Michigan Impresses Celebrity Judges

Saturday, December 10

Ann Arbor, Mich.

4:00 PM

Michigan

Eastern Michigan (ex)

12/10/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics

Dec. 10, 2016

» Michigan had four guest judges: Marcus Ray, Joey Namou, Sam Webb and Ira Weintraub.
» Freshman Lexi Funk competed in the all-around.
» Lauren Marinez and Emma McLean both added two events from 2016 lineups.

• Event Replay | Photo Gallery

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Crisler Center)
Score: Non-scoring
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Jan. 7 -- at Utah (Salt Lake City, Utah), 5 p.m. MST

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan women's gymnastics team enjoyed a much-anticipated exhibition meet against Eastern Michigan on Saturday (Dec. 10) at Crisler Center.

Junior Lauren Marinez and sophomore Emma McLean both impressed coaches during fall workouts and showed off their hard work in front of the Crisler crowd. Each added two events to what they competed in during the 2016 season. Marinez added bars and floor to her high-level beam routine. McLean looked powerful while competing in the all-around. She added bars and beam to round out her four events.

Freshman Lexi Funk also competed in the all-around in her first meet at Crisler, gaining a lot of experience and showcasing an impressive beam routine. Four of U-M's five freshmen were in lineups on Saturday.

Maddy Osman, a freshman from Orlando, Florida, discussed competing in front of a crowd for the first time at Crisler Center after the meet.

"I've never experienced competing somewhere like this before," said Osman. "Hearing the crowd and your teammates scream your name was an experience like no other. I loved every second of it."

There were four celebrity judges for today's exhibition: Marcus Ray, a former U-M football player and current studio analyst for Big Ten Network, Joey Namou, from 95.5's Mojo in the Morning, and from The Michigan Insider on 1050 WTKA, Sam Webb and Ira Weintraub.

"They were awesome," said head coach Bev Plocki. "I told them coming in that they don't have to know gymnastics, just call it as they see it. Hearing commentary from someone who doesn't understand and what they appreciate about the sport is the fun of it."

For Ray, today sparked a new appreciation for gymnastics as he mentioned afterwards, "It was an eye-opening experience and a lot of fun. Being able to see gymnastics live and up close gives you a new perspective on how difficult some of the events are, and I have a new found respect for gymnastics."

Some exciting floor action. Nicole melts the judges' hearts with a point to end her routine. "You have to work the judges" says @SamWebb77

-- Michigan Gymnastics (@UMichWGym) December 10, 2016

Webb and Weintraub, who host a weekly segment on their radio show with Plocki, also enjoyed guest judging for the Maize and Blue today.

"The meet was a lot of fun," said Weintraub. "Any time you can give the athletes a feel for the crowd and competition is great, and Bev always has her team well prepared, and I think this is part of that preparation. For us, we interview Bev every week, so this gives us the opportunity to meet her athletes and put some names to some faces but also to see the excellence; they are all tremendous athletes so any time we have a chance to watch them we like to take advantage of that."

Webb and Weintraub provided insightful comments throughout the meet on the routines for vault and floor. Webb credited this to experience in the sports industry. Ray and Namou also provided some great insight on bars and beam, attributing their knowledge to watching the Olympics this past summer.

The guest judges had a lot of fun watching both teams and exchanging playful banter with the official judges and each other. It was also fun for the gymnasts to listen to their comments.

"It was fun having them, and they created good vibes throughout the meet," said Marinez. "They were funny. I liked when Sam gave us a 10.0 on vault before we even competed."

The guest judges and gymnasts all had a good time while inspiring some of the youth in the crowd to go home and work on their own gymnastics.

We are now back home and the kids are practicing their floor routines in the living room. @UMichWGym https://t.co/AGPixjH7YB

-- Meghan Duffy (@duffy_ma) December 10, 2016