Michigan
NCAA Individual Event Finals
Ray Wins Michigan's First NCAA Balance Beam Title
4/20/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
Site: Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Coleman Coliseum)
Event: #5 Michigan at NCAA Championships (Individual Event Finals)
U-M Finish: No Team Scoring
Next U-M Event: Season completed
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Sophomore Elise Ray (Columbia, Md./Wilde Lake HS) brought home the first balance beam national title for the University of Michigan women's gymnastics program with a 9.925 in the NCAA Individual Event Finals tonight (Saturday, April 20) at the University of Alabama.
Joining Ray for the individual finals -- the last event of the 2002 season -- were junior co-captain Janessa Grieco (Mahopac, N.Y./Carmel HS) in the floor exercise and sophomore Calli Ryals (Elyria, Ohio/Midview HS) on the balance beam and floor exercise.
Elise Ray
Ray was the first U-M competitor of the night and made quite a statement when she performed an outstanding balance beam routine at Coleman Coliseum. Ray posted her winning score (9.925) as the fourth of 13 competitors. The score held through the final nine routines, which included Utah's Theresa Kulikowski, the two-time defending beam champion, and Alabama's Andree' Pickens, the 1999 beam champion.
Ray also took fourth on the vault with a 9.8625 and tied for 11th on the uneven bars with a 9.787. Her scores in the two events were the result of some experimenting which caused problems with her landings. She performed a vault and an uneven bars dismount that she hasn't tried in some time. The bars dismount -- a double-twisting double-layout which is named after Ray -- was last performed by her at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
Also earning a spot on the awards podium was Ryals, who tied for sixth place on the floor exercise with a 9.900 in her first appearance at the individual competition at the national championships. She performed an outstanding routine in the event in which she spent most of the season ranked second in the nation (GymInfo). Ryals also competed on the balance beam and finished 10th with a score of 9.787.
Grieco finished 13th in the floor exercise with a 9.850. She had a solid routine but minor errors counted for significant scoring losses in the extremely tight competition.
UCLA's Jamie Dantzscher won the vault (9.9565) and tied Louisiana State's Nicole Arnstad for first on the floor exercise (9.950). Pickens won the uneven bars title with a 9.925.
Final Results
VAULT 1. Jamie Dantzscher, UCLA 9.9565 2. Marline Stephens, Georgia 9.9505 3. Andree' Pickens, Alabama 9.9250 4. Elise Ray, U-M 9.8625 5. AJ Lamb, Nebraska 9.8500 6. Alexis Brion, Alabama 9.8375 7. Alexis Maday, Iowa 9.8250 8. Kendall Beck, Stanford 9.7630 9. Jessica Wertz, Nebraska 9.7440 10. Cory Fritzinger, Georgia 9.5565 -- Chelsa Byrd, Georgia scratch UNEVEN BARS 1. Andree' Pickens, Alabama 9.925 2. Doni Thompson, UCLA 9.912 3. Onnie Willis, UCLA 9.900 4. Natalie Barrington, Alabama 9.887 5. Jamie Dantzscher, UCLA 9.863 Theresa Kulikowski, Utah 9.863 Alexis Maday, Iowa 9.863 Yvonne Tousek, UCLA 9.863 9. AJ Lamb, Nebraska 9.838 10. Julie Houk, Nebraska 9.800 11. Elise Ray, U-M 9.787 Elizabeth Jillson, Oregon St. 9.787 13. Chelsa Byrd, Georgia 9.750 BALANCE BEAM 1. Elise Ray, U-M 9.925 2. Jeana Rice, Alabama 9.912 3. Theresa Kulikowski, Utah 9.900 Kristin Sterner, Alabama 9.900 5. Andree' Pickens, Alabama 9.863 6. Lise Leveille, Stanford 9.838 7. Alyssa Beckerman, UCLA 9.825 Shannon Bowles, Utah 9.825 9. Shannon Hrozek, Alabama 9.800 10. Calli Ryals, U-M 9.787 11. Cory Fritzinger, Georgia 9.762 12. Lindsay Wing, Stanford 9.750 13. Jamie Dantzscher, UCLA 9.425 FLOOR EXERCISE 1. Nicole Arnstad, LSU 9.950 Jamie Dantzscher, UCLA 9.950 3. Shannon Bowles, Utah 9.925 4. Alexis Brion, Alabama 9.912 Tayla Vexler, Georgia 9.912 6. Calli Ryals, U-M 9.900 Andree' Pickens, Alabama 9.900 Onnie Willis, UCLA 9.900 9. Lauren Companioni, LSU 9.875 MaryAnne Kelley, Minnesota 9.875 11. Theresa Kulikowski, Utah 9.863 Kristin Sterner, Alabama 9.863 13. Janessa Grieco, U-M 9.850 14. Annie Laatcsh, Minnesota 9.825 Melissa Vituj, Utah 9.825
N O T E S
• This is the third consecutive appearance in the individual competition for Janessa Grieco and the second straight for Elise Ray. Grieco captured third place on the vault at the 2001 NCAA Individual Event Finals in Athens, Ga., and she finished third on the vault at the 2000 NCAA Individual Event Finals in Boise, Idaho. Ray finished tied for third on the uneven bars, tied for sixth on the balance beam and tied for eighth on the floor exercise last year.
• Individuals qualified for tonight's Individual Event Finals by placing in the top four of an event during their respective session of the Team Preliminaries and All-Around Competition on Thursday (April 18). Everyone competing tonight also earned All-America first team honors.
• For the vault competition, each competitor vaulted twice. The two vaults were averaged to determine a final score for the event.
• Ray now has two NCAA individual championships, adding the balance beam title this year to her co-championship in the all-around in 2001. The only other Wolverine individual national champion is Beth Wymer, who won the uneven bars in 1993, '94 and '95.
Q U O T E S
Sophomore Elise Ray
On her balance beam title ... "Going into the balance beam, I was really excited and confident. I had nothing to lose and no expectations, so I really went all out and was aggressive."
On trying her Olympic dismount on the uneven bars ... "It was fun. I may have lost a few tenths, but why not try it?"
On participating in the individual event finals after not competing in the team finals ... "It is such an honor. All three of us really wanted to come out here tonight and prove that Michigan deserved to be (in the Super Six Team Finals). Our team was pretty disappointed that we weren't on the floor yesterday, and sitting in the stands was something that put it into perspective for all of us. We were all pretty fired up sitting there, especially those of us who competed today. We were really excited to represent Michigan and show that you can't count us out."
