12A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, December 5, 1996 Intrasquad competitions kick off'96-'97 gymnastics' seasons. Healthy women tumblers kick off season Men's gymnastics tumbles into action By Sara Rontal For the Daily Put away the Band-Aids and ace bandages; the Michigan women's gymnastics team is finally healthy and ready to start fresh this season. With five consecutive Big Ten championships and four straight trips to the NCAA championships, the women's gymnastics team has much to look forward to in 1997 "I'm extremely excited about the season," Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. "The returning gymnasts that we have from last season, and the freshman that we gain, will supply us with a considerably deeper team." This season the team is healthier and stronger than last year's injury- plagued squad. This year's goal is another Big Ten title - and yet another trip to the NCAA championship. Leading the team are senior co-captains Andrea McDonald and Autumn Donati. McDonald knows how to lead by example. When her teammates were injured last year, she stepped up her performance and nailed some of the best scores of her career. In a stellar season, she established career highs including Big Ten runner-up status in the vault, a third-place finish in the floor exercise and sixth place on the uneven bars. "I feel Andrea will be an excellent leader for us, both with her work ethic and leadership abilities," Plocki said. "She has always man- aged to be a consistent producer for us." Donati - a specialist on the vault and in the floor exercise - scored career bests in 1996 with a 9.40 score on the vault. As freshmen last season, Beth Amelkovich, Kathy Burke, Kristin Duff, Nikki Peters and Lisa Simes helped lead the team to four Big Ten event titles, while garnering four All- Big Ten and four All-America cita- tions between them. "Our sophomores stepped up last year and won Big Ten event titles as freshmen," Plocki said. "The experi- ence they gained at the Big Tens and NCAAs, coupled with the meet com- petition, gives us a solid nucleus of talent and experience for the upcom- ing year." With four new members joining the squad this season, the Wolverines' depth has increased sig- nificantly. These freshmen, Sarah Cain, Kellee Davis, Sarah-Elizabeth See TUMBLERS, Page 13A By Eugene Bowen Daily Sports Writer This year's Michigan men's gymnas- tics team will be sporting a new look. The Wolverines have a new head coach and assistant coach, 10 freshmen and transfer students, and a newly-refur- bished practice facility. Michigan's tum- blers are certainly hoping that all this novelty will work to their advantage. At 7 p.m. tomorrow at Cliff Keen Arena, Michigan's season will kick off with the Maize and Blue Intrasquad competition. While only Wolverines will participate and the scores will have no bearing on Big Ten rankings, this first competition will still be important. Senior co-captain Flavio Martins said the meet will provide everyone a chance to see what this year's team has to offer. "The purpose of the Maize and Blue (Intrasquad) is to advertise and show people what we can do," he said. "It's also a chance for us to look at ourselves and see how we're look- ing competitive-wise." Senior co-captain Jason MacDonald concurred. "I hope we go into this competition seriously," he said. "This is a fun meet. But our season begins Friday with the intrasquad; we can't afford to forget that." MacDonald will be competing on the vault, the parallel and horizontal bars'and on the floor exercises. For freshman Jose Haro, who will be competing in the all-around, the Maize and Blue Intrasquad has personal signif- icance. It will be his first opportunity t compete in an environment where team is stressed more than the individual. Haro competed in the World Championships last year with the Mexican national team, and he said tomorrow's meet will be his first taste of collegiate competition. "This is very different from what I'm' used to," he said. "Collegiate competi- tion is more team-oriented, whereas with international competition everything i much more individual." Sophomore Randy D'Amura said the intrasquad competition will be most important for the Michigan's newest members, like Haro. With freshmen and transfer stu- dents comprising more than half of the team's 16-man roster, it will be critical that the Wolverines become acclimated to collegiate level compe- tition as quickly as possible. Haro said that he will take advantag of tomorrow's opportunity to acclimate himself to his new home floor. "I'm just trying to get used to every- thing," he said. FILEt P UiTUUaiiy The Michigan men's gymnastics team looks to 10 new faces to replace Paul Bischoff. ATTENTION STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS! RUSH TO ) v R si w'. 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