Ryals Leads Michigan to Convincing Win at Ohio State

Saturday, January 26

Columbus, Ohio

7:00 PM

Michigan

196.175

193.575

Ohio State

1/26/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The No. 11-ranked University of Michigan women's gymnastics team broke out with season-high team scores on the vault (48.975), balance beam (49.075) and floor exercise (49.200) to post a season-high total score in a 196.175-193.575 win over No. 23 Ohio State tonight (Saturday, Jan. 26) in St. John Arena.

Ryals

The crowd of 959 fans included a large group of Calli Ryals (Elyria, Ohio/Midview HS) supporters who got to see her post her first career perfect score with the 15th 10.000 on the floor exercise in the program's history. She also scored career highs on the vault (9.850), balance beam (9.900) and all-around (39.525) in one of the finest meets of her career.

Sophomore Christine Mantilia (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan HS) opened the meet with a 9.750 in her first performance of the year. Second on the bars and competing in her second career all-around, senior Shannon MacKenzie (Midland, Mich./Midland HS) posted a 9.675. Senior Jodie Rosenberg (West Bloomfield, Mich./West Bloomfield HS) fell in her routine, but Amy Kuczera (Bloomingdale, Ill./Lake Park HS) followed her with a solid routine and earned a 9.850. Ryals followed Kuczera with another solid routine, posting a 9.775. Elise Ray (Columbia, Md./Wilde Lake HS) closed out the rotation with a team-high 9.875 and helped the team take a 48.925-48.700 lead after the first rotation.

Moving on to the second rotation, Rosenberg starting things off well with a career-high 9.725 on the vault. MacKenzie scored 9.700 after maintaining her balance despite coming up short on her landing. Freshman Kallie Steffes (Naperville, Ill./Central HS) tied her career high on the apparatus with a 9.800, which was followed by a 9.850 from Ryals. Senior Melissa Peterson (Shawnee, Kan./Shawnee Mission West HS) posted a near-perfect, career-high 9.900. With four career-high scores during the rotation, Michigan tallied a season-high 48.975 on the vault and took a 97.900-96.900 lead over Ohio State after the Buckeyes had to count a fall and a near fall on the uneven bars.

Michigan's floor routines put the Wolverines in good position heading into the beam for the final rotation. The highlight of the routine was Ryals' perfect 10.0 but also included a season-high 9.850 by Rosenberg. Janessa Grieco (Mahopac, N.Y./Carmel HS) and Steffes added scores of 9.800, while Peterson posted a 9.750 to give the team a 49.200 in the rotation, the highest team score on the floor this year.

Unlike the tie score last week at then-No. 5 Minnesota, Michigan took a comfortable 147.100-144.125 lead into the final rotation because Ohio State had to count two balance beam routines which included at least one fall.

Michigan closed the meet strongly with a solid rotation on the balance beam. Ray won the event with a season-high 9.950. Ryals continued her outstanding meet by posting a career-high 9.900 to finish second, and Peterson took third with a season-high 9.850. Freshman Kara Rosella (Ann Arbor, Mich./Greenhills HS) also contributed with a 9.725 on the event. As a team, the squad posted a season-high 49.075 on the beam.

Michigan returns home for a meet against No. 16 Florida at 7:30 p.m. on Friday (Feb. 1). The meet is the first of the four remaining regular-season meets, all of which will be held in Crisler Arena.

Final Results

Team Scores	Vault	Bars	Beam	Floor	Total
1. MICHIGAN	48.975	48.925	49.075	49.200	196.175
2. Ohio State	48.700	48.200	47.225	49.450	193.575

Event-By-Event U-M Individual Scores

ALL-AROUND Calli Ryals 39.525 (1) Shannon MacKenzie 37.200 (3) VAULT Jodie Rosenberg 9.725 Shannon MacKenzie 9.700 Kallie Steffes 9.800 (3) Calli Ryals 9.850 (2) Melissa Peterson 9.900 (1) Janessa Grieco 9.650 UNEVEN BARS Christine Mantilia 9.750 Shannon MacKenzie 9.675 Jodie Rosenberg 9.250 Amy Kuczera 9.850 (t2) Calli Ryals 9.775 (5) Elise Ray 9.875 (1) BALANCE BEAM Janessa Grieco 9.650 Kara Rosella 9.725 Melissa Peterson 9.850 (3) Shannon MacKenzie 9.300 Calli Ryals 9.900 (2) Elise Ray 9.950 (1) FLOOR EXERCISE Shannon MacKenzie 8.525 Melissa Peterson 9.750 Jodie Rosenberg 9.850 (4) Kallie Steffes 9.800 (t5) Janessa Grieco 9.800 (t5) Calli Ryals 10.000 (1) ( ) denotes place in the Top 5

N O T E S

Michigan found itself with some support from an unusual source as an Ohio State sorority was rooting for the Wolverines at tonight's meet. The support was spearheaded by Calli Ryals' sister, Tara, who is a student at OSU and a member of the organization.

Michigan increased its Big Ten winning streak to 29 consecutive victories over conference opponents with its 196.175-193.575 victory over Ohio State. The last time a Big Ten school defeated the Wolverines was Jan. 15, 1999, when Minnesota won 193.550-193.050 at Cliff Keen Arena.

Jodie Rosenberg has scored 9.850 on the floor in each of the four meets this season. She has earned a spot among the top five in each meet, with a career-high second-place finish at then-No. 5 Minnesota (Jan. 19).

Q U O T E S

Head Coach Bev Plocki
On the meet ... "It is great to see this team show the maturity and experience to improve each week. They did a great job of staying focused and doing their job no matter what distraction there might be. That really shows me they are competitors and fighters."

On Calli Ryals ... "She has just been awesome. As a sophomore, she is really showing what one season of experience can do for one's confidence. I was also really happy that she had such a good meet in front of all the friends and family she had here tonight. It's not her hometown, but there were a lot of fans of hers here tonight."

Contact: Jason Gerdom (734) 763-4423