8 — Friday, April 19, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Michigan prepares for nationals

In order to be the best, you 
have to compete against the best.
The best teams can thrive 
under pressure. And thrive when 
it is super close.
Can’t break steel.
Bev Plocki has been giving 
her team of 14 gymnasts these 
nuggets of wisdom all season, 
and for the thirty years she’s been 
Michigan’s women’s gymnastics 
coach. 
But this year is something 
different. This group of gymnasts 
is different. This season has 
been so different. So the nuggets 
of 
wisdom, 
naturally, 
mean 
something different. 
The Wolverines have been 
through hell and back. Riddled 
with coaching scandals, injuries, 
and some less-than-stellar scores 
throughout the past few months, 
they have been in the spotlight 
and a topic of conversation 
throughout 
the 
gymnastics 
world. 
However, as of late, Michigan 
has been making waves for all 
the right reasons. After tying 
for second place at the Missouri 
Quad Meet on Feb. 15, a meet 
they were highly favored to win, 
the Wolverines bounced back 
to convincingly win the Big 
Ten Championship. And then, 
riding the momentum of their 
conference title, marginally beat a 
talented Alabama team to qualify 
for the National Championship. 
And this was no easy feat. 
The NCAA changed the format 
of nationals at the beginning 
of 
the 
season, 
consequently 
allowing four less teams to 
advance to the championship 
round. There is an initial duel 
meet to determine the last team 
in to compete at regionals, and 
then there are two sessions of 
four teams competing on the 
first day. The top two teams from 
each of those sessions advance 
to compete in the regional final 
the following day, and the top 

two teams from the regional 
competition advance to nationals. 
Michigan, ranked seventh in 
the country, is now one of the 
eight teams that performed at 
the caliber that allowed them 
to advance from their regional 
competitions to compete on the 
biggest stage. The Wolverines are 
ready. And they know it. 
“I think the biggest thing for 
us is going to be believing that we 
belong,” said junior captain Lexi 
Funk. “Because, you know, it was 
a big deal for us to get to nationals, 
especially because they changed 
the format and there’s less teams 
that get to go. But there’s no 
reason that we don’t belong at 
nationals. There’s no reason that 
we can’t qualify to the final day. 
There’s no reason we can’t win.”
Though 
the 
2018-2019 
season isn’t over yet, Michigan 
has already outperformed its 
previous season. The Wolverines 
had a solid record, then won the 
Big Ten Championship, but failed 
to qualify for nationals. 
So, as a team that thrives in the 
face of adversity and missteps, 
they made sure that wouldn’t 
happen again and — in this team’s 
fashion — have found the silver 
lining in the dark clouds from the 
past. 
“Since we didn’t make it to 
nationals last year, we’re already 
a step ahead of where we were 
last year,” said Funk. “So I think 

I just want to go into nationals 
giving nothing but 110 percent 
and just enjoying all of the 
experiences that come along with 
it. … We’ve had such a good team 
chemistry this year and this is 
our last meet all together, so I 
think just enjoying each other’s 
company and just ending it with a 
bang. That’s all we can ask to do.”
Along with a stacked roster 
of accomplished athletes that 
continue to impress with every 
next competition, Michigan has 
one outstanding quality that has 
given it the ability to outshine the 
ups and downs of the season: its 
chemistry.
“It makes all the difference 
having that kind of a team 
dynamic,” Funk said. “… When 
you’re competing, you’re up on 
that event all by yourself. And I 
look around on floor while I’m 
dancing and I see my team doing 
my choreography with me on the 
sidelines. It’s comforting to see 
that my teammates are having 
fun with me and they want me 
to do well so that we can all 
do well together. And I think 
you can see the great dynamic 
that we have in the meets — we 
obviously say that, but I think 
you can see that in our actions … 
it’s indescribable.”

SHIRA ZISHOLTZ
Daily Sports Writer

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
The Michigan women’s gymnastics team qualified for nationals last week.

Read more online at
MichiganDaily.com

