Page 8-The Michigan Daily- Sports Monday- February 17,1992
8 R#S yx a ;, zx yRecord setting performances
-R-Sty--F Women gymnasts break team-scoring mark in both meets
by Andy Stabile
and Joshua Marlow
Luck may have had a hand in the
Michigan women's gymnastics
team's five victories this weekend,
but, luck aside, the Wolverines still
performed well enough to set and
then break their team-scoring record.
Friday night, No. 23 Michigan
(3-0 Big Ten, 10-0 overall) defeated
No. 26 Louisiana State, No. 33
Northern Illinois and Indiana
University (Penn.) LSU was ex-
pected to challenge Michigan, but
due to injuries, the Tigers arrived
with just six gymnasts.
The Wolverines gainedl89.25
points to break the record of 188.6
that they had set two weeks earlier
against Iowa. LSU scored 185.25,
Northern Illinois 185.20, and IUP
182.40.
The record bolstered Michigan's
confidence, because coach Bev Fry
held back star frosh Beth Wymer
from the all-around to rest her for
Sunday's meet. Wymer has won the
all-around in every meet this season,
but Friday, she competed only on
the uneven bars.
"Everybody did a great job to-
day," junior Ali Winski said. "We
proved we could do well in the all-
around. Even without Beth, we set
the record."
It was Winski who filled the void
created by Wymer's absence, win-
ning the all-around with a personal-
best 38.15, the first time she has
broken a 38.00 during her stay at
Michigan.
After Friday's record-setting per-
formance, Wolverine assistant coach
Dave Kuzara felt confident going
into the weekend's second competi-
tion. Sunday, No. 10 Missouri would
join LSU in competition against the
Wolverines.
"We were good today," Kuzara
said. "But we will be even better on
Sunday. We will consistently get
better the rest of the way. We're
tough. We will win on Sunday."
Just as promised, Michigan de-
livered Sunday, breaking its two
day-old record by scoring 189.40 to
up the team's undefeated record to
10-0. Missouri finished with 188.2
while LSU tallied 185.25.
While it was injuries that held
back LSU, fog may have been
Missouri's undoing. The team was
forced to wait through most of
Saturday night, as zero-visibility
kept the Tigers from taking off until
6 a.m. Sunday.
The long night was evident im-
mediately, as five Missouri gym-
nasts fell from the uneven bars, the
team's first event.
"Travel problems probably had
something to do with our perfor-
mance in the meet," Missouri assis-
tant coach Kris Buchheister said.
"But after our disaster on the bars,
we came back pretty well."
Although Michigan broke its
team record, the Wolverines looked
as if they might have been the team
that had the long night. While most
of Friday's routines were completed
cleanly, many of Sunday's were not.
However, it had little affect on their
score, because only on the vault did
more than one Michigan gymnast
take a fall.
"We made some mistakes," Fry
said. "But you only count five of the
six routines. We had a little more,
energy because we were at home
and that might have given us the lit-
tle cushion we needed."
Kelly Carfora of Michigan performs on the balance beam on her way to achieving a score of 9.60. The Wolverines
garnered 189.4 points on their way to victory over LSU and Missouri.
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