Weekly Release #12

This Week: #7 Wolverines at Big Ten Championships
Saturday, March 25   East Lansing, Mich.   6 p.m.

Next Event: Wolverines host NCAA Northeast Regional
Saturday, April 8   Crisler Arena   6 p.m.

Big Ten Championships
Michigan has won 14 team titles overall, including 13 of the last 14 championships. Michigan owns the record for most overall team titles and most titles won in a row (capturing the last seven championships). The last team to win Big Tens other than the Maize and Blue was Minnesota in 1998. Michigan has won two of the last three Big Ten Championships held in East Lansing, winning it all in 1992 and 1999.

The Wolverines have defeated 24 straight Big Ten Conference opponents, dating back more than two years. U-M's last loss to a Big Ten foe was on January 24, 2004 at Iowa.

Senior Jenny Deiley (co-vault champion), senior Becca Clauson (co-floor champion) and sophomore Katie Lieberman (co-vault champion) all look to defend their 2005 crowns in East Lansing this year. Lieberman also looks to follow up her debut campaign in which she was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

CSTV will be airing the Big Ten Championships on tape delay on Thursday (March 30) at 9 p.m.

Road Trip To Big Tens
Michigan will look to win its Big Ten record eighth straight Big Ten Conference Championship when it travels to Michigan State next weekend (Saturday, March 25) at 6 p.m. The 10.0 Booster Club is chartering a bus to Jenison Field House on Saturday, March 25. The bus will depart the Shepherd Training Center at 3:30pm and arrive at Jenison Fieldhouse on the campus of MSU around 4:45pm. At the conclusion of the meet (around 10:00pm), the bus will leave Jenison Fieldhouse. The bus will arrive back at Shepherd Training Center around 11:15pm. The cost of the trip is $20.00 ($10.00 for U-M students and members of the Gymfantry). For more information or to sign up for the bus trip, please contact 10.0 Booster Club member Jane Clements at janeclements1@netzero.net. Tickets for the meet are an additional $10.00 for adults ($5.00 for children under 12 and senior citizens). Tickets are general admission and available to purchase by phone via the MSU Ticket Office at (517) 355-1610 (M-F 10am-6pm) or at the door on the day of the meet.

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. Georgia: Monday, March 20, 9 p.m.
Michigan vs. Michigan State: March 27, 9 p.m.
Michigan at Big Tens: March 30, 9 p.m. (CSTV)

Mac Attacks With Career Highs in Last Two Weeks
Junior Carol McNamara posted career scores on vault and floor in U-M's last two meets. McNamara tied a career best with a 9.900 on vault vs. No. 1 Georgia and then set a career best on floor (9.900) in the same meet, only to match the mark the following week vs. Michigan State, winning her first floor title.

Michigan Peaking at the End of the Season
The Wolverines posted their two highest team scores of the season (197.100 and 196.950) against No. 1 Georgia and Michigan State in the last two weeks of the season. In both meets, Michigan scored 49.000 or better in all four events, setting season highs on vault and beam vs. the Gym Dogs.

Michigan's Gymnasts of the Week
Junior Lindsey Bruck won three weekly honors this season, picking up a weekly citation on Feb. 22 and back-to-back awards in the second and third weeks of the season. Senior Jenny Deiley picked up the weekly honor in the fourth week of competition and 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.

Defending Big Ten Champions
A trio of Wolverines won individual event titles at the Big Ten Championships in 2005, including seniors Jenny Deiley (co-vault) and Becca Clauson (co-floor) as well as sophomore Katie Lieberman (co-vault).

14 and Counting
Michigan has 14 Big Ten titles to its credit, including 13 of the last 14 Big Ten Championships. The Wolverines have already set a record for the most consecutive championships won with seven and look to surpass that this season with their eighth-straight crown.

Michigan's Big Ten Streak of Dominance
Michigan has not lost to a Big Ten school in 24 straight meetings. The last time the Wolverines fell to a Big Ten school was January 24, 2004 at Iowa.

Who to Watch on What Event
Vault: Michigan's top vaulters are sophomore Katie Lieberman and senior Jenny Deiley. Lieberman is ranked as the second best vaulter in the Big Ten Conference this season and was an All-American (first team) on the apparatus in her freshman season. Deiley is ranked fifth in the conference and has been an All-American on vault in each of her three seasons with the Maize and Blue, including a first team honor in 2005.

Bars: Fifth-year senior Lauren Mirkovich is Michigan's bars specialist, leading the Big Ten and ranking eighth in the NCAA on the apparatus. Mirkovich has won six bars titles in 10 meets this season, posting scores of 9.900 or better in six meets. She is the reigning NCAA South Central Regional bars champion, winning the regional bars title twice in her career. Mirkovich is also a two-time All-American on the event, taking first team honors in 2005.

Beam: Junior Lindsey Bruck has been one of the Wolverines' steadiest performers on beam for three seasons. Bruck is the conference's best beam performer this season and was an All-American (first team) in 2004. She has three beam titles in 2006 and four scores of 9.900 or better, including back-to-back 9.900s in the last two meets. Sophomore Nellie Kippley has also proved herself to be an asset on beam, tying for third in the Big Ten this season and posting three of the highest scores of her career in the last four meets.

Floor: Freshman Tatjana Thuener-Rego has broken out as one of the Wolverines' most explosive floor performers, ranking fourth in the Big Ten. Junior Carol McNamara is having the best year of her collegiate career, winning her first floor title last week and posting back-to-back 9.900s in the last two weeks. Senior Becca Clauson is the defending Big Ten champion on floor and is always a great performer in big meets.

All-Around: Thuener-Rego has moved to the top of the conference and ranks 21st nationally in the all-around with five totals of 39.000 or better in seven meets. Bruck is close behind in second place in the Big Ten and 22nd in the nation with eight totals of 39.000 or better, including Michigan's top all-around total this season at 39.425. Deiley ranks third on the team and fourth in the Big Ten with six totals of 39.000 or better in eight meets.

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, joining Heather Kabnick (1995-98).

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