Michigan
NCAA Individual Event Finals
Ray Paces Trio of Wolverines in NCAA Individual Finals
4/23/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
AUBURN, Ala. -- Fifth-year senior Elise Ray (Columbia, Md./Wilde Lake) of the University of Michigan women's gymnastics team capped her storied career in style with a runner-up finish on balance beam at the NCAA Individual Event Finals Saturday night (April 23) at the Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. Ray earned her 12th and 13th All-America first team awards at the NCAA Championships, qualifying for beam and the uneven bars in the individual event finals.
Senior Lauren Mirkovich (Burlingame, Calif./Notre Dame) competed in her first individual event finals, garnering eighth place on bars, while junior Jenny Deiley (Dayton, Minn./Elk River), also competing in her first-ever individual event finals, took eighth on vault. Freshman Katie Lieberman (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) qualified for the vault finals but was scratched after warmups.
Ray stepped up as the final competitor on beam, following UCLA's Kristen Maloney, who put up a high score of 9.9375 in the previous routine. The 2002 national champion on beam, Ray had a solid performance and stuck her landing for a 9.9125 to share the runner-up prize with Nebraska's Kristi Esposito.
In the vault finals, Deiley was the sixth athlete to compete in a field of nine, needing a 9.9375 to catch the leader, UCLA's Maloney. Deiley nailed her first vault for a 9.9000 score, setting herself up for a charge on the Bruin senior, but took a step on her second landing and finished with a 9.7375, good for eighth place.
On bars, Ray competed in her final collegiate event, leading off for a field of 13. The defending national champion suffered a critical fall early in her routine and, though she flawlessly completed the rest of her set, scored a 9.3375 to fail in her bid for a fourth national title, tying for 11th. Mirkovich followed Ray, looking to build on her NCAA South Central Regional co-championship and her second-place finish in U-M's NCAA preliminary session. Mirkovich performed a solid routine, scoring a 9.8375 and garnering eighth place.
The Wolverines end the 2005 season fifth in the nation after securing their ninth bid to the Super Six. Michigan finished the season with five All-Americans, including Ray (bars, beam, all-around), Deiley (vault, all-around), Mirkovich (bars), Lieberman (vault) and sophomore Lindsey Bruck (Marietta, N.Y./Marcellus) (bars).
Final Results
VAULT
1. Kristen Maloney, UCLA 9.9375
2. April Burkholder, LSU 9.9125
3. Janet Anson, Iowa State 9.9000
Ashley Miles, Alabama 9.9000
5. Katie Heenan, Georgia 9.8625
6. Alisha Robinson, Missouri 9.7938
7. Annabeth Eberle, Utah 9.7750
8. Jenny Deiley, U-M 9.7375
9. Brittany Smith, Georgia 9.6563
BALANCE BEAM
1. Kristen Maloney, UCLA 9.9375
2. Elise Ray, U-M 9.9125
Kristi Esposito, Nebraska 9.9125
4. Kate Richardson, UCLA 9.9000
5. Terin Humphrey, Alabama 9.8625
Tasha Schwikert, UCLA 9.8625
7. Tabitha Yim, Stanford 9.8375
UNEVEN BARS
1. Terin Humphrey, Alabama 9.9375
2. Kelsey Ericksen, Georgia 9.9250
3. Ashley Postell, Utah 9.8875
Rachel Tidd, Utah 9.8875
Tasha Schwikert, UCLA 9.8875
6. Tabitha Yim, Stanford 9.8750
7. Ashley Miles, Alabama 9.8500
8. Lauren Mirkovich, U-M 9.8375
9. Lisa Rennie, LSU 9.8250
10. Dana Filetti, Alabama 9.7750
11. Elise Ray, U-M 9.3375
Annie Gagnon, LSU 9.3375
13. Katie Heenan, Georgia 9.3250
FLOOR EXERCISE
1. Courtney Bumpers, UNC 10.0000
2. Ashley Miles, Alabama 9.9750
3. Emily Parsons, Nebraska 9.9250
Tabitha Yim, Stanford 9.9250
5. Michelle Emmons, Georgia 9.8750
Kelsey Ericksen, Georgia 9.8750
Terin Humphrey, Alabama 9.8750
8. Annabeth Eberle, Utah 9.8375
Laura-Kay Powell, Iowa State 9.8375
10. Gritt Hoffman, Utah 9.8000
11. Kristen Maloney, UCLA 9.7625
12. Kate Richardson, UCLA 9.3375
13. April Burkholder, LSU 9.2625
Previous Results: Day 1 | Day 2
N O T E S
• Freshman Katie Lieberman was scratched from the vault lineup after warmups. Lieberman became U-M's third freshman in the last three seasons to earn NCAA All-America first team honors, following Jenny Deiley (2003) and Lindsey Bruck (2004).
• Fifth-year senior Elise Ray ends her U-M career with three national titles, tied for the most individual titles in program history. Beth Wymer also owns three individual event titles.
• Senior Lauren Mirkovich and junior Jenny Deiley both competed in their first individual event finals Saturday.
Q U O T E S
Junior All-American Jenny Deiley
On competing in the individual event finals on vault ... "I was happy to make it this far. I am one of the top eight vaulters in the country this season and I couldn't be any happier about that. You don't realize how tough it is to compete three straight days until you do it."
On Michigan's berth in the Super Six ... "It is an amazing feeling advancing to the Super Six. We gave our all Friday and I'm pleased with our fifth-place finish."
Freshman All-American Katie Lieberman
On her first NCAA Championships ... "This is the best meet I have ever been a part of. It has been a lot of fun and our fans have been amazing. Our team came together to make Super Six and we gave it our best shot. I am so proud of our team."
Head Coach Bev Plocki
On the 2005 season ... "I was very pleased with our season. Our biggest strength was our consistency week in and week out. We performed at nationals at our best and I am pleased with our results."
Contact: Richard Retyi (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
