Michigan
Big Ten Championships
Back to Back! Michigan Wins Conference-Leading 27th Big Ten Championship
3/18/2023 9:20:00 PM | Women's Gymnastics
» Michigan won its conference-leading 27th Big Ten title in program history.
» The Wolverines posted the second-ever 198 in Big Ten Championship history.
» Abby Heiskell won three event titles, including the beam title in which she scored a perfect 10.0.
Site: Coralville, Iowa (Xtream Arena)
Event: Big Ten Championships
Score: 1st Place of 10 teams (198.000)
Records: U-M (23-2)
Next U-M Event: Monday, March 20 -- NCAA Selection Show(TV: NCAA.com), Noon
• Complete Results (PDF) | Photo Gallery
CORALVILLE, Iowa -- The No. 2-ranked University of Michigan women's gymnastics team captured the program's 27th Big Ten Conference championship as it scored just the second-ever 198 in championship history with a 198.000 Saturday (March 18) at Xtream Arena.
Michigan State placed second overall with a 197.550 and Minnesota placed third with a 197.250.
The Wolverines earned their second-straight Big Ten Championship behind Abby Heiskell's second-consecutive Big Ten all-around title. Heiskell became the 10th Michigan gymnast to win the Big Ten all-around title in 2022 and is just the third U-M gymnast to win on multiple occasions; Beth Wymer won four-straight and Elise Ray won back-to-back titles.
Heiskell's all-around title was paced by her perfect 10.0 on the beam. She is just the fourth Wolverine in program history to record a perfect score on the event and the second this season. Heiskell also won her second-straight uneven bars title along with teammates Sierra Brooks, Carly Bauman and Natalie Wojcik, who all scored matching 9.950s. Along with Heiskell's three titles and the four winners on uneven bars, senior Gabby Wilson won a share of the vault title with a 9.925.
Michigan's score of 49.725 not only tied a program-best score but set the tone for the meet for the Maize and Blue as U-M led the entire contest. Following an excellent rotation on uneven bars that counted four 9.950s and a 9.925 from Wilson, the Wolverines moved onto beam.
Brooks gave Michigan the confidence it needed in the fourth spot, scoring a 9.950 before Heiskell followed it up with a perfect 10.0 to pace U-M to a team score 48.475 and a running score of 99.200 sitting ahead of Michigan State (98.675), Iowa (98.400) and Ohio State (98.025) after two complete rotations.
Moving to floor, Nicoletta Koulos and Naomi Morrison recorded strong 9.875s for Michigan and Brooks earned her third score of 9.900-or-higher with a 9.925. The Wolverines went into the final rotation with a 148.575 and a comfortable lead over the rest of the field.
The U-M vault squad did not disappoint as it counted four scores of 9.900-or-better starting with a leadoff 9.900 from Wojcik and following up by a 9.925 from Wilson. Morrison and Heiskell finished off the high scoring for Michigan with matching 9.900s which allowed U-M to earn its second 198 at the Big Ten Championships with a score of 198.000.
The 2023 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Selection Show is set for noon on Monday (March 20) on NCAA.com. During the program, Michigan will learn the location of where the Wolverines will compete in the NCAA Regional, which is set to start Thursday, March 30 with the final on Saturday, April 1.
Players Mentioned
