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Wolverines Honored at Team Banquet

admin — Sat, 01 May 2010 15:41:17 +0000

The University of Michigan Women’s Gymnastics program honored its gymnasts on Friday night. Complete details can be fund at: http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/w-gym/spec-rel/043010aaa.html

The 2010-2011 team captains will be Trish Wilson, Jordan Sexton, Sarah Curtis, and Kylee Botterman.

Wolverines Represent in Event Finals

admin — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 00:37:46 +0000

Four Michigan Wolverines competed in the NCAA Individual Event Finals on Saturday evening.On the vault, junior Kylee Botterman finished 7th out of 18 (9.7938) and freshman Brittnee Martinez placed 11th out of 18 (9.7188). On the balance beam, graduating senior Kelsey Knutson earned a 9.700 to place 8th out of a highly competitive field of 9 gymnasts. And on the floor exercise, freshman Natalie Beilstein placed 7th out of 13 gymnasts (9.875). Complete scores are available at: http://www.gatorzone.com/gymnastics/live/?id=8875 .

Are you a fan of Michigan Gymnastics on Facebook? If so, photos are up from the NCAA Championships gymnastics banquet.

Team Finishes 4th, but 4 Advance to Event Finals

admin — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:21:48 +0000

The University of Michigan placed 4th in the evening NCAA preliminary session and failed to qualify for the NCAA Super Six finals on Friday evening. Alabama, Florida, and Stanford advanced from the evening session while UCLA, Utah, and Oklahoma earned spots from the afternoon session. For complete results, please check out the NCAA homepage and the MGoBlue post-meet release.

The individual all-around was determined on Thursday, with LSU’s Susan Jackson earning top honors. Junior Kylee Botterman and senior Sarah Curtis placed 7th and 10th respectively, earning 2nd team NCAA All-America honors. Senior Jordan Sexton also earned 2nd team NCAA All-America honors on beam.

On Saturday evening, we will have four gymnasts competing in the NCAA Individual Event Finals – each of whom has earned 1st team NCAA All-America honors. Junior Kylee Botterman and freshman Brittnee Martinez qualified for vault finals and will compete 10th and 17th respectively in the 20 gymnast field. Senior Kelsey Knutson qualified for beam finals and will compete 3rd among the 10 finalists. Freshman Natalie Beilstein qualified for floor finals and will compete 12th among the field of 13. Free live streaming video will be available at: http://www.ncaa.com/sports/w-gym/champpage/w-gym-divnatcol-index.html.

U-M Headed to NCAA Championships!

admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 00:51:02 +0000

The Michigan Wolverines will compete in the evening preliminary sessionon April 22nd. They will be joined by Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, Missouri and Stanford. Rotating with the team will be Minnesota’s Alexis Russell, who qualified as an individual all-arounder, and Washington’s Kristen Linton, who qualified on floor exercise. The afternoon session will include Oklahoma, UCLA, Oregon State, Nebraska, LSU and Utah.

The Michigan Wolverines advanced to the NCAA Championships on Saturday night, placing second (195.800) to Stanford at the Morgantown Regional. Junior Kylee Botterman placed first in the all-around (39.550) and shared the floor exercise title with freshman Natalie Beilstein (9.90). Senior Jordan Sexton earned the uneven bars title with a career-best 9.950. Head Coach Beverly Plocki was recognized as the NCAA Northeast Regional Coach of the Year, while Assistant Coach Scott Sherman earned Assistant Coach of the Year honors.

A complete wrap-up of the Morgantown Regional is available at: http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/w-gym/recaps/041010aaa.html .

Videos of Kylee’s floor routine, Natalie’s floor routine, and Jordan’s bars routine are available on YouTube.

The complete NCAA National Championship Preliminary Session rotation schedule is available at: http://www.ncaa.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/ncaa/sports/w-gym/auto_pdf/WGym-2010-NatlRotation

Monday’s Michigan Daily article is available at: http://www.michigandaily.com/content/blue-suffers-major-loss-clinches-spot-upcoming-ncaa-finals

Team Talk with Kelsey

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:57:30 +0000

Hello Michigan Gymnastics Fans!

What a weekend! We are the 2010 Big Ten Champions! Wow, that is fun to write! Sometimes people congratulate the senior class on this year’s team and say, “This is your fourth one, so you must be getting use to it.” Well that is just not true! Every Big Ten Championship is something special! I couldn’t be more proud of how our team performed. We all competed solely for Michigan with such pride and confidence in each other.

More specifically, the freshmen performed phenomenally. They have been competing like veterans for us all year long. Sometimes the nerves can be overwhelming at a meet of this magnitude, but they didn’t let it affect them one bit. This is a very promising sign for our future goals! Sarah also had an outstanding all-around performance, especially leading things off for us on the balance beam. We are so lucky to have such an amazing gymnast get us started on that event; she definitely set the tone for FOUR 9.9 performances.

I couldn’t be more proud of last weekend. I could go on and on about each gymnast’s performance, and tell you how proud I am of each and every single one of us. But the truth is, our team has decided to compartmentalize that excitement of our Big Ten victory. We are tucking it away for now, so we can focus on our upcoming meet in West Virginia. We plan to carry the same energy and level of confidence that we have developed from these last two season high performances into our Regional competition.

Thanks for your support. (The Michigan cheering section at Big Ten’s was absolutely wonderful. I hope you all know, you are such a large part of our success!)

Go Blue!

Kelsey

We’re Headed to West Virginia!

admin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 22:37:15 +0000

On Monday afternoon, the NCAA announced the regional placements for the postseason. The University of Michigan, which rose in the rankings from #9 to #6 with their Big Ten Conference win on Saturday, was placed in the Morgantown Regional, with West Virginia University as the host. At this regional, the Wolverines will compete against Stanford, Southern Utah, West Virginia, North Carolina State, and Kent State on April 10th for the chance to advance to the NCAA National Championships. The top two teams from each region will advance to Nationals.

For a complete listing of the regional placements, go to: http://www.ncaa.com/sports/w-gym/spec-rel/032910aaa.html

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News Items of Note:

AnnArbor.com: A (sentimental) look inside the Big Ten Champion Michigan Women’s Gymnastics team

MichiganDaily.com: Michigan sets season high and nabs fourth straight Big Ten title

2010 Big Ten Champions!

admin — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 04:02:49 +0000

The Wolverines posted a season high 196.9 on Saturday afternoon to defend their Big Ten Championship (and their 17th in the past 19 years). Penn State (196.525) and Iowa (195.575) rounded out the top three teams. Michigan led from start to finish, beginning with a strong 49.2 total on floor in the second rotation. Senior Sarah Curtis, freshman Natalie Beilstein, and junior Kylee Botterman earned consecutive 9.9’s to anchor the event and to earn a tie for second place for the individual event. In the fourth rotation, the Wolverines posted a 49.125 team total on vault – highlighted by Natalie’s first Big Ten title (9.9). Sarah (9.875) and Kylee (9.85) placed second and third respectively. After two completed rotations, Michigan and Penn State were tied at 98.325. In the fifth rotation, the Wolverines earned a 49.125 on bars paced by three 9.85’s by Seniors Maureen Moody, Jordan Sexton, and Sarah Curtis. After a bye, the Wolverines rotated to their final event – beam, while Penn State was on bars. Michigan held a 0.275 lead. Sarah set the tone for the event with a 9.9 to lead-off the rotation. Freshman Katie Zurales followed with another 9.9. Jordan and freshman Brittnee Martinez proceeded to hit their routines in the third and fourth spots. And Kylee and senior Kelsey Knutson sealed up the Big Ten Championship with 9.9s in the anchor spots. Those four 9.9’s were good enough for a tie for second place on beam and a sky-high 49.45 for the team. In the all-around, Sarah was edged out by Penn State’s Brandi Personett by 0.025 (39.55 to 39.525).

In other news, Bev shared Coach of the Year honors with Illinois’ Bob Starkell. Natalie was a finalist for Freshman of the Year, while Kylee was a finalist for Gymnast of the Year.

Kylee and Sarah earned first team All Big 10 honors, while Natalie and Kelsey earned second team All Big 10 honors.

Complete scores are available at: http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/w-gym/recaps/032710aaa.html as well as audio interviews with Coach Bev and Sarah – and a clip of Kelsey’s championship clinching beam routine. Photos from MGoBlue.com are now available at: http://www.mgoblue.com/view.gal?id=66585 . Our photos will be up as soon as possible.

The meet will be re-broadcasted on the Big Ten Network on March 28 at 2am and March 29 at noon.

Michigan will wait until Monday (March 29) to learn where they will be sent for the NCAA Regional Championships which begin Saturday (April 10) at six campus sites around the country. Six teams will be sent to each regional with the top two at each site earning a berth into the NCAA Championships. The Wolverines are guaranteed their 19th-straight NCAA Regional appearance.

Wolverines Travel to Columbus for Big 10’s

admin — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 08:54:54 +0000

The 2010 Big Ten Championships will be held on Saturday afternoon at 2pm on the campus of Ohio State University. The Big Ten Network will televise the meet LIVE. Michigan alumns Eddie Umphrey and Elise Ray will provide color commentary of the meet. For more information on the Championships, check out: http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=89281&SPID=10647&DB_OEM_ID=17300&ATCLID=204874942 . If you have the afternoon free – get in a car and drive down to Buckeye Land and help us cheer on our team! GO BLUE!

For those who haven’t heard, senior Sarah Curtis will be returning for a fifth-year in 2011! Thus, we’ll have six seniors next year: Kylee, Trish, Kari, Taylor, Jordan and Sarah.

In anticipation of Saturday’s competition, here is a great feature on Big Ten Freshman of the Year candidate Natalie Beilstein:Big Life, Big Stage, Beilstein

U-M Posts Season High 196.875 at Alabama

admin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 02:59:19 +0000

Junior Kylee Botterman placed first on vault (9.950) and in the all-around (39.550) while senior Kelsey Knutson placed first on beam with a season high 9.950 to lead the Wolverines to a season high 196.875 on the road at the University of Alabama on Friday evening. The #1 ranked Crimson Tide won the dual meet with a 197.575. Complete scores can be found at: http://www.gymtide.com/current_season/2010/scores/09/index.php .

Michigan will travel to Columbus late this week in preparation for the 2010 Big Ten Championships. The meet will begin at 2pm eastern time. Unable to travel to the meet? No worries – the Big Ten Network will cover the event LIVE! Check your local listings. GO BLUE!

Team Talk with Trish

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:18:59 +0000

Hey Gym Fans!

What a great weekend, right?! After giving a great performance and defeating the Georgia Gym Dogs this past Friday, our whole team is very pumped up and ready to tackle the remaining meets left in our season.

Aside from celebrating the victory on Friday night, we also celebrated our beloved seniors after the meet. We invited friends and family to the Marriot Hotel to have some pizza and put on a goofy activity for our seniors. First, we had the seniors sit on the couch in the center of the lobby and put on a silly hat that represented something about them. For example, Mo wore a hat with cats on it because she loves her cat dearly, and Jackie wore a hat with candy all over because she loves the sweets. Then we had a list of questions the seniors had to answer, and for each question they got wrong they had to put a piece of gum in their mouth and make an animal sound. It was a great way to have a little fun with the seniors for their last home meet.

This upcoming weekend we are heading to Alabama, and the team can’t wait to be in some warm weather and show the Crimson Tide what we’ve got! We are at the point in our season where we are fine tuning everything and putting the main focus on quality compared to quantity. Everyone is looking great in the gym and showing the confidence
we need to succeed in post season!

Go Blue!

Trish