse Stanford.

Outside the gym, Wilson has also excelled, earning Academic All-Big Ten honors in both 2010 and 2011. From the annarbor.com story:

A senior in the Ross School of Business, Wilson already has a job in waiting for her in Chicago after graduation. Through the pain and recovery, gymnastics has been her escape from school and other stress.

“Gymnastics is actually my getaway. It’s so much fun to go to practice and be with my team,” she said. “That’s where I go to get away from all the stress in my life. It keeps me going. It allows me to have fun. I would not look back for a second.

“Once I made the decision to stay with the team this year, there were no regrets.”

Late addition: Bev Plocki, the women's gymnastics coach, was interviewed on WTKA's Michigan Insider this morning, and she talked at length about Trish Wilson. The podcast can be found here.

Yes, it's been a long time but there's sufficient news to be shared to warrant another in this occasional series.

Let's begin with Men's Soccer where super-frosh Soony Saad is Michigan's first All-American since Michael Holody in 2008.  Saad was named a National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) 2nd Team All-American.  Saad was also named to the All-Great Lakes region 1st team while senior Justin Meram was named to its 2nd team.

Justin Meram (L) and Soony Saad (R)

Saad, who finished second in the nation in goals with 19, broke U-M's seven-year-old single-season goals record and has also set new single-season records in points with 43 and shots with 143. Saad's 19 goals also led all freshmen nationally, and he is the only freshman to be ranked in the top five nationally in points and goals. He was also named TopDrawerSoccer.com Rookie of Year as well as All-Big Ten first team, Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Offensive Player of the Big Ten Tournament.

Meram closed his senior season on a nine-game scoring streak, the longest in program history, and scored U-M's lone goal in the College Cup semifinals against eventual national champion Akron. Meram played and started in 23 games, tallying 42 points on 17 goals and a team-leading eight assists. [His] 42 points, 17 goals and 104 shots in 2010 each rank second best in a single season all-time.

Meram is a two-time All-Big Ten second team selection and has earned Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week this season to go along with TopDrawerSoccer.com National Team of the Week and College Soccer News Player of the Week honors. He will be competing at the 2011 adidas MLS Player Combine, held Jan. 8-12 at Central Broward Regional Park in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Meram becomes the seventh Michigan player to participate in the MLS pre-draft combine and is looking to become U-M's fifth MLSuperDraft selection.

Soony Saad was also selected by USA U-20 National Team head coach Thomas Rongen as one of 24 players for its Dec 12-19 training camp now ongoing in Sunrise, Florida.  This training camp will include friendlies against Canada on Dec 16 and Dec 18. Saad is one of nine players making his first appearance in a USMNT U-20 camp.

Senior setter Lexi Zimmerman (2nd team) and junior outside hitter Alex Hunt (third team) of the volleyball team were both named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) 2010 All-America team. This is Zimmerman's third straight All-American honor and Hunt's first.

 

Alex Hunt

Zimmerman completes her career as the only Wolverine to earn three All-America awards, grabbing a second team laurel in 2008 and a first team distinction in 2009 before this year's selection to the second team. She led the Wolverines in assists (10.86) for the fourth straight season, ending her career as Michigan's all-time leader with 5,903, the sixth-best mark in Big Ten history. Zimmerman, the program leader in appearances at 140, also picked up All-Big Ten honors this season for the third consecutive year.

Hunt nabbed a spot on the third team for her first All-America award as a Wolverine. She led U-M and the conference in points (5.04) and kills (4.41). She is the only Big Ten player to average more than five points per set, using 503 kills, 45 service aces and 46 total blocks for 574.5 points. Hunt recorded 12 matches with at least 20 kills, including a 28-kill performance in a 3-2 win over No. 14 Minnesota on Sept. 25.

The duo's selection to the All-America team marks the second consecutive season that two Wolverines have earned national recognition. In 2009, outside hitter Juliana Paz (2008-09) earned third team honors in addition to Zimmerman's first team selection.

Full list here at the AVCA's official release.

Both the Men's Gymantics and Women's Gymnastics teams have been voted number one in their respective Big Ten preseason coaches' polls. 

[The defending NCAA champion men's gymnastics team returns] the 2010 Big Ten and NCAA all-around champion, senior Chris Cameron, and a pair of 2010 All-Americans, seniors Thomas Kelley and Ian Makowske. Leading the 11 member freshman class, [is] Sam Mikulak, national champion at the 2010 USA Gymnastics Championships.

The four-time defending Big Ten champion [women's gymnastics team returns] nine letterwinners, five All-Americans and three Big Ten champions to a program with more Big Ten team titles (18) than any other conference women's program in any sport.  [Five-time All-America senior Kylee Botterman], fifth-year senior Sarah Curtis, fifth-year senior Jordan Sexton and senior Trish Wilson captain a roster of gymnasts that have never lost at a Big Ten Championships.  All-Big Ten first team honorees Botterman and Curtis join defending Big Ten vault champion [and All-America sophomore Natalie Beilstein] looking to make a run at a 19th Big Ten title.

Go Blue!