Michigan
NCAA Semifinal #1
Michigan Heads to Fort Worth for 24th NCAA Championships Appearance
4/16/2019 2:51:00 PM | Women's Gymnastics
THIS WEEK
Fri-Sat., April 19-20 – at NCAA Championships (Fort Worth, Texas)
Championships Central
Friday, Apr. 19 -- Semifinal Session 1, noon CDT
TV: ESPN2 | Tickets | Live Scoring | Live Video | Event Video
Saturday, Apr. 20 -- NCAA Team Final, 6 p.m. CDT (if advance)
TV: ESPNU | Tickets | Live Scoring | Live Video | Event Video
• Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 6-ranked University of Michigan will compete in the NCAA Championships semifinals for the 24th time in program history on Friday (April 19) at noon CDT with hopes of advancing to the National Championship meet for the 11th time.
Friday's semifinal session will be aired live on ESPN2, while Saturday's (April 20) championship will be broadcast on ESPNU at 6 p.m. CDT. Bart Conner, Kathy Johnson-Clarke and Holly Rowe will be on the call throughout the weekend with Alicia Sacramone-Quinn (vault), Bridget Sloan (uneven bars), Samantha Peszek (balance beam) and John Roethlisberger (floor exercise) the commentators for the individual apparatus streams.
NCAA Championships
• Michigan will make its 24th NCAA Championship appearance this weekend with 23 of them coming under head coach Bev Plocki.
• No. 6-ranked Michigan will compete in the first session along with No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 LSU and No. 5 Utah. U-M has faced both UCLA (twice) and Utah this season, and fell to both teams in the three meetings. The last time the Wolverines faced LSU was in the 2017 NCAA semifinals.Â
• The Wolverines will return to the NCAA Championship after not qualifying in 2018. U-M finished fifth in the NCAA Semifinal in 2017, the team's last NCAA appearance.
• U-M competed as a team in Fort Worth in 2015, narrowly missing a spot in the Super Six by .150 points to Stanford. Michigan took three individuals to Fort Worth in 2016 after the team placed third at NCAA Regionals.
• Michigan has made 10 Super Six appearances in its history and will look to advance for the first time in the new format.
• There have been eight individual national champions in program history with the last coming in 2013 when Joanna Sampson captured the floor title with a 9.9375 in Los Angeles, California. Beth Wymer and Elise Ray each won three NCAA titles, while Kylee Botterman won the all-around in 2011.
• U-M has 46 individuals who have combined for 177 All-America honors. Senior Olivia Karas is the only current Wolverine with All-America accolades, earning a second team award on vault and the all-around in 2017.
NCAA Regionals Recap
• Ann Arbor was one of four NCAA Regional host cities in the first year of the three-day format.
• The Wolverines advanced to the NCAA Championships by placing second to UCLA in the NCAA Ann Arbor Regional Final with a score of 197.275. The Wolverines' score was only .050 points ahead of third-place Alabama.
• U-M used a 49.425 on beam and 49.450 on floor to propel them on to Fort Worth.Â
• The regional final was highlighted by a 9.950 on balance beam from freshman Natalie Wojcik and three 9.900 scores on floor exercise from freshman Abby Brenner, senior Emma McLean and Karas.
• Wojcik also had a terrific NCAA second-round performance, claiming the regional floor title with a 9.925. Karas was a superstar in the second round with a 9.900 on vault, uneven bars and beam.
• Vault was the big event in the second round for U-M as they posted four scores of 9.875 or higher for a 49.425. Karas' 9.900 and Wojcik's 9.925 led the team.
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, and is having the best year of her career on bars and beam.
Wojcik Racking Up Awards
• Freshman Natalie Wojcik continues to receive postseason awards for her success in gymnastics and the classroom.
• She was named Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) Northeast Regional Gymnast of the Year, to become the 12th Michigan gymnast to receive the honor.
• Wojcik became the 13th Wolverine to earn Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. She is the seventh of those 13 to go on and win a Big Ten individual title in the same season.
• On Monday (April 15), Wojcik was named the U-M Rookie of the Year, an award handed out at the Student-Athlete Recognition ceremony for the top freshman combining academics and athletics.
WCGA Regular Season All-Americans
• Wojcik is a first team regular-season All-American on three events. She finished sixth in the all-around with a National Qualifying Score (NQS) of 39.630. She was third nationally on vault with a 9.955 NQS and was seventh on beam with an NQS of 9.930.
• Karas is a second team regular-season All-American on two events. She ranks 15th nationally in the all-around (39.535) and tied for 16th on floor (9.925).
