It was a rite of passage to get to Nationals. It was a hurdle the No. 16 Michigan women's gymnastics team cleared for the last 16 years.

But this season was different.

The Wolverines tripped up in their race towards Nationals with a less-than-perfect performance at the NCAA South Regional Championships on Saturday. They finished third behind first-place Stanford (196.200) and second-place Arkansas (196.300). The top two finishers advance to the NCAA Championships.

This year’s team — with a roster down to 12 after four seniors graduated last season and no freshmen came in — was more deserving of a trip to Nationals than previous years’ teams, according to Michigan coach Bev Plocki.

Six of this year’s returning gymnasts had surgery to correct injuries before the regular season. Plocki said some of her athletes couldn't train until November, meaning that they lost two and a half months of practice this season. The Wolverines couldn't put their best lineup together until the Big Ten Championships on Mar. 21.

"During the season, we were able to get people back and put together our best possible lineup for Big Tens, and we hit and it was great," Plocki said. "And I know we brought that confidence from Big Tens with us, but I don’t know if because everything that this team has been through if they wanted it too much, if they tried too hard.”

The squad tackled a handful of obstacles to finish the season with a 10-0 Big Ten record, despite its earlier-than-anticipated end to the season.

But in the end, Michigan missed second place and a trip to Nebraska by five-tenths of a point.

Going into the final event, Michigan and host Arkansas were neck and neck for second place, and both teams knew it all came down to the last event. Michigan was on the balance beam, the most difficult event in women’s gymnastics, ahead by one tenth of a point. Arkansas finished up on floor.

Teams generally prefer to begin meets on vault, because it's a fast event which is easier to do under the influence of early-meet adrenaline. A rotation beginning with vault automatically ends on floor.

It is toughest to begin or end on beam, because there is too much adrenaline at the beginning of the meet and it often comes down to the performance in the last event.

“You can equate (the five-tenths of a point) to the fall on balance beam,” Plocki said. “But I can easily find other places were we could have got those points. It is very easy to say it was our last mistake that cost us that trip to Nationals, but we could have got that five tenths back if one person stuck on vault.”

When two Wolverines fell off the beam in their last rotation, they knew it was over and that their dream of competing in their 17th consecutive NCAA Nationals had disappeared. Sophomore Kylee Botterman, who will move onto Nationals as an individual after a phenomenal floor performance at Regionals, fell for the first time all year on beam.

“I can’t tell you what happened,” Botterman said. “I haven’t fell on beam all year and I’m disappointed, but it’s a team sport. This is not how we thought we were going to end, but we’re looking to next year and how we can do everything better.”

In addition to Botterman, senior Becky Bernard (uneven bars) and junior Sarah Curtis (all-around) will travel to Nebraska to participate in individual competition.

“The fact that we got this far, it breaks my heart that we had to end this way,” Plocki said. “I feel like this is one of the most deserving teams that I have ever coached in terms of their commitment level. It is heartbreaking, devastating to get this far and to have our season end prior to the national championships.”