S

omething was off from the 
start. 
Before the No. 3 Michigan 
women’s gymnastics team could 
even get going, senior Gabby 
Wilson fell on the second routine 
of the team’s first rotation. With 
an uncharacteristic fall on bars, 
Wilson, 
and 
the 
Wolverines’ 
hopes, were already on the ground. 
And that’s just about where they 
would stay — no matter how hard 
the team fought. 
Although 
Michigan 
(26-2 
overall) led for the first two 
routines and was tied going into 
the final rotation, it had a subpar 
meet at the worst possible time, 
failing to qualify for the National 
Semifinals for the first time since 
2018 with a score of 197.750, while 
No. 14 Denver and No. 6 LSU 
advanced.
The Wolverines and Tigers 
ended the meet tied, so it all 
came down to a tiebreaker. All 
six gymnasts were counted in 
all four events. While Michigan 
could usually move past an 
uncharacteristic fall on an event, 

the falls were the Wolverines’ 
kryptonite on Sunday.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Michigan 
coach Bev Plocki said. “We have 
had an amazing season. I think 
we’re a team that could contend 
to win a title, but I think it’s a 
combination. I still feel like even 
with the meet that we had, we 
deserved to be one of the teams 
that advanced. But when we open 
the door and kind of put things 
into a gray area and we put control 
into someone else’s hands, that 
does not always end well.”
And the Wolverines cracked 
that door open from the beginning. 
Although Michigan had one fall 
on the bars with Wilson’s slip, they 
still excelled and led after the first 
event. Graduate students Abby 
Heiskell and Natalie Wojcik and 
senior Sierra Brooks led the charge 
with 9.950s. They looked like their 
usual stalwart selves and helped 
Michigan gain a .225 point lead. 
Despite the fall, the team already 
reached its peak, securing the 
fourth-best bars score in program 
history with a 49.650. But, with the 
tiebreaker the fall is the one thing 
that would ultimately matter.
And that was all the history and 
happiness the Wolverines could 

muster. 
The beam rotation started out 
no better than the bars. Junior 
Carly Bauman fell on the beam, 
her second beam fall of the 
weekend. Once again, the rest 
of the routines would have to be 
nearly flawless to make up for 
the early misstep. Once again, as 
Brooks has done so often through 
this season and her career, she 
led the charge with a 9.950 that 
included a back handspring double 
twist and a stuck dismount. But, no 
matter how hard Brooks and her 
teammates fought, the Pioneers 
and the Tigers were clawing back, 
and Michigan’s lead dwindled to 
just .075 points. 
Luckily for the Wolverines, 
they had their strongest event 
to resurrect their national title 
hopes. Three gymnasts scored 9.9 
and above, with Brooks once again 
leading the way with a 9.925. But, 
it didn’t seem to matter, as they 
still underperformed. After three 
rotations, Michigan was in hazy 
territory. They were tied with LSU 
for the lead, clinging on to hope 
that they would be one of the top 
two teams to advance. 
Michigan has dictated so much 
of how its meets went this season. 

But this one was out of its hands. As 
they finished on vault, the Tigers 
still had gymnasts performing for 
their lives on the floor. On vault, 
one of the Wolverines’ strong suits, 
they had an average performance 
in a situation where they needed a 
spectacular one. Freshman Kaylen 
Morgan anchored the event with a 
stuck landing and a time high 9.9. 
But it didn’t matter. It was all up to 
LSU and Denver. 
And there’s one thing you 
should never do in gymnastics: 
leave the door open. 
When LSU’s final floor routine 
finished, there was a shock around 
the arena. Michigan and the 
Tigers were tied at 197.750. No one 
seemed to know what was going 
on. Except for the Wolverines. You 
could see it on their faces. 
All you could see were tears. 
After 
a 
few 
moments 
of 
deliberation among the judges, 
where 
they 
counted 
all 
six 
gymnasts’ scores for all events as 
the tiebreaker, the outcome was 
clear. With its falls on beam and 
bars, Michigan’s sixth gymnast 
couldn’t dig it out of a hole. Instead, 
that sixth gymnast was its Achilles 
heel. The one time the Wolverines 
needed all six gymnasts, for a team 

that is uncannily deep, was the one 
time not all six gymnasts showed 
up for every event. And thus, the 
shocking, unthinkable outcome 
was true:
For the first time since 2018, 
Michigan would not be competing 
for a National Championship. 
“We win and we advance 
together as a team,” Plocki said. 
“… I think we deserve to advance, 
but when we open the door and put 
control in someone else’s hands 
then it doesn’t always come out the 
way that we wanted.”
The failure to advance is 
shocking, heartbreaking even for 
the Wolverines. But it wasn’t for 
a lack of high scores and stuck 
landings. The overall score was 
respectable but a far cry from 
Michigan’s standard.
“We have six up and five count 
for a reason,” Plocki said. “… We 
won bars. We won vault. We tried 
to win floor. … There were a lot of 
bright spots. It’s a little bit hard. 
I haven’t been sitting here quite 
honestly 
thinking 
about 
that 
because everybodies just really 
disappointed and brokenhearted 
about the outcome.”
At the end of the day, despite 
the bright spots, the tears and 

the heartbreak will be the lasting 
memory. There was nothing going 
into this meet that foreshadowed 
what the final outcome would 
be. There were no warning signs. 
Everyone, especially Michigan, 
thought this meet was just a 
stepping stone to bigger things.
“Tonight it didn’t end well 
for us,” Plocki said. “It’s a really 
difficult pill to swallow. But we 
have to take it as a look at what we 
have control over, that we could 
have changed or done better. And 
that’s what we have to learn from 
this experience.”
This type of heartbreak stings. 
It’s one few experience and one no 
one wants to. The only thing worse 
than defeat may be a shocking, 
unexpected upset while knocking 
at the doors of greatness. And 
that’s exactly what Michigan 
experienced on Sunday in Denver. 
A team full of national title 
hopes saw its season and dream 
end suddenly. A team, led by a 
coach that felt like her team truly 
deserved it, won’t get to see how 
high it could truly climb. 
But there was something off 
from the beginning. And at the end, 
instead of a trophy, all that was left 
was tears in the Wolverines’ eyes.

GRACE BEAL/Daily

LILY ISRAEL
Daily Sports Editor

SPORTS
WEDNESDAY

In heartbreaking upset, Michigan fails to qualify for 
Nationals after promising season

The Michigan Daily — Page 16
April 5, 2023

GRACE
FALL

FROM

LILA TURNER/Daily
GRACE BEAL/Daily
Design by Lys Goldman

