Today at 2:30 central on ABC, the Michigan Women's Gymnastics team will attempt to win their first ever national championship. If you're interested in watching here's what you need to know.
Setup:
4 teams compete. Michigan will go up against Florida, Oklahoma and Utah, (Florida and Oklahoma were the top 2 teams in the country all season long)
There are 4 events - Vault, Uneven Bars, Balance Beam and Floor. Vault is Michigan's best event, but they are strong on all of them. Beam is the event most likely to destroy a team.
6 people will compete on each event. The lowest score of each routine gets dropped and does not count.
What's Needed to Win:
Individually you want as many scores at 9.9 or higher as possible.
For each event, any team score over 49.5 is great. 49.3-49.5 is solid. Lower than 49.3 is not going to get it done on this type of stage.
For a total team score, Michigan will probably need to hit 198 or higher to win it all. A score like 197.8 might be enough, but I wouldn't count on it.
The Michigan Team:
Michigan is led by their big three: Natalie Wojcik, Sierra Brooks and Gabby Wilson. Those 3 are the most capable of putting up huge scores on any event, and will all need to perform like All-Americans today, (luckily they are All-Americans). Michigan has gotten a huge boost down the stretch from Abby Heiskell. A role player for most of her career, she caught fire in the second half of the season and has been regularly dropping scores over 9.9. Carly Bauman and Nicoletta Koulos are multi-event contributors who have been reliably strong throughout the post-season. Freshmen Reyna Guggino and Naomi Morrison (vault) and Senior Lauren Farley (beam) only have 1 event, but they have all been stellar on it.
The Subplots:
- Coach Bev Plocki has won more Big Ten titles than any coach in any sport ever. She has a couple of second place finishes nationally, but has never won it all. This is her best chance in at least a decade to get her first.
- Michigan's national championship dreams seemed dead in the water when star performer Abby Brenner went down with a devastating season-ending injury. But since that injury, Michigan has been absolutely on fire. They have set all-time program best scores 3 times, and I can't even begin to count the number of time and individual has set a new personal high. It's happened probably at least 20 times in the last month or two. Can they stay on fire for one more day?
- For the last 15-20 years, no Michigan team has performed worse in the national tournament than Women's Gymnastics. There have been some epic meltdowns and heartbreaking falls (mostly on beam). This team has put those demons behind them and have looked every bit the part of a National Championship team so far. This afternoon is the chance to really drive a stake through the ghosts of all those postseason failures of years past.
Can They Win:
They definitely can win and it would not really be an upset at this point. Having said that, all 4 teams are capable of putting up huge scores and it's equally possible that Michigan could put up an outstanding 198.1 and narrowly lose. Oklahoma is the dynasty. No way they are going down quietly. Michigan will need to be at their absolute best to win, but the way they have been rolling...it's there for the taking.
Setup:
4 teams compete. Michigan will go up against Florida, Oklahoma and Utah, (Florida and Oklahoma were the top 2 teams in the country all season long)
There are 4 events - Vault, Uneven Bars, Balance Beam and Floor. Vault is Michigan's best event, but they are strong on all of them. Beam is the event most likely to destroy a team.
6 people will compete on each event. The lowest score of each routine gets dropped and does not count.
What's Needed to Win:
Individually you want as many scores at 9.9 or higher as possible.
For each event, any team score over 49.5 is great. 49.3-49.5 is solid. Lower than 49.3 is not going to get it done on this type of stage.
For a total team score, Michigan will probably need to hit 198 or higher to win it all. A score like 197.8 might be enough, but I wouldn't count on it.
The Michigan Team:
Michigan is led by their big three: Natalie Wojcik, Sierra Brooks and Gabby Wilson. Those 3 are the most capable of putting up huge scores on any event, and will all need to perform like All-Americans today, (luckily they are All-Americans). Michigan has gotten a huge boost down the stretch from Abby Heiskell. A role player for most of her career, she caught fire in the second half of the season and has been regularly dropping scores over 9.9. Carly Bauman and Nicoletta Koulos are multi-event contributors who have been reliably strong throughout the post-season. Freshmen Reyna Guggino and Naomi Morrison (vault) and Senior Lauren Farley (beam) only have 1 event, but they have all been stellar on it.
The Subplots:
- Coach Bev Plocki has won more Big Ten titles than any coach in any sport ever. She has a couple of second place finishes nationally, but has never won it all. This is her best chance in at least a decade to get her first.
- Michigan's national championship dreams seemed dead in the water when star performer Abby Brenner went down with a devastating season-ending injury. But since that injury, Michigan has been absolutely on fire. They have set all-time program best scores 3 times, and I can't even begin to count the number of time and individual has set a new personal high. It's happened probably at least 20 times in the last month or two. Can they stay on fire for one more day?
- For the last 15-20 years, no Michigan team has performed worse in the national tournament than Women's Gymnastics. There have been some epic meltdowns and heartbreaking falls (mostly on beam). This team has put those demons behind them and have looked every bit the part of a National Championship team so far. This afternoon is the chance to really drive a stake through the ghosts of all those postseason failures of years past.
Can They Win:
They definitely can win and it would not really be an upset at this point. Having said that, all 4 teams are capable of putting up huge scores and it's equally possible that Michigan could put up an outstanding 198.1 and narrowly lose. Oklahoma is the dynasty. No way they are going down quietly. Michigan will need to be at their absolute best to win, but the way they have been rolling...it's there for the taking.
