Women's Gymnastics Dominates NCAA Regional
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.
| Place | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Michigan | 197.075 |
| 2 | Kent State University | 195.450 |
| 3 | Ohio State University | 195.350 |
| 4 | University of Minnesota | 195.225 |
| 4 | Stanford University | 195.225 |
| 6 | Iowa State University | 194.800 |
| Place | Gymnast | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kylee Botterman | University of Michigan | 39.500 |
| 2 | Christina Lenny | Kent State University | 39.350 |
| 3 | Sarah Curtis | University of Michigan | 39.200 |
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.]
Great job by the women's squad! Season-high score for the team and the third-highest score U-M has ever received in an NCAA regional.
One correction: It wasn't a complete sweep for Michigan. U-M's Katie Zurales tied for second on the balance beam with a 9.875, trailing only OSU's Rebecca Best (9.9).
The Buckeyes were ever so briefly in second after that performance, but Kent State finished with a 9.9 on floor and edged them.
Michigan looked really good -- high energy, lots of stuck landings. I was a nervous wreck after they opened on beam with a fall, but it was all smooth sailing from there.
How big of an advantage is it to be able to go first on beam, especially if you avoid the dreaded two falls?
I was able to watch only part of the event online. From the scoring, it looks like Stanford had two falls on beam, and if they had had only one fall, they would have ended in second.
Starting and ending on beam are generally unwelcome, because you have a lot of adrenaline to start the meet and that works against, and finishing on beam can put extra pressure on, especially if you need to make up ground in scoring. Michigan starting on beam also meant they finished on bars, which has not been a strong point this season, but you wouldn't know that tonight.
I guess that makes sense, but I was just going on what Bev Plocki had said on WTKA yesterday--she seemed to like the draw they had gotten because it gave them the chance to get beam out of the way early, and if they could get a good score on that event, they'd have momentum for the rest of the meet.
By the way, speaking of bars--kudos to Trish Wilson for her 9.9 and tie for first after all she's been through.
But the Olympic rotation -- vault, bars, beam, floor -- really is the most advantageous. Quick start, burn off some nerves, and then finish on the highest scoring event where drawing energy from the crowd can help the performance. It certainly worked for Kent State, who was the sixth seed and finished second. They had a large cheering section right next to the floor, too.
Couldn't believe that there where gaps in video coverage 3 -5 minutes long. SInce there was no commentary and the loudspeaker was unintelligible, you had no idea what was going on. Am so sorry I couldn't see it in person. UM was awesome!!
All they show on the scoreboard is random people in the crowd so it's not like you are missing gymnastics.
At annarbor.com, Josh Coudret has a nice article about the NCAA Regional at Crisler. He includes a number of quotes from the Michigan coach and gymnasts, including this one from the coach:
“We have been getting better and better, we’ve been very consistent in practice and we just performed the way we’ve been practicing,” [Bev] Plocki said. “I was proud, because in the first event, our rookie had a fall, and it takes a lot of determination and grit for the next five to get up and hit. From there on it was smooth sailing.”