Weekly Release #9

This Week: #11 Wolverines at #18 Denver
Saturday, March 4   Denver, Colo.   6 p.m. MST

Next Event: Wolverines vs. #1 Georgia
Saturday, March 11   Crisler Arena   7:30 p.m.

Scouting Denver
Michigan leads the all-time series. 3-1, winning in 1993, 2002 and 2003. Michigan will face its sixth nationally ranked team in 2006. The Wolverines are 4-1 vs. top-25 teams this season, losing to No. 2 Utah. The Wolverines trip to Denver is the last regular-season away meet of the year. Michigan will finish its season vs. two teams currently in the top 25 -- defending national champion and current No. 1 Georgia and current No. 23 Michigan State.

Notable News and Notes
Wolverines on the Tube
Every regular-season Michigan home meet will be carried on Comcast Local, beginning with the meet vs. Ohio State which will air on Monday, Feb. 6 at 9 p.m. on Comcast Local (channel 8). Comcast Local will also air the following contests on tape delay:

Michigan vs. New Hampshire: Tuesday, Feb. 28, 9 p.m.
Michigan vs. Georgia: Monday, March 20, 9 p.m.
Michigan vs. Michigan State: TBA

Bruck Scores a Conference High
Junior Lindsey Bruck scored a 39.425 in the all-around against New Hampshire, posting a season-high for the Big Ten Conference. For her efforts, Bruck earned her third Big Ten Gymnast of the Week citation of the year.

Big Tens Fast Approaching
In just three weeks, the Wolverines will travel to East Lansing for the Big Ten Championships (March 25). Michigan will not have to leave the state for the Big Ten Championships or the NCAA Regional Championships, which will be held at Crisler Arena for the first time since 2003.

Michigan's Gymnasts of the Week
A Wolverine gymnast has been named Big Ten Gymnast of the Week in every week but one that U-M has competed. Junior Lindsey Bruck won back-to-back honors in the second and third weeks of the season and added another citation on Feb. 15 and senior Jenny Deiley picked up the weekly honor in the fourth week of competition. On Feb. 1, freshman Tatjana Thuener-Rego became the first freshman since March 8, 2005 to win the weekly award when she took home the hardware in week five. The conference record for most awards to a team in a season is seven, set most recently in 2005 by the Wolverines.

Quick Hits
Michigan has defeated 23 straight Big Ten Conference opponents dating back more than two years. U-M's last loss to a Big Ten school came on Jan. 24, 2004 at Iowa ... Michigan suffered its first defeat at Crisler Arena in over a year and a half, winning the six of the last seven home meets ... Michigan finished fourth in the nation in average attendance in 2005 behind only Georgia, Alabama and Utah.

Thuener-Rego's First All-Around
Freshman Tatjana Thuener-Rego competed in her first collegiate all-around competition, finishing second with a 39.375 score after sharing the vault and floor titles.

Bruck's All-Around Streak Comes to an End
Junior Lindsey Bruck's streak of regular-season all-around scores of 39.000 or better ended at 12 with a 38.525 showing vs. Ohio State (Jan. 27). Last season, Bruck set the Michigan record for most all-around scores of 39.000+ by a sophomore with 13.

And the Winner is... a Tie
Michigan recorded just its second tie in program history when the Wolverines tied Nebraska, 195.675-195.675 in the season-opener. U-M's last tie was at the 1984 Big Ten Championships when Michigan and Illinois tied for fourth.

Bernard Has a Strong Debut
Freshman Becky Bernard became the first freshman since 2002 to win an individual event title in her collegiate debut when she took the bars title at Nebraska with a 9.950. Jenny Deiley was the last freshman to win an individual title in her first collegiate meet, taking the vault, bars, beam and all-around titles in her college debut.

The Rest of the Story
Wolverines Fifth in Preseason Poll
Michigan was ranked fifth in the GymInfo Preseason Coaches Poll, earning 492 points. Defending national champions Georgia topped the list with 603 points and 15 first-place votes, while Utah was second with 589 points and five first-place votes and UCLA was third with 579 and three first-place votes. Alabama was listed fourth with 532 points and two first place votes.

NCAA Longevity
Michigan is one of only five programs in the nation to qualify for each of the last 13 NCAA Championships. U-M advanced to its 13th straight and 14th overall NCAA Championship after winning the 2005 NCAA South Central Regional with a score of 196.600.

Competing Against the Best
Michigan will face seven teams ranked in the GymInfo Preseason Coaches Poll, including preseason No. 1 Georgia (March 11), preseason No. 2 Utah (Feb. 11) and preseason No. 8 Utah (Jan. 14). No. 12 Penn State (Jan. 21), No. 21 Denver (March 3), No. 24 Minnesota (March 25) and No. 25 New Hampshire (Feb. 17) round out the ranked schedule. Seven programs receiving votes in the poll are also on the Wolverines' schedule (Central Michigan, West Virginia, Illinois, Iowa, Southern Utah, Michigan State, Ohio State).

Big Ten Title Streaks
Michigan set a Big Ten record for the most consecutive Big Ten titles with its seventh in a row at the 2005 Big Ten Conference Championships. The Wolverines held the previous record, winning six titles in-a-row from 1992-97 and from 1998-2004. U-M has 14 Big Ten titles, the most in Big Ten history.

Record Crowds - Fourth-Best in the Nation
Michigan recorded the fourth-best home attendance in the nation in 2005, averaging 3,933 fans per meet. The Wolverines saw their highest attendance in U-M gymnastics history against No. 3 UCLA when 5,039 fans packing Crisler Arena. 4,376 fans witnessed Michigan's win over No. 20 Penn State - the fourth-best crowd in U-M gymnastics history - and the second highest attendance for a regular-season meet.

Deiley Moving Up the All-American Charts
Jenny Deiley earned three All-America honors at the 2005 NCAA Championships, picking All-America first team honors on vault and earning All-American second team accolades in the all-around and on bars. Deiley's two first team and six second team honors tie her for fifth in U-M gymnastics history with eight All-America citations (Heather Kabnick (1995-98) graduated with eight All-America awards).

Bruck Consistently Excellent in the All-Around
Lindsey Bruck posted 12 straight all-around scores of 39.000 or better in 15 meets in 2005, falling one score short of the record for most consecutive all-around scores of 39.000+. Bruck took a pair of all-around titles and finished runner-up six times, including a second-place finish at the 2005 Big Ten Championships. Bruck entered the postseason ranked 13th in the nation in the all-around (39.395). She finished the season tied for the second-most all-around scores of 39.000+ in as single season (13) and set a new sophomore record for most all-around scores of 39.000 or better, two more than Beth Amelkovich (11) managed in 1997.

A Look at the 2006 Wolverines
Michigan returns nine letterwinners and five All-Americans to a 2006 squad that finished fifth in the nation one year ago. Junior Lindsey Bruck, senior Becca Clauson, senior Jenny Deiley, sophomore Katie Lieberman and fifth-year/senior Lauren Mirkovich return with All-America credentials to lead the Wolverines in 2006. They are joined by returning letterwinners junior Clare Flannery, sophomore Nellie Kippley, junior Carol McNamara and sophomore Megan Moore.

Also returning is sophomore Lindsay Bourdon who sat out with injury in 2005. Michigan welcomes three newcomers in freshmen Becky Bernard, Huneth Lor and Tatjana Thuener-Rego.

Michigan loses a pair of All-Americans from last year's team in Chelsea Kroll and Elise Ray. The Wolverines also lose Kara Rosella, Sarrie Rubin and Shanna Duggan, who stays on with the team as a volunteer assistant this season.

Contact: Richard Retyi (734) 763-4423