Michigan
NCAA Semifinals and All-Around Final
Botterman Claims NCAA All-Around Title, U-M Reaches Super Six
4/15/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
Site: Cleveland, Ohio (Wolstein Center)
Event: NCAA Semifinals (Session One)
U-M Team Finish: 2nd of 6 Teams (196.700)
Records: U-M (26-6)
Attendance: 2,423
Next U-M Event: Saturday, April 16 -- at NCAA Super Six Finals (Cleveland, Ohio), 4 p.m.
• Complete Results | Photo Gallery 
| Botterman Postmeet 
• Michigan's Road to the Super Six
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A night after receiving the AAI Award, given to the nation's top gymnast, senior Kylee Botterman (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) won the NCAA all-around title on Friday (April 15) during the NCAA Semifinals, leading the No. 6-ranked University of Michigan women's gymnastics team to a berth into Saturday's (April 16, 4 p.m.) Super Six finals held at the Wolstein Center.
Botterman's all-around total held up in the second session of semifinals, making her Michigan's third national title winner and the second to take the all-around crown. Elise Ray shared the all-around national title in 2001 with UCLA's Onnie Willis. Additionally, with men's gymnast Sam Mikulak winning the NCAA all-around title tonight, Michigan becomes the first school to win both the men's and women's titles in the same season.
The Wolverines placed runner-up in the afternoon session to punch their ticket into the Super Six. Oklahoma (196.775) took first in the session and defending national champion UCLA (196.500) placed third to advance to the championship meet.
Six Wolverines earned 10 All-America honors in all, led by Botterman in one of the most dominant semifinal performances in NCAA women's gymnastics history. Botterman captured a national title in the all-around (39.525) and picked up four NCAA All-America first team honors, placing among the top four gymnasts on vault, beam, floor and in the all-around. She tallied matching 9.925 runner-up showings on vault and the floor and a 9.850 fourth-place result on beam, while her 9.825 on bars gave her the all-around title with a 39.525 total.
Once Michigan overcame a fall in the second routine on beam and rallied for a respectable 48.750 score, the team rallied to hit the next three events just like at regionals, scoring incrementally higher with a 49.250 on floor exercise, a 49.325 on vault and finally a show-stopping 49.375 on the uneven bars.
Senior Trish Wilson (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) added another chapter in the fairy tale story of her final season of gymnastics with a first-place showing on bars, equaling a career-best 9.925 for All-America first team honors and a spot in Sunday's individual event finals. Sophomore Brittnee Martinez (Colorado Springs, Colo./Doherty) also earned All-America first team accolades with a 9.900 third-place result on bars. Sophomore Katie Zurales (Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South) was Michigan's fourth first-team All-American with a third-place 9.900 on vault, tying her career best.
Fifth-year senior Sarah Curtis (Reno, Nev./Reno) added two more All-America second team honors to her résumé with eighth-place showings on bars (9.875) and in the all-around competition (39.100). Sophomore Natalie Beilstein (Butler, Pa./Knoch) also earned All-America second team honors with an eighth-place result on floor (9.850).
The Wolverines started nationals the same way they kicked off regionals, on beam and with high tension. At regionals, Michigan's lead-off performer fell but at nationals it was U-M's second gymnast who tumbled from the beam making the Wolverines' final four performances crucial. U-M did not disappoint, remaining focused and finishing with a 48.750 team score led by Botterman's 9.850 and matching 9.750 scores from freshman Shelby Gies (Pennington, N.J./Hopewell Valley Central) and Zurales.
Michigan sat out on bye in the second rotation before returning to competition on floor in rotation three. The Wolverines were steady through the first three vaults with matching 9.825s for Curtis, freshman Joanna Sampson (Willow Grove, Pa./Upper Moreland) and fifth-year senior Jordan Sexton (Weddington, N.C./Weddington), before Beilstein broke it open with an athletic routine, scoring 9.850 with a huge double Arabian and a double pike to close. Botterman closed out the event with the highest score of the afternoon, posting a 9.925 with a massive pike full in and a clean front full punch pike. Michigan's total put them in third place at the halfway point of the meet, in good position to make a charge for one of the three berths in the Super Six.
In rotation four, the Wolverines took to the vault and really made their mark on the meet. Senior Kari Pearce (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron) led off with a solid 9.800 to set the tone and Sampson pushed the pace up to a 9.850 in the third vault. Zurales tied a career best with a 9.900, followed by Beilstein's 9.850 and Botterman's arena-rocking 9.925 to tie for the event lead.
After sitting out the second-to- last rotation, Michigan headed to bars knowing exactly what it needed to do. With a spot in the Super Six up for grabs, Michigan needed a 48.150 to oust third-place Georgia and a 49.000 to all but guarantee that their season would continue. Michigan did the deed one better, scoring a season-high 49.375 and placing a pair of Wolverines in event finals and three among the top eight. Curtis made the first ripple tying a season best with a 9.875 and Michigan kept the solid scores coming until Wilson stepped on the podium. Wilson was near-flawlessm nailing her Geinger and sticking her landing for an afternoon-high 9.925, also tying her career high. Darkhorse Martinez, plagued with injury all season, performed the final routine of the night and wowed the judges with a 9.900, finishing tied for fourth and punching her own ticket to individual event finals.
When the dust settled, Michigan had overtaken UCLA and finished second in the session, advancing to Super Six and prolonging the season.
The Wolverines vie for the program's first national championship on Saturday afternoon (April 16) at 4 p.m. in the Super Six finals. Michigan will test its mettle against Oklahoma, UCLA and the top three teams from the evening session of semifinals. U-M's four first-team All-Americans will compete for individual national titles on Sunday afternoon (April 17) at 1 p.m. in the Individual Event Finals.
| Team Standings | Vault | Bars | Beam | Floor | Total |
| Oklahoma | 49.225 | 49.375 | 49.175 | 49.000 | 196.775 |
| Michigan | 49.325 | 49.375 | 48.750 | 49.250 | 196.700 |
| UCLA | 49.450 | 49.350 | 48.375 | 49.325 | 196.500 |
| Arkansas | 49.150 | 48.575 | 48.450 | 49.275 | 195.450 |
| Georgia | 49.250 | 49.075 | 48.700 | 48.425 | 195.450 |
| Illinois | 49.175 | 48.825 | 47.950 | 49.150 | 195.100 |
Event-by-Event U-M Individual Scores
Vault Kari Pearce 9.800 Sarah Curtis 9.700 Joanna Sampson 9.850 Katie Zurales 9.900 (t3) Natalie Beilstein 9.850 Kylee Botterman 9.925 (2) Uneven Bars Shelby Gies 9.800 Sarah Curtis 9.875 (t8) Jordan Sexton 9.850 Kylee Botterman 9.825 Trish Wilson 9.925 (t1) Brittnee Martinez 9.900 (t3) Balance Beam Shelby Gies 9.750 Joanna Sampson 9.025 Sarah Curtis 9.700 Jordan Sexton 9.700 Kylee Botterman 9.850 (t4) Katie Zurales 9.750 Floor Exercise Sarah Curtis 9.825 Joanna Sampson 9.825 Jordan Sexton 9.825 Reema Zakharia 9.800 Natalie Beilstein 9.850 (t8) Kylee Botterman 9.925 (t2) All-Around Kylee Botterman 39.525 (1) Sarah Curtis 39.100 (8)
N O T E S
• Michigan advances to the program's 10th Super Six final and the first since 2005.
• Michigan's 196.700 team score is the fourth highest in Michigan NCAA Championships history behind a pair of 197.575 scores (2005 prelims and Super Six) and a 197.275 total (2001 Super Six).
• The Wolverines' 49.375 uneven bars total is the highest of the season and ties for the third highest in Michigan NCAA Championships history.
• Kylee Botterman is just Michigan's third gymnast to earn four All-America first team honors in a single championships and the first to do so on vault, beam, floor and in the all-around. Former Wolverine Sarah Cain won vault, bars, floor and the all-around in 2000, while Elise Ray took bars, beam, floor and the all-around in 2001 and vault, bars, beam and the all-around in 2002.
• Kylee Botterman's four All-America honors bring her career haul to nine, including seven first-team honors. Botterman now has first-team honors on all four events and in the all-around and second-team accolades on vault and in the all-around.
• Kylee Botterman is just the second Wolverine in program history to earn All-America first team on all four events and in the all-around in her career. Elise Ray is the only other U-M gymnast to do so.
• Trish Wilson earned All-America first team honors in her very first NCAA Championships, tying a career high with 9.925. Wilson has finished first on bars at regionals and in the NCAA Championships Semifinals and has been on the podium in seven of the last eight meets with four uneven bars titles.
• Sarah Curtis completes her gymnastics career with three All-America honors after picking up a pair of second-team accolades today. Curtis has two All-America second team honors in the all-around and one on bars.
• Brittnee Martinez earned her second All-America first team honor with a third-place showing on bars, adding the laurel to a first-team accolade on vault in 2010.
• Katie Zurales earned her first All-America honor -- a first-team designation -- with a third-place showing on vault. Zurales was injured at the 2010 NCAA Regionals in Morgantown and did not compete at nationals.
• Natalie Beilstein picks up the second All-America accolade of her career and her first on the floor exercise. Beilstein was a first-team All-American last season on floor and adds a second team honor to her resume this season.
• Head coach Bev Plocki picks up the 571st win of her collegiate coaching career.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Bev Plocki
Opening Statement ... "I feel like Kylee (Botterman) said, that we are really excited to be back in the Super Six. We have seven freshmen and five seniors so we have definitely had a lot of leadership from our senior class. It's great to see our freshmen start out their careers at the Super Six team final. That's what I talked to them (the team) about after the meet that we got better as we went through every event and we just need to do tomorrow what we did tonight, with the exception of relaxing and being a little more solid on the balance beam. We are excited to be here and look forward to having a lot of fun."
On adjustments for tomorrow and what it will take to win Saturday ... "So much of our sport comes down to sticking the landings. And from a judging standpoint that seems to be the most important thing to getting a good score is sticking the landing. So we are going to have to be on and not make any mistakes."
U-M Senior Kylee Botterman
Opening Statement ... "We're really excited to be in the Super Six tomorrow. It's the first since I've been here and it's my senior year so I'm getting the girls pumped for tomorrow. Today, we told ourselves we just wanted to keep building. We had a little bit of a shaky start on beam, but we wanted to improve every event. We hit a strong floor, hit six great vaults and then went 6-for-6 strong bar routine. We're excited with how we performed today, but we know we have a little bit of cleaning up to tomorrow in beam and Go Blue!"
On what the team can improve on for tomorrow ... "Like I said earlier, we want to improve on beam, we were a little bit shaky and nervous during the first event. It's always a little tough to start on beam. I think our focus is to, depending on what we start on, is to have a solid beam rotation, because I know we can have a great floor, vault, and bars rotation."
Contact: Richard Retyi (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
