Wolverines Look to Win Sixth Straight Big Ten Title

THIS WEEK
Saturday, March 15 -- at Big Ten Championships (State College, Pa.), 5 p.m.
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 7-ranked University of Michigan women's gymnastics team will look to run its streak of winning Big Ten Championships to six when it competes in Saturday's (March 23) evening session at 5 p.m. in Rec Hall on the campus of Penn State University.

Big Ten Championships

• Michigan will be competing for its 25th Big Ten Championship, by far the most of any school in the conference. Next on the list are Minnesota and Ohio State with five.
• Head coach Bev Plocki has the most championships by any coach in Big Ten gymnastics history with 23. Larry Cox, former Ohio State head coach, is second with five.
• The 23 titles are tied with Indiana's James (Doc) Counsilman for the most by any coach, in any sport, in Big Ten history.
• U-M has won the last five Big Ten Championships. It is the fourth time in school history that the Wolverines have won five or more consecutive titles, winning six straight from 1992-97, seven straight from 1999-2005 and five straight from 2007-11.
• Michigan also leads the conference with 93 individual champions, 55 more than Minnesota in second place. The 93 championships include 79 event titles and 14 all-around victories.

Big Ten Regular-Season Champions

• Michigan went 9-0 in the Big Ten to capture its third straight regular-season championship, the fifth in the seven years the conference has recognized the top team in the regular season.
• The five regular-season titles are the most in the conference. Minnesota is next with three and finished second to the Wolverines this season. Nebraska is the only other school to win the regular season with two titles.

AAI Award Finalist

• Olivia Karas was named one of six finalists for the AAI Award, given to the nation's top senior gymnast.
• She has had a terrific senior season after recovering from a season-ending injury in February 2018.
• She has won floor five times this season, but is having the best year of her career on bars and beam.

All-Big Ten

• The Wolverines had six individuals named to the All-Big Ten first and second teams, the most in the conference.
• Honorees on the first team were seniors Olivia Karas and Emma McLean, sophomore Lauren Farley and freshmen Abby Brenner and Natalie Wojcik.
• Junior Lexi Funk was named to the second team for her second career honor.
• Michigan has had five or more All-Big Ten selections in seven straight seasons with five or more first-team honorees in three of the last four seasons.

Last Time Out

• Michigan tied for second place at the Missouri quad meet with a score of 196.800.
• The Wolverines led through the first three rotations but had to count a 9.425 on bars in the final rotation.
• Karas tied for the win on bars and floor with a 9.925 on both events.
• Wojcik won vault with a 9.975 and the all-around with a 9.925.
• U-M scored a 49.400 on floor, the second highest floor score of the season for the Wolverines.
• Farley led off beam with a 9.900 to give her a 9.900 or better in five of the last six meets.

In The Rankings

• Michigan remained at No. 7 for the third straight week in the final regular-season rankings.
• The team is ranked No. 6 on vault and beam, No. 8 on bars and No. 9 on floor.
• Wojcik is among the best in the nation this year on every event. She is ranked sixth in the all-around, third on vault, tied for 17th on bars, seventh on beam and T-38th on floor.
• Karas is also highly ranked in several events, coming in at 14th in the all-around, T-16th on floor, and T-17th on bars.
• McLean is T-34th and Brenner is T-50th on vault.
• U-M has three individuals ranked on beam. Joining Wojcik and Karas are Lauren Farley (T-21st) and Lexi Funk (T-23rd).

NCAA Regionals

• Ann Arbor will be home to one of four NCAA Regional sites in 2019. Get your tickets for the three-day NCAA Regional here.
• The three-day regional will take place April 4-6. The first round will feature two teams on Thursday, April 4 at 3 p.m. There also will be two sessions of four teams each in the second round on Friday, April 5 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. The regional final will take place Saturday, April 6 at 7 p.m.
• The top two teams in the regional final will advance to the NCAA Championship April 19-20 in Fort Worth, Texas.