46 - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - April 7, 1997 'M' hits peak despite ailing Peters' absence 0 The Michigan women's gymnastics team was thoroughly excited after placing first in Saturday's Central Regional, but the women rebuked University President Lee Bollinger's attempt to steal a bouquet of flowers after the meet. The Wolverines next compete at the NCAA championships in Gainesville, Fla., in two weeks. By Nita Srivastava Daily Sports Writer Rising to the occasion has been the underlying motif that the Michigan women's gymnastics team has established throughout its season. The Wolverines peaked their performances in the NCAA Central Regional championship this week- end. The Wolverines suffered a great loss in the com- petition with sophomore Nikki Peters out of the running in the floor exercise and the vault. She sprained both of her ankles last Wednesday in prac- tice when she was working on her vaults. "We did not make a big deal of it before the championship because we did not want any excus- es if we did not win," Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. Peters spent the few days before the regionals undergoing hundreds of treatments a day so that she could perform her nationally ranked No. I uneven bars routine for Michigan in Saturday's competition. "The dismount that Nikki stuck (in the Regionals) is the first dismount that she has landed since Wednesday, so we are really proud of her" Plocki said. With Peters not competing in two events, the Wolverines had to rely on their other teammates to perform well in her position. Freshman Sarah- Elizabeth Langford filled in for Peters on vault and finished with a 9.775. Senior Andrea McDonald replaced Peters in the floor exercise, finishing with a 9.875, a score com- parable with Peters' usual marks. "It is important to be ready if the task is up and you need to step in," McDonald said. "Andrea just really came together" Peters said. "That's what we have to do, that's what a team is. When somebody goes down, the team is right there.' McDonald not only performed well on the floor exercise but also set season highs for herself in the vault and the balance beam with scores of 9.875 in both apparatuses. "I had everybody telling me how good I was going to do," McDonald said. "I felt very confident, because I had been training pretty hard for this type of situation." "We're so proud of Andrea for jumping into the lineup and coming up with the scores that she did," Plocki said. "I was really glad that she had the chance to get in there and perform the way she d in her last debut on the Michigan campus." This season, junior Heather Kabnick competed in the all-around only once. Saturday, she stepped up her performance to end with a second-place finish behind Alabama's Meredith Willard by only .05 points. "This is my best meet of the year" Kabnick said. "It's like they say, whoever wants it the most will get it." As a whole, the Wolverines rose to the occasion of the regionals, scoring a 197.7, the highest scor in Michigan history. "Our team has been right on the edge all season long, right on the fringe of being able to do this," Plocki said. "We've had meets scoring 196.5 and 197.3, but in every one ofThose meets, we had to count at least one fall. We knew that when we put it together, we had the potential to be a 198 team. We finally did it (Saturday) where we didn't have to count a fall and hopefully we're peaking at the right time." The Wolverines definitely exhibited their abili to rise to the occasion in virtually every aspect the regional competition, but the glory cannot only be attributed to the competitors. Plocki played a strong role in the success of the team. Saturday, she was awarded regional coach of the year. She set the standard of rising up and performing, and she taught it to her gymnasts. She raised the level of difficulty for her gymnasts by using more challenging routines in competition. In her eight seasons as coach for the Wolverines, she has-led the team in six place-finishes in the Central Regionals. "I think that she has done a great job of bringi this program to a national level," Alabama coac Sarah Patterson said. The Wolverines look to continue their "rise to the top" performance when they compete in the NCAA national championship later this'month. "We've come a long way since the first meet" said McDonald. "We made a commitment to each other and to what we want to do. That's the sole rea- son we're ranked No.1 in the region right now. I'm excited and I think we're ready." REGIONALS Continued from Page 1B Louisiana State's Stephanie Hyett for the vault title. But Michigan also received a cou- ple of last-second, dark-horse per- formances. When sophomore Nikki Peters, an integral part of the Wolverines, went down with two sprained ankles last week, a gaping hole was left. Called on to plug up that hole were freshman Sarah- Elizabeth Langford, senior Andrea McDonald and sophomores Kristin Duff and Kathy Burke. Each responded well to Michigan's dis- tress call. Langford and McDonald recorded vault scores of 9.775 and 9.875, respectively. On the uneven bars, the story was similar and the smiles were the same. Filling in for Peters, Duff pulled through with a solid 9.875 on the bars, allowing the regulars to work their wonders. Cain proved once again why she was voted Big Ten gymnast of the year two weeks ago, bouncing back to capture the bars title with a 9.975. Meanwhile, Alabama was digging itself a hole. Competing next on the balance beam, the Tide recorded a less-than-superb 49.025, despite senior Meredith Willard's title-win- ning beam score of 9.925. Halfway through Saturday's com- petition, the Wolverines found them- selves sitting pretty, with a large 1.1- point lead over LSU and a surprising 1.45-margin ahead of Alabama. "I thought that was about the way things might end up," Alabama coach Sarah Patterson said. "The underlying story for us in this meet was that we started on the two pres- sure events, bars and beam. We were a little tentative and had a few prob- lems." Despite Michigan's big lead, the biggest test was yet to come. The Wolverines had to sit through a bye round before opening their third set on the balance beam, which has often been Michigan's toughest event this season. "All we talked about was relaxing and doing what we do every day," Plocki said. "It's great to have a bye before the beam because vault and bars are events that you get really pumped up for and sometimes you're adrenaline level can be too high going into the beam. So it's good to have a bye to take a step back and bring it down a little bit so that you can re-focus on the balance beam." The Wolverines were relaxed on the beam, picking up right where they left off before the bathroom break. Michigan received its sixth solid bench performance of the evening, with a 9.8 from Burke. "It's a key position to be the lead- off person on balance beam," Plocki said. "And Kathy does that so well because she can just go up there and be rock-solid." Michigan's ride through the beam wasn't exactly smooth, but it was adequate enough to sustain the lead. Cain proved she was human, record- ing two breaks on her beam routine, eventually tallying an 8.85. "I was disappointed because I fell," Cain said. "But the five people before me hit and had solid scores. So overall the team did well." Michigan still led LSU and Alabama by 1.025 and 1.125, respectively, heading into the evening's final apparatus. With a full-one point lead, the only thing left to be determined was the all- around title. Alabama's Willard led Michigan's Olympic atopeei golden for Michigan Wolverines vault into NCAA championships with support from energized Crisler Arena crowd By Nita Srivastava Daily Sports Writer It almost felt like someone was going to come out with the Olympic torch at Crisler Arena Saturday night for the women's gymnas- tics NCAA Central Regional competition. You could feel the intensity of the crowd as the gymnasts marched through the tunnel into the arena wearing their school colors and waving proudly to their respective fans. First was the music - that Olympianesque, inspirational tune that always comes on IG44 when the athletes are intro- duced to the crowd. The arena was dark, with the colored spotlights circling - around the crowd of 4,072. And a cloud of smoke made the tunnel barely visible from the stands. The teams were introduced in alphabetical order by the overly dramatic voice of the announcer as the gymnasts were led into the arena by men in tuxedos. These men carried a sign with the school's name on it, just as the athletes do in the Olympics with their country's flag. The fans from every school were screaming cheers for their school. You heard the Michigan fans yelling "Go Blue!" and the Alabama fans hollering "Roll Tide, Roll!" The Wolverines even got to perform their apparatuses in Olympic order: vault, uneven bars, balance beam and then floor exercise. "Vault is a great event for us," Michigan senior Andrea McDonald said. "To start off with a big event can set the tone for the meet and get some momentum going, so that we can be really good." The order of apparatuses seemed to help Michigan in their level of confidence and the Wolverines were able to pull their perfor- mances together and beat Alabama, the defend- ing regional champions for 10 consecutive years. LIMP, TIDE, LIMP: After Alabama's meet March 8, the team sustained injuries to senior Kim Bonaventura, freshman Heidi Harriman and junior Shay Murphy. All-American Murphy tore her anterior cruciate ligament 16 weeks ago during preseason practice and was sup- posed to be out for the remainder of the season. Murphy had other ideas, as she ended up competing in the floor exercise and the balance beam scoring a 9.9 and 9.725, respectively. "It's unprecedented for a gymnast to come back (from that type of injury)," Alabama coach Sarah Patterson said. "Once she had done her floor routine, there was not a dry eye on our sidelines. It was such an inspiration to every one of us." SOLID ON THE BAR: Even with sophomore Nikki Peters out on two sprained ankles, the Wolverines got incredible performances from freshman Sarah Cain, sophomore Kristin Duff and junior Heather Kabnick. Cain recorded a career high of 9.975, which was also the second highest score in Michigan history in the regional for this event. "It feels good," Cain said, "but the team win- ning feels a lot better." Duff tied her career high from the Magical Classic versus Utah State with a 9.875 on the uneven bars. Kabnick exceeded her 9.8 score that she recorded in the meet against Minnesota earlier in the season and posted a season's best of 9.85. "I felt I had a good performance," Kabnick said, "but I can definitely improve and pull things together. Hopefully that will show in nationals." TIGERS BALANCE THE BEAM: Louisiana State recorded its season high of 49.225 on the bal- ance beam as they captured first place on the apparatus in the regionals. Stephanie Hyett and Amy McClosky tied with 9.875 to help out their team, THE TIDE ROLLS IN A CHAMPION: Alabama's senior Meredith Willard was the all-around winner with a score of 39.625. She came in first in the balance beam with a 9.925, but did not fare such high scores in the other events. Last season she was tied with her teammate, senior Stephanie Woods, for top honors on the uneven bars and balance beam. JOHN KRAFT/Daily Michigan's Andrea McDonald's vaulting efforts landed her a 9.875 from the judges. As a team, the Wolverines placed first on the vault. CAIN Continued from Page 11B Amelkovich said. "I don't know why. She just loves it." The kid in her loves candy, but unlike a little tyke, Cain is not self- ish with the treat. "She brings them to practice and shares them with all of us," team- mate Lauren LaBranche said. Along with eating candy, Cain practices for nearly three hours each day, which has helped her accom- plish all that she has. The awards she won at the Big Ten championships came as a shock to Cain. "I was so surprised when I found out I won," Cain said. "I didn't even know that freshmen could win both awards." Although she was a shoo-in for the freshman of the year award, the gym- nast of the year award came as more of a surprise. "It was really neat," Cain said. "It could have gone any way because the scores were so close." But Cain's scores weren't anything close to her fellow freshmen com- petitors. "Statistically she was a landslide that's neat." Cain has scored a perfect 10 in three events this year: the vault, the balance beam and the floor exercise - her favorite. "I like the floor because you get a variety," Cain said. "The floor shows more of your personality." Along with the creativity that the floor contains, it also has been the place of some of Cain's highest scores this year. With more difficult routines being added, and her competition increas- ingly more fierce, Cain does not- have any trouble keeping up with the pressure. And like her stellar performances at meets, Sarah is a superb student as well. Although undecided in her major, Cain takes some of the University's most difficult classes, like chem- istry. Balancing academics and a- strong athletic performance is not easy. "I go to practice for three or four hours, and then after that I have to get my work done," Cain said. "There isn't much time for free time." In fact, Cain came to Michigan because she felt it has a great bal- said. "It's not a step down from what I was doing, but there is less pres- sure." Before coming to Michigan, Ca was competing with Olympic hop . fuls, although she grimaces at the mention of the word. "I was used to elite level gymnas- tics, but I never wanted to go to the Olympics," Cain said. Right now, the level to which Cain wants to ascend is that of qualifying for the national meet. But nationals aside, Cain already has quite a season under her belt, especially with the accomplishmO of winning the two awards. On Cain, Plocki is undoubtedly impressed with what this freshman has brought to the team. "She really turned out to be a plea- sure to have on the team as well as a phenomenal competitor," Coach Plocki said. "She is conscientious, hardwork- ing, and has a commitment to train- ing and the team." Now that the regional meet is over, Cain has her eyes set on the biggest treat of the season, the NCAA cham- pionships. "For the national meet we are going to do the same thing as we did .