Michigan
Elevate the Stage
Michigan Seeks B1G Regular-Season Title at Elevate the Stage Meet
2/20/2019 1:49:00 PM | Women's Gymnastics
THIS WEEK
Saturday, Feb. 23 -- at Elevate the Stage (Toledo, Ohio), 7 p.m.
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- With the Big Ten regular-season title up for grabs, the No. 8-ranked University of Michigan women's gymnastics team will compete on podium this Saturday (Feb. 23) at 7 p.m. at the Elevate the Stage Meet in Toledo, Ohio.
The Wolverines will go head-to-head against No. 14 Minnesota, No. 22 Ohio State, No. 34 Illinois and No. 51 Rutgers at the Huntington Center. Â Â
Elevate the Stage
• Michigan will compete on podium at the Elevate the Stage meet for the second straight year.
• The meet is taking the place of the annual Big Five Meet this year. U-M will compete in the second of two sessions.
• Michigan has won three of the four Big Five meets since it went from a Big Ten Quad meet in 2014 to a five-team format in 2015.
• The Big Ten regular-season title will be on the line as Michigan and Minnesota are tied atop the conference standings with a 5-0 record. Illinois, Nebraska and Ohio State are all 3-2 in the conference. Four of the top five teams will go head-to-head in the second of two five-team sessions.
• The Wolverines are looking for their fifth Big Ten regular-season title in seven years. They have won or shared the title each of the last two seasons with an 8-1 conference record.
• U-M leads the all-time series against all four schools they will face on Saturday: Illinois (59-10-1), Minnesota (48-22), Ohio State (51-23) and Rutgers (13-0).
Last Time Out
• Michigan improved to 5-0 in the Big Ten with a season-high road score of 197.075 at Penn State.Â
• The Wolverines notched a season high on vault with a 49.400. Olivia Karas and Natalie Wojcik tied for the win with a 9.950, while Abby Heiskell (9.775), Anne Maxim (9.850) and Maddy Osman (9.800) each had their top collegiate vault scores.
• Sophomore Lauren Farley earned her first career event title on the uneven bars with a 9.875 to go with a 9.900 on balance beam.
• Wojcik won three events and the all-around. Besides vault, she won beam (9.925), floor exercise (9.900) and the all-around (39.625). Her floor and all-around scores matched her season highs.
In the Rankings
• U-M remained at No. 8 in the latest College Gymnastics Association rankings. [ Poll ] It is the final set of rankings before the Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) rankings take effect.
• There was little movement in the event rankings as the Wolverines moved up one spot on vault to No. 10 and down one spot on the other three events.
• Wojcik climbed into the top three in the nation on balance beam with her sixth win of the season. She is also No. 10 in the all-around, tied for 17th on bars and T46th on vault.
• Senior Emma McLean is tied for No. 8 on vault despite not competing the event the last three weeks. Freshman Abby Brenner is also ranked on vault at T27th.
• Karas is tied for 28th on floor and 31st on bars, while ranking tied for 16th in the all-around.
Weekly Honors
• Wojcik swept the Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors in January to join Karas as the only Wolverine to win the award the first four weeks of a season. She has now received the award five times, joining Natalie Beilstein (6), Brianna Brown (5) and Karas (9) with five or more.
• The Gymnast of the Week honor also has gone to Wojcik three times this season.
• McLean and Funk have both been named Big Ten Event Specialist of the Week on the year.
Wojcik in Elite Club
• Wojcik is doing what no gymnast at Michigan has done before. She set a record for all-around score in a U-M debut at 39.625 at the Cancun Classic and has maintained competing at a high level week in and week out.
• She has hit the 39.625 mark three times in the all-around already to become the eighth gymnast in program history with three or more 39.600 scores or higher. Only Beth Wymer (four in 1994), Elise Ray (five in 2002 and four in 2001), Cali Ryals (four in 2002), Sarah Cain (four in 2000) and Joanna Sampson (four in 2014) have done it more times in one season.
• Wojcik has won at least two individual events six of the seven meets this season with three wins in three different meets. She has 16 total event victories and has won the all-around six times with four scores above a 39.500.
• She has posted a 9.900 on all four events at some point this season with 16 routines hitting at least a 9.900.
• With what she has been able to do, she is on a record-breaking pace for the season. Her 9.914 beam average would break Nicole Artz's school record of 9.897 in 2017. Her all-around average of 39.461 is also on pace to break Ray's record of 39.458 in 2004.
Home Slate
• Michigan has one final regular-season home meet remaining. The Wolverines will host No. 1-ranked Oklahoma on Saturday, March 9 at noon on Senior Day. Seniors McLean and Karas will be honored following the conclusion of the meet. [ Tickets ]
• Individual and group tickets are on sale with general admission tickets starting at $6 and groups of 10 or more eligible for $3 tickets.Â
• Ann Arbor is also home to one of four NCAA Regional sites in 2019. Get your tickets for the three-day NCAA Regional here.
Players Mentioned
