Women's Gymnastics Team Secures Spot in NCAA Championships
Didn't see this mentioned yet on the board, but Saturday night the women's gymnastics team placed second (behind Stanford) at their regional at West Virginia (of all places) to earn one of the 12 places in the NCAA Championships.
Championships will be held in Gainesville, April 22-24.
Some highlights from the U-M website:
* Team's 17th trip to the championships in 18 years
* Kylee Botterman won the all-around
* Botterman and Natalie Beilstein tied for first in the floor exercise with scores of 9.9
* Jordan Sexton was the victor in the uneven bars with a career-best 9.95
Congratulations to the team and good luck at the nationals!
April 11th, 2010 at 11:22 PM ^
Year in and year out, Women's Gymnastics is probably the most consistently excellent team Michigan fields. Every year they end up as Big Ten Champs and earn a trip to nationals, and more often than not they end up in the Super Six.
Well done, ladies.
April 11th, 2010 at 11:25 PM ^
Other Chris was actually at the match in WV. Hadn't heard specifics from her yet.
April 11th, 2010 at 11:43 PM ^
is the one sport at Michigan where I have super-secret inside sources. I'll glean what I can and report back.
April 12th, 2010 at 12:38 AM ^
Excellent job for the ladies! (Although they definitely got lucky with their regional draw - 3 falls on beam at any other location might have been a lot more problematic). I know this team can definitely make the Super Six if they hit, and possible sneak on to the podium with an exceptional meet.
It should be the most interesting NCAAs in a while, with 5 time reigning champs Georgia not making the trip, and UCLA, OU, Bama, and Florida all more than capable of winning.
It looked as if Katie Zurales, who vaults and does beam, hit her left shoulder on the beam on her dismount. Whatever happened happened before she hit the ground (she did NOT stick the dismount, let's just say). She was in terrible pain and was wearing a sling and was iced during the awards ceremony. If I had to guess I'd say she separated it, and I would doubt she'd compete at Nationals.
I was pretty sure that Michigan could make the Super Six before that. Now, I'm not sure who has scores to replace Katie, especially under pressure like Nationals.
Perhaps the "insiders" here will have an update on her injury before this, but just wanted to mention that Bev Plocki (the women's gymnastics coach) is a regular guest on WTKA's Michigan Insider, Friday mornings at 8:40.
...results from the women's teams yesterday:
The #2 ranked Softball team "run ruled" Minnesota for the second straight game with a 10-0 drubbing in 5. The team is now 30-5 (7-0 Big Ten).
Senior LHP Nikki Nemitz (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Regina HS) secured her 10th consecutive victory, striking out four en route to the complete-game one-hitter. She improved to 13-3 on the season. The Wolverines will kick off a five-game homestand on Wednesday (April 14), hosting intrastate rival Central Michigan for a 6 p.m. non-conference slate at the Wilpon Softball Complex, home of Alumni Field.The #3 ranked Women's Tennis team dominated Ohio State with a 6-1 dominating win. The team is now 17-3 (7-0 Big Ten) with matches at Purdue and versus Illinois and Indiana remaining on their conference schedule.
Singles [one point awarded for each match] No. 1 -- No. 25 Denise Muresan (U-M) d. No. 66 Kirsten Flower (OSU), 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 No. 2 -- Paloma Escobedo (OSU) d. Whitney Taney (U-M), 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 No. 3 -- Rika Tatsuno (U-M) d. Kelsey Haviland (OSU), 6-4, 6-4 No. 4 -- Mimi Nguyen (U-M) d. Gabby Steele (OSU), 6-4, 6-4 No. 5 -- Tania Mahtani (U-M) d. Christina Keesey (OSU), 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 No. 6 -- Michelle Sulahian (U-M) d. Fidan Manashirov (OSU), 6-3, 6-3 Doubles [one point awarded based on all three match results] No. 1 -- No. 36 Taney/Tatsuno (U-M) d. Haviland/Hubbs (OSU), 8-5 No. 2 -- Escobedo/Keesey (OSU) d. Nguyen/Sulahian (U-M), 8-6 No. 3 -- Muresan/Mahtani (U-M) d. Steele/Manashirov (OSU), 8-5
April 12th, 2010 at 10:38 AM ^
It seems like a broken record, showing my age a bit here, but CONGRATS (again) the our woman's gymnastic team. They are probably our most consistent program - and least appreciated.
All the Michigan women's teams are rocking right now. I am planning on seeing all of them this year - having already seen the Gymnastics team twice.
Go Blue!
April 12th, 2010 at 12:30 PM ^
I don't really disagree with what you're saying, but other than the big 3 (football, men's basketball, and hockey), are there any sports at Michigan with average attendance higher than women's gymnastics?
Each home meet has anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 or more people in attendance at Crisler. They certainly outdraw the women's basketball team.
Given their large following, I wouldn't exactly call women's gymnastics a secret, but they certainly get little pub and are underappreciated.