Graduation Edition 2022 — 11
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Michigan clinches first National Championship title in school history

SAMI RUUD
2021 Daily Sports Writer

The 2021 gymnastics National 
Championship came down to the 
very last routine of the meet. Junior 
Abby Heiskell stared down the beam 
as she mounted it. As she performed 
her routine, she completed each skill 
with an intention to do it perfectly, a 
lesson Michigan coach Bev Plocki has 
drilled into the mind of her gymnasts 
all season. Heiskell showed no ounce 
of doubt in any of her skills, and when 
she finished the routine with a stuck 
dismount, she proved that she was 
capable of being there for her team in 
the moment it needed it most.
Heiskell, joined by her teammates, 
could not peel her eyes from the 
scoreboard, 
and 
neither 
could 
Oklahoma. Waiting for only junior 
Olivia Trautman’s score on floor and 
Heiskell’s score on beam, the teams 
sat tied at 198.0750.
When the number came in on 
the scoreboard, a 9.9250, the team, 
the coaches and the fans erupted. 

Michigan would be the 2021 National 
Champion, 
the 
first 
Michigan 
women’s gymnastics team to ever 
win a National Championship.
“We’ve talked about this for so 
long, and we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, 
this is actually happening. Oh my 
gosh, the meet is over, and we’re 
national champions,’ ” sophomore 
Sierra Brooks said. “So much went 
into this, it’s so amazing seeing our 
hard work pay off.”
Michigan clinched the win, in the 
end, by securing the lead they held 
onto the entire meet. Coming into 
the Finals, Oklahoma was ranked 
first and Michigan second, based on 
the semifinal scores, but the Sooners 
were never given a chance to shine. 
Michigan started the meet on floor 
with six strong routines, all counted 
scores at a 9.9125 or higher. Junior 
Natalie Wojcik led the pack, scoring 
a 9.9500, landing all of her tumbling 
passes smoothly and without fault. 
Sophomore Gabby Wilson also posted 
an impressive score of 9.9375, and the 
solid performance from the rest of her 
teammates landed the Wolverines at 

a 49.6250.
Michigan carried that energy 
to the vault for the second rotation, 
where it extended its lead over the 
rest of the field even further, gaining 
a 0.1375 lead over Oklahoma at the 
halfway mark.
“(Vault’s) just been amazing,” 

LEGAL NOTICE

www.UMStudentClassSettlement.com 
888-964-2138

A proposed settlement has been reached in a class 
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Michigan, et al., Case No. 2:21-cv-11168-VAR-EAS 
 
(E.D. Mich.) (the “Settlement”). Class Members 
must decide now if they want to do nothing, 
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What is this about? Plaintiff Josephine Graham 
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Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. “At 
the beginning of the year, we were 
doing big vaults, but we couldn’t get 
the landings, and it was a process. 
We absolutely peaked at the right 
time this year. … Right before the 
championship part of the season, we 
started being able to nail those 1.5s.”

Heiskell started off Michigan’s 
next rotation on bars with a stuck 
dismount. The Wolverines’ top scores 
of the rotation came from Brooks 
and junior Abby Brenner in her first 
competitive routine in months since 
hurting her ankle at the Big Five meet 
on Feb. 27, and Michigan maintained 
its lead.
That lead, though, was deceptively 
large. The Wolverines had to move 
to the beam, a nerve-racking event to 
conclude a meet on, while the Sooners 
ended on floor, whose scores were the 
highest of any event throughout the 
whole meet.
“I just said to them: ‘Take a deep 
breath, exhale out all of the nervous 
energy and let’s just go do what we do, 
one routine at a time for six routines,’ ” 
Plocki said “We got this, breath in the 
confidence, be aggressive. That’s what 
we wanted them to do, was just go do 
confident, aggressive balance beam.”
Michigan’s beam rotation did not 
start as strong as it would have liked, 
but Brooks turned the rotation around 
for the Wolverines. 
“Before I even went, I was on the 

verge of tears because I wanted it so 
bad for this team,” Brooks said. “I 
knew those routines were semi off, 
but I also trusted myself and the rest 
of the lineup, so I wanted to get out 
there and do my thing. I got on the 
beam and I just honestly approached 
it with as much confidence as I could 
ever have.”
Brooks performed her beam series 
perfectly, making up for some of the 
points her former teammates had 
lost, but Wojcik and Heiskell still had 
to nail their routines for Michigan to 
have a shot at the win.
Wojcik one-upped her teammate, 
sticking every skill just as solidly and 
scoring a 9.9875, the highest beam 
score of the day, then Heiskell handled 
the pressure of a tied score with ease.
“It’s very hard to describe how it 
feels,” Plocki said. “This is 32 years 
I’ve been waiting for this feeling … 
It’s just an unbelievable pride and 
just an admiration for what our team 
has been through and the sacrifices 
that they’ve made. I knew this was 
possible because, for the first time, 
they have belief in themselves.”

Michigan escapes Sweet Sixteen with win over South Dakota, 52-49

ABBIE TELGENHOF
2022 Assistant Sports Editor

WICHITA, KAN. — The Michigan 
women’s basketball team knew it was 
do or die.
With a trip to the Elite Eight on the 
line — potentially the first in program 
history — the third seeded Wolverines 
(25-6 overall) rose to the challenge. 
Taking down No. 11-seed South 
Dakota (29-6), 52-49, in the Sweet 
Sixteen, the Wolverines once again 
made history.
“The moment we had today is 
never going to go away,” Michigan 
coach Kim Barnes Arico said. “So 
I’m just so happy for this group. … 
We’re still playing. There are eight 
darn teams left in the country playing 
and we are one of them. That’s pretty 
incredible.”
From the opening tip, it was a gritty, 
back and forth game. Throughout the 

entire game Michigan struggled to 
score, never truly finding an offensive 
groove. Instead, short spurts of 
efficient scoring kept the Wolverines 
afloat against a physical Coyote 
defense.
In the first quarter, sloppy 
turnovers plagued Michigan. The 
Wolverines looked to their one-two 
punch of senior forward Naz Hillmon 
and senior guard Leigha Brown, but 
to no avail. 
Hillmon — who was triple-teamed 
on every possession — notched zero 
points in the first quarter and just six 
in the second. Brown fared slightly 
better, but any limited success she had 
was unsustainable. Working deep 
into the rotation early, Michigan tried 
to get something going. A short run at 
the end of the first quarter kept the 
Wolverines from fully breaking.
But opening the second quarter 
with two missed 3-pointers from 
junior guard Maddie Nolan and 

a shot-clock violation, Michigan 
quickly fell out of what little rhythm 
it had gained. Short offensive spurts 
from freshman guard Laila Phelia 
kept the Wolverines in the game — 
and a strong defensive showing forced 
South Dakota into tough shots — but 
nothing seemed to stick. 
It quickly became clear Michigan 
wouldn’t magically overcome its 
struggles, but would have to fight 
for every possession. On this night, 
nothing would come easy.
With their offense faltering, the 
Wolverines dug into their defensive 
identity, trying to keep South Dakota 
contained 
on 
offense. 
Clogging 
the paint and hedging high on ball 
screens, Michigan tried to disrupt the 
Coyotes offensive game plan. 
“We play a different style than a 
lot of the teams that (South Dakota) 
played,” Barnes Arico said. “Just going 
back and watching the film of their 
first two tournament games, who they 

beat, two Power Five opponents that 
are awesome teams, they defended it 
differently than we did tonight. We 
wanted to give them a different look. I 
think it sped them up and made them 
take quicker shots than maybe they 
wanted to take.”
Yet, South Dakota still jumped out 
to an early lead. Failing to put together 
a complete game, the Wolverines 
allowed the Coyotes to hang around 
throughout the half, entering the 
locker room down by two points.
Despite 
obvious 
halftime 
adjustments, 
the 
third 
quarter 
followed the same narrative of 
offensive struggle. Doubling down on 
finding Hillmon and senior forward 
Emily Kiser in the paint, Michigan 
finally found the shots it wanted — but 
failed to capitalize.
The Coyotes continued to force the 
Wolverines out of rotation and score 
at every level. Draining 3-pointers and 
finding their forwards inside, South 

Dakota kept Michigan from gaining 
any momentum. With the game very 
much within reach for either team 
throughout the entirety of the fourth 
quarter, 
Michigan 
continued 
to 
struggle finding offensive consistency.
Coming down to the 
final play, the Coyotes 
had a chance to secure 
the lead with 20 seconds 
left on the clock. South 
Dakota 
launched 
an 
open 3-pointer for the 
lead — only for the ball to 
bounce off the rim into 
Hillmon’s hands, with 
a foul following. The 
next possession, another 
Coyote foul sent Brown 
to the line for the first 
time all night. Draining 
both, Brown put the 
Wolverines 
back 
in 
control with a four point 
lead.

Michigan would hold on, emerging 
victorious.
And for the first time in program 
history, with just eight teams left 
vying for a national championship, the 
Wolverines are still dancing.

Michigan shocks Ohio State, ends 
eight-game losing streak in The Game

JARED GREENSPAN
2022 Managing Sports Editor

For 3,653 days — long, arduous, 
hollow days — the Michigan football 
program lived in the shadows of its 
unremitting failures against Ohio 
State. 
There won’t be a 3,654th day. At 
long last, that futile streak is over. 
After eight consecutive bitter 
losses 
to 
the 
Buckeyes, 
the 
Wolverines emerged from The 
Game victorious. No. 5 Michigan 
(11-1 overall, 8-1 Big Ten) shocked 
No. 2 Ohio State (10-2, 8-1), 42-27, 
clinching the Big Ten East and 
punching a ticket to next Saturday’s 
Big Ten Championship Game. 
“One of my favorite sayings of 
all time is, ‘When there’s a will, 
there’s a way,’ ” Michigan coach 
Jim Harbaugh said after the game. 
“And the will was very strong for 
our team.” 
As the fourth quarter wound 
to a close, reality melded with 
imagination. Senior running back 
Hassan Haskins stood in the 
endzone with outstretched arms, 
celebrating 
a 
touchdown 
that 
handed Michigan a 15-point lead 
with 2:17 minutes to play. He blew 
kisses to the crowd, beckoning the 
raucous sea of maize pom poms that 
serenaded him for an electric five 
touchdown performance. 
Pandemonium had officially set 
in. 
When the clock struck double-
zeroes, everyone seemed to forget 
about the freezing cold and the 
endless nightmares from previous 
defeats. Droves of fans plunged 
from the stands and spilled out onto 
the turf, reveling in their newfound 
glory. 
Michigan, champions of the Big 
Ten East. 
“It was a surreal moment,” junior 
quarterback Cade McNamara said. 
“It’s something we’ve dreamed of. 
Every 6 a.m. (practice), that feeling 
is the reason why we do it.”
Saturday offered an opportunity 
for the Wolverines to exorcise 
past demons, escaping the recent 
doldrums and persistent pain of the 
rivalry. A win would vault them into 
the Big Ten Championship Game 
and buoy aspirations of a berth in 

the College Football Playoff, two 
hurdles that the program had yet to 
clear as of the morning, seven years 
into Jim Harbaugh’s tenure. 
But just as toppling the Buckeyes 
began 
to 
feel 
sisyphean, 
the 
Wolverines punched first on an A.J. 
Henning touchdown — and refused 
to relent. 
“It was really like a war out 
there,” senior defensive end Aidan 
Hutchinson, who wreaked havoc on 
Ohio State’s offense with three sacks, 
said. 
In the second quarter, even 
as Ohio State took a brief 10-7 
lead, Michigan proved unfazed, 
embodying its season-long serenity. 
A 13-play, 82-yard touchdown drive 
sent the Wolverines into halftime 
clenching a 14-13 lead. 
In past years, Michigan unraveled 
in similar moments, particularly in 
The Game. On Saturday, the team 
merely grew stronger. 
The second half started to a tee. 
The Wolverines’ defense forced a 
crisp three-and-out, and the offense 
blazed down the field, running the 
ball three times for a total of 81 yards; 
Haskins capped the drive with a 
touchdown. 
They had kicked 
Ohio 
State 
back 
onto its heels, and 
the Buckeyes would 
never recover. 
So hapless were 
the Buckeyes that 
only a brief kerfuffle 
could slow down the 
Wolverines. After a 
scrum triggered an 
unsportsmanlike 
conduct on Ohio 
State’s 
Cameron 
Brown, 
Michigan 
found the endzone 
again. 
Haskins 
bounced 
outside, 
scoring 
for 
the 
third time on the 
day, 
staking 
the 
Wolverines 
to 
a 
stunning 
15-point 
lead. 
The 
result 
incited 
delirium 
and 
momentarily 
broke the Michigan 
Stadium scoreboard 
— an apt microcosm 

for the shock of The Game’s result. 
In the game’s waning minutes, 
when Stroud’s fourth-and-18 heave 
fell shy of a first down, the reality set 
in. Bleachers rattled. The stadium 
shook. Hutchinson and fifth-year 
safety Brad Hawkins shed tears. 
“We 
have 
(a 
sign) 
inside 
Schembechler Hall, ‘What are you 
doing today to beat Ohio State,’ ” 
Hawkins said. “And today, we beat 
them. It’s a blessing.” 
A blessing, perhaps, but certainly 
not a product of luck. 
“Every workout, every practice, 
every game, everything that we put 
into this season — that’s something 
that we kept in the back of our minds 
every single day that we entered 
Schembechler Hall,” McNamara 
said of Ohio State. “We did enough to 
beat them today.” 
After nine years of perpetual 
suffering, Michigan had achieved 
the unthinkable. It’s a game that no 
one will soon forget. 
“We’ve got a lot of hours left 
today,” Harbaugh smirked, allowing 
himself to digest the gravity of the 
moment. “… Celebrating long into the 
night.” 

ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily 

Michigan won its first National Championship in school history.

MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily 

Hassan Haskins scored five touchdowns in Michigan’s win 
over Ohio State.

EMMA MATI/Daily 

Michigan beat South Dakota to secure its first ever spot 
in the Elite Eight.

