“Can’t break steel.”
All season long, that’s what Michigan’s
gymnasts have preached. Through injury,
through tough competition, through
controversy and a long season of twisting
and turning and tumbling — you can’t
break steel.
Saturday night, the culmination of that
mentality was put to the test. A day of
competition in the NCAA Regional Final
left reigning national champion UCLA
with a hefty lead and the Wolverines
in second with a not-so-hefty lead over
Alabama.
A quick vault rotation at the end of
Saturday’s meet left Michigan waiting —
waiting to see if Alabama would make a
comeback on beam, waiting to see if its
lead was big enough, waiting to see if SEC
beam champion Lexi Graber would score
a 10.000 on her best event, waiting to see
if Alabama’s last-ditch effort for a trip to
Fort Worth would jeopardize a potential
National Championship appearance.
For anyone in maize, every second
of the routine was agonizing. For the
Crimson, it was gold.
Graber gave everything Alabama
could have asked her for. Every turn
was controlled, every toe was pointed,
every connection was hit. For a team that
needed a 10.000, having Graber anchor
was the best possible option.
She dismounted the beam, and all
eyes, Alabama and Michigan alike, were
trained on the scoreboards. In neon lights,
the number flashed on the screen.
9.950.
The waiting game was over —
Michigan was going to the NCAA
Championship. Sam Roy threw her arms
in the air, Emma McLean hugged Lexi
Funk (and anyone else she could find) and
a tearful Olivia Karas was overcome with
emotion.
“It was a nail-biter. It was one of those
things that you don’t know until the
last score comes up,” Karas said. “To be
honest, I don’t think anyone really knew
what to expect. You just don’t know with
scoring, and I didn’t watch any of the
routines because I was too nervous. But it
was definitely one of those very raw, ‘Oh
my god, we did it!’ moments, and you don’t
get those a lot in life.”
Michigan’s final score of 197.275, a
thread above Alabama’s 197.225, was built
up through an evening of heavy scoring
and intense competition. The all-around
left Karas and Natalie Wojcik tied with
Nebraska’s Sienna Crouse at second with
identical scores of 39.475, which would
have topped the charts if the Bruins’ Kyla
Ross wasn’t Kyla Ross.
But she was, and she swept the beam
and bars rotations with a 10.000 in
each, along with a 9.950 to tie teammate
Katelyn Ohashi for floor.
UCLA rounded out the top-three
on floor with Gracie Kramer, and if
you haven’t seen a Gracie Kramer floor
routine, it’s a completely different breed
of energetic, passionate gymnastics. The
Bruins stacked the event, and with top
placers in every other rotation, they built
a first-place finish early on that no team
could replicate.
That left three teams bidding over one
ticket to Fort Worth. It was going to be
tough, a complete battle, for any of the
three to earn it over the others.
Cue the motto: “Can’t break steel.”
After Kramer came three Wolverines
in a nine-way tie for fourth on the floor
— McLean, Karas and Abby Brenner. No
Michigan gymnast took an individual
title from the event like Ross did for the
Bruins, but each placed high enough to
rack up points for a tiny, gutsy lead over
Alabama.
Wojcik did her part, leading the
Wolverines on beam and barely topping
Karas’ 9.900 to be the lead scorer for
Michigan in the event. Lauren Farley
dominated the bars for the Wolverines,
earning a 9.875, while three gymnasts —
McLean, Brenner and Anne Maxim — all
earned a team-high 9.850 on vault.
Individually, there were no titles. But
that’s not what the NCAA Regional Final
meant to Michigan.
“It’s incredible,” said Michigan
coach Bev Plocki. “This team has been
through a lot, and they say what doesn’t
kill you only makes you stronger and
that’s sort of the motto
this team has
taken. ‘Can’t
break steel.’
“I’m just so
incredibly proud
of them, just
really staying
together as
a team. And
people say this
is an individual
sport. It’s not.
We succeeded
because we
have stayed
together
as a team,
and when
there’s one
blip on the
screen,
everyone
else steps up and has that person’s back.
We’ve been doing that all season long, and
last night and tonight.”
UCLA punched its ticket early, by no
surprise. For the Wolverines, it took a
little bit longer, a little more waiting.
But when the moment came to punch
that second ticket to Fort Worth, they’d
put in the work. They earned their spot
as one of eight teams left in the nation
to compete next Friday, collectively, as a
whole, together.
“Can’t break steel.”
Katelyn Mulcahy & Madeline Hinkley / Daily
Design by Jack Silberman
The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | April 8, 2019
NEMITZ WALK-OFF PROPELS MICHIGAN TO WIN
INSIDE SPORTSMONDAY
See Page 3B
SPORTSMONDAY
197.275
CAN’T
STEEL
National Championship
Laney Byler
Daily Sports Editor
WOLVERINES ADVANCE TO