The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 13, 2000 - 13A
Can 'M' be
By Richard Haddad
Daily Sports Writer
The No. I Michigan women's gymnas-
tics team has spent an entire year prepar-
ing for a single weekend. Ever since the
Wolverines finished second to Georgia in
Ast season's national championship by a
re .03, their focus has been on captur-
ing the ultimate honor.
Finally, a year later, the opportunity to
achieve that goal is here. But there is an
obstacle - back-to-back champion
Georgia is not ready to relinquish its
crown and will attempt to crush
14ichigan's aspirations once again.
,But the outcome from last season's
finals was not an isolated result. The
Wolverines have battled the GymDogs
-ee times in 2000 and the GymDogs
e come out on top every time.
"The fact that we've been exposed to
them so much de-emphasizes their
imporiance," Michigan coach Bev Plocki
said., It's just that 'ho-hum, it's Georgia,
we've seen them five times already.' It
at Georgia
takes away the intimidation factor."
That intimidation is precisely what has
spelled the Wolverines' doom in the past.
Michigan's inability to defeat Georgia
stems more from mental factors than
those involving physical ability.
Regardless of which team is more talent-
ed, Georgia usually has the mental edge.
"Many times, Michigan has had teams
on the floor that have had the ability to
beat Georgia," Georgia coach Suzanne
Yoculan said after the Feb. I1 meet. "Part
of it is not necessarily a deficit that
Michigan has, but an advantage that the
Georgia team has. In close competition,
Georgia's going to win, and that's the bot-
tom line - we know how to win"
Michigan showed that it knows how to
do a little bit of winning itself this season.
And this time, No. 3 Georgia, defending
champion or not, will be the underdog.
But while the Wolverines have been intim-
idated in the past, the GymDogs won't be.
"We've beaten Michigan every time
we've competed against them, haven't
we?"Yoculan asked. "The time they were
this time?
second in the country, we were first. They
roll over to us a little bit, but the day will
come when they stop doing that."
Michigan came close to ending the
streak in the teams' last meeting, in
Athens on Feb. 19. The Wolverines did
not suffer from the mental faults that usu-
ally plague them and turned in a solid
196.8 team score. Georgia won that meet
due to its own outstanding performance.
"We've seen them on a great day and
we've seen them on an average day - our
kids know that on the right day for us, we
can win," Plocki said. "There's no defen-
sive strategy in gymnastics, so we can't
concentrate on anybody but ourselves."
"It's something Michigan can't get
past;" Yoculan said. "They're so good,
they're so talented, they know they're as
good as anyone in the country. But beat-
ing Georgia and winning a national title
- those two hurdles have eluded them.
It's like a carrot out there dangling that
they can't reach."
This weekend, that carrot will dangle
once again, more enticing than ever.
For all the Glory
Who: No. I Michigan (22.5) at the NCAA
Championships
Where: The Pavilion, Boise State
University, Boise, Idaho.
When: 9 p.m. today, 9 p.m.tomorr;ow
Individual event final 9p.m. Saturday.
Latest: The Wolverines are looking to win
the first women's team national champi-
onship in the history of Michigan athletics.
Joining Michigan in Boise will be the nation's
No.2 through No.9 teams -tUCLA,
Georgia, Utah, Nebraska, Alabama,
Louisiana State, Iowa State, and West
Virginia- as well as No. 11 Bigham Young,
No. 14 Penn State and No. 20 Oregon State.
Last season, the Wolverines finished in sec-
ond place behind nemesis Georgia. All indi-
cators point to a head-to-head battle sM HOLLENSHEAO/DaIvy
CHAMPIONSHIPS
Continued from Page 1i.A
do it first."
Despite all the buildup and the inevitable hype that accom-
panies a No. I team's road to the NCAA Championships
Michigan insists that its season will have been a success regard-
less of the results of this weekend. It has been a record-break-
ing year, and nothing - and no one - can take that away frorr
the Wolverines.
"This season has been spectacular," Plocki said. "If we hadr
crummy season and won the championship, it doesn't mean tha
it was a great season. It means that we had a great meet. If it wa,
an awesome season and we don't win the national champi-
onship, it doesn't mean the season was a disappointment."
This is not to say that Michigan doesn't want to win. Thc
entire season has been geared toward the championships, apd a
victory in this forum would mean the world to the Wolverines.
For some, it. would be an incredible opening to their Michigar
careers, while to others, it would be a storybook ending.
To win "would be amazing," senior Kate Nellans said. "I've
had an amazing four years, but it would top everything."
::
"Meet the ion
dson of
-
......... .
.:.::::.::::..................................
.. onk
rot lp, s. .:.:
C
$ ,'! t;
,'-
i i
1
1 S
Y
24
j:}
# 'r 3{}
1t 5
ULRICHS.C01
Have your books waiting for you
Reserve your books early
6.
U#A-I r __, -1 -.. 1