Michigan
Ohio State
Michigan Posts Nation's Highest Score in Win Over Ohio State
1/13/2018 9:29:00 PM | Women's Gymnastics
» Michigan scored a 197.550 for the nation's highest score in 2018
» U-M had eight scores of 9.900 or better
» Senior Paige Zaziski won the all-around with a 39.450
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Crisler Center)
Score: No. 5 Michigan 197.550, No. 29 Ohio State 194.925
Records: Michigan (2-0, 1-0 Big Ten), Ohio State (0-2, 0-1 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Jan. 19 – at Illinois (Champaign, Ill.), 7 p.m. CST
• Photo Gallery | Complete Results
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 5 Michigan women's gymnastics team set out to raise awareness for individuals with developmental disabilities on Saturday (Jan. 13) at Crisler Center and in the process they put the nation on notice and raised awareness for this year's team with a national-best score of 197.550 to beat Ohio State.
Eight gymnasts scored 9.900 or better on their routines to lead to the big score. Head coach Bev Plocki had outstanding performances up and down her lineups.
"We are really excited about this team and what we did," said Plocki. "We started the meet with three sticks in a row on vault and that brought the energy. This was great and we still have a lot of things we can improve on which is exciting."
The team took a big step from its season opener when they topped No. 4 Alabama with a 196.200. Senior captain Paige Zaziski showed what she is capable of, winning the all-round with a 39.450. She tied for the team high on bars with freshman Syd Townsend with a 9.900.
Townsend and fellow freshman Lauren Farley were each terrific. After getting a taste for what college gymnastics is about last week, they came out and put their talent on display. Townsend started with a 9.925 on vault and followed with her great bars routine. Farley made her college debut on bars with a 9.850 and had a great beam routine for a 9.850 as well.
Junior Emma McLean went the biggest on the night. She came in ranked in the top-10 on both vault and floor and will only move up. She scored a 9.950 on vault to match the top score nationally so far and also tied the top score in the nation on floor with a career-high 9.975.
After earning Big Ten Gymnast of the Week last week, junior Olivia Karas closed out her day with an amazing 9.950 on floor to put the exclamation mark on an exciting day.
Senior Brianna Brown and sophomore Lexi Funk also scored a 9.900 on the day. Brown's score was changed to a 9.900 on beam from a 9.875 and Funk started the team's momentum on floor with a 9.900 to match her career best.
After the meet the team invited the Adaptive Gymnastics group, who performed prior to the start of the meet, down for a group picture. Sophomore Sam Roy stuck around even longer to interact with some of them. Special Olympics was on hand before the meet as well as representatives from the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) as this year's student-athlete talent show known as Mock Rock will feature Adaptive Sports as its beneficiary on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in Cliff Keen Arena.
Sam Roy is what it is all about. She stayed after to talk to some of the Adaptive Gymnastics performers. #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/E7ROFI4RLZ
— Michigan Women's Gymnastics (@UMichWGym) January 14, 2018
The Wolverines will look to continue their hot start to the 2018 season when they head on the road for the first time this week, traveling to Champaign, Illinois, to face Illinois at 7 p.m. CST on Friday, Jan. 19.
Players Mentioned
