The Michigan women’s gymnastics team kicked off its quest for its fifth consecutive Big Ten title with a quad meet on Friday against three program foes: Iowa, Western Michigan and Michigan State.
Despite having a preseason target on their back, the ninth-ranked Wolverines swept the trio of teams in East Lansing at the Jenison Field House.
Michigan earned a score of 195.700 in its season opener, clinching the first-place finish over the Hawkeyes by just 1.875 points. The Broncos finished in third with a score of 192.050, with the Spartans rounding out the contest with 191.850.
“We competed with a lot of our depth tonight,” Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. “We still have three of our top performers who did not compete tonight because of injury. We had some people that got opportunities to perform that, if we were healthy, probably wouldn’t have been in there.”
The meet started off slow for the Wolverines (2-0 Big Ten, 3-0 overall), as they fell to second place behind Iowa due to some mistakes – including a fall – during first rotation on balance beam.
Michigan rotated to the floor for its second event, pulling into first place at the halfway point with a 48.950 team score thanks to solid performances by sophomore Natalie Beilstein – the title winner – and senior Kylee Botterman.
The Wolverines brought home the win after earning four of the top five scores during their final rotation on the uneven bars.
The team’s veterans deeply contributed to the Wolverines’ win, as Michigan swept the podium and took first place in all four events. Botterman took top honors in the all-around with a score of 39.400 after capturing titles in the vault and balance beam exercises.
Fifth-year senior Sarah Curtis and senior Kari Pearce also helped lead the Wolverines. Curtis followed Botterman in the all-around, capturing second place with a 39.225. She also tied Spartan Jackie Berg with a title-winning uneven bar score of 9.875.
“I think that both Sarah and I, as veterans, along with Jordan Sexton, naturally lead because we’re the ones with experience,” Botterman said of her senior co-captains. “With such a large freshman class, it’s important for us to help lead the way for them.”
Pearce, who competed in three events for the first time in her collegiate career, earned a 9.800 in her debut uneven bars performance.
“It was exciting to be out there for three events,” Pearce said. “This was the first time that I had competed on bars, and it felt good to be out there and to just have fun. Hopefully I can just keep building off of this weekend for the next meets to come.”
Plocki emphasized that, despite missing key members of the team like senior co-captain Trish Wilson, this is one of the Wolverines’ best start in years. That gives the team a lot of room to build both its confidence and their performance.
The Big Ten Women’s Gymnastics Preseason Poll, voted on by conference coaches, predicted Michigan to capture the 2011 Big Ten title, and Botterman stressed that all conference meets are especially important.
“It was fun beginning the season by being up against Michigan State and Iowa, both Big Ten competitors,” Botterman said. “We always walk into Big Ten meets with our heads held high, and this time with so many freshmen, it was a cool experience for them to see the layout of everything.”
Friday’s sweep gives the Wolverines an undefeated Big Ten record as they head into this weekend’s tri-meet against conference opponents No. 14 Penn State and No. 17 Illinois on Friday night at Crisler Arena.
“We came into this thinking, ‘It is 2011. Let’s start this,’ ” Plocki said. “We’ve definitely started it off on a great note.“