Michigan
NCAA Team Preliminaries
Michigan Just Shy of Advancing at NCAA Championships
4/18/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
| | Ryals |
Michigan started the team preliminary competition on the uneven bars in rotation two after sitting through a bye in the first rotation. Sophomore Christine Mantilia (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan HS) opened for the Wolverines with a 9.400. She was followed by senior Shannon MacKenzie (Midland, Mich./Midland HS), who earned a 9.675. Junior Cami Singer (Monument, Colo./Lewis Palmer HS) kept the scores rising with a 9.700. Following a fall by senior Amy Kuczera (Bloomingdale, Ill./Lake Park HS), Ryals turned in a solid performance for a 9.825. Ray closed the rotation with a team-high 9.875 to give U-M a 48.500 team score on bars.
The Wolverines moved directly to balance beam and the tone was set right from the start as junior co-captain Janessa Grieco (Mahopac, N.Y./Carmel HS) turned in another strong leadoff routine to help get the Wolverines started with a 9.800. Senior Melissa Peterson (Shawnee, Kan./Shawnee Mission West HS) returned to the beam lineup for the first time since U-M's meet with Utah on Feb. 22, and she followed Grieco's performance with an equally impressive routine and posted another 9.800. MacKenzie kept things on track with the third 9.800 of the rotation after a fall by Kuczera. Ryals broke the trend with a 9.900, which Ray repeated as the final Wolverine on the balance beam to give Michigan a 49.200 on the event, the team's third highest event total on beam at the NCAA National Championships.
At the halfway point of the meet, the competition was living up to its expectations, as the six teams in the session were separated by less than one point. Utah and Nebraska were tied for first with 98.375. Georgia took up third with a score of 98.200. Michigan sat in fourth place with a 97.700, half a point behind the Bulldogs. Louisiana State (97.550) and Arizona (97.450) were in fifth and sixth, respectively.
U-M moved on to the floor exercise for the fifth rotation after a fourth-rotation bye. Freshman Kallie Steffes (Naperville, Ill./Central HS) started the rotation with a 9.775, which senior co-captain Jodie Rosenberg (West Bloomfield, Mich./West Bloomfield HS) followed with a 9.800. Freshman Chelsea Kroll (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny HS) helped the squad with a 9.675. Ray kept the scores climbing with a 9.850, and Grieco did the same with a 9.900. Ryals closed the rotation with a 9.925 and tied for first place in the session.
Michigan put together a solid rotation on the vault in the final rotation of the session and tallied a 49.225 for its efforts. Grieco opened with a 9.750, and Steffes came up big with a 9.850 in the second spot. Ryals posted a 9.825, while MacKenzie kept things going with a 9.800 on the apparatus. Ray turned in a team-high 9.900, and Kroll closed the meet for the Wolverines with a 9.850.
The season is over for the team, but three individuals earned the right to compete in Saturday's (April 20) Individual Event Finals. Ray (vault, uneven bars and balance beam), Ryals (balance beam and floor exercise) and Grieco (floor exercise) will each have a shot to win a national title in their respective events.
Final Results
| Team Scores | Vault | Bars | Beam | Floor | Total |
| 1. Utah | 49.100 | 48.950 | 49.450 | 49.275 | 196.775 |
| 2. Georgia | 49.200 | 49.000 | 49.300 | 49.150 | 196.650 |
| 3. Nebraska | 49.300 | 49.150 | 49.050 | 49.075 | 196.575 |
| 4. MICHIGAN | 49.225 | 48.500 | 49.200 | 49.250 | 196.175 |
| 5. Louisiana State | 48.925 | 48.750 | 48.800 | 49.375 | 195.850 |
| 6. Arizona | 48.825 | 48.700 | 48.475 | 48.975 | 194.975 |
Event-By-Event U-M Individual Scores
ALL-AROUND Elise Ray 39.575 (2) Calli Ryals 39.475 (3) VAULT Janessa Grieco 9.750 Kallie Steffes 9.850 Calli Ryals 9.825 Shannon MacKenzie 9.800 Elise Ray 9.900 (t3) Chelsea Kroll 9.850 UNEVEN BARS Christine Mantilia 9.400 Shannon MacKenzie 9.675 Cami Singer 9.725 Amy Kuczera 8.975 Calli Ryals 9.825 Elise Ray 9.875 (t2) BALANCE BEAM Janessa Grieco 9.800 Melissa Peterson 9.800 Amy Kuczera 9.275 Shannon MacKenzie 9.800 Calli Ryals 9.900 (t3) Elise Ray 9.900 (t3) FLOOR EXERCISE Kallie Steffes 9.775 Jodie Rosenberg 9.800 Chelsea Kroll 9.675 Elise Ray 9.850 Janessa Grieco 9.900 (t3) Calli Ryals 9.925 (t1) ( ) denotes place in the Top 5
N O T E S
Three Wolverines combined to earn eight All-America first team honors -- Elise Ray (vault, uneven bars, balance beam, all-around), Calli Ryals (balance beam, floor exercise, all-around) and Janessa Grieco (floor exercise). Ryals also earned All-America second team honors with a sixth-place finish on the uneven bars.
Elise Ray (vault, uneven bars, balance beam), Calli Ryals (balance beam, floor exercise) and Janessa Grieco (floor exercise) will compete in the NCAA Individual Event Finals at 7 p.m. CDT on Saturday (April 20).
Elise Ray and Calli Ryals each earned 9.900 on the balance beam and tied for the third highest U-M balance beam score at the NCAA National Championships. Beth Wymer (1994) and Ray (2001) are tied for the top U-M balance beam score (9.925) at the national championships.
The Wolverines competed in the tougher of the two sessions with five of the top eight teams in the country -- No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Utah, No. 5 Michigan, No. 6 Louisiana State and No. 8 Nebraska -- and No. 12 Arizona fighting for the top three spots and a trip to the team finals.
No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Alabama and No. 10 Stanford, the top three teams from the evening session of the team preliminaries, make up the rest of the six-team field for the NCAA Super Six Team Finals tomorrow night (Friday, April 19). The evening session also featured No. 11 Minnesota, No. 13 Oregon State and No. 15 Florida.
The Wolverines' score (196.175) from the team preliminaries placed them seventh in the final team standings, as Michigan posted the highest score among the six teams which did not advance to the Super Six Team Finals. The top six spots will be determined tomorrow night at the Super Six Team Finals, while places seven through 12 are based on team scores from the preliminary sessions.
Elise Ray and Calli Ryals placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the final all-around standings. UCLA sophomore Jamie Dantzscher, a 2000 Olympic teammate of Ray, won the NCAA all-around title with a score of 39.675 in the evening session. The all-around final standings are determined after combining the results from the afternoon and evening sessions of the team preliminaries.
Q U O T E S
Head Coach Bev Plocki
On the deficit created by the uneven bars ... "I knew we wouldn't be able to come to the national championships and be able to get by (like we did at the Big Ten Conference Championships and the NCAA Regional Championships). We just can't spot a team .500 or .700 and expect to dig ourselves out of that hole. We have to hit on all four events."
On not advancing ... "I am really disappointed. I knew this session was not easy, but I believed that we could advance. We didn't do the job we need to in order to advance."
On the gymnasts overcoming injuries ... "I couldn't be more proud of Elise Ray. She was in a lot of pain today (after hurting her knee yesterday). I know Melissa Peterson's dismount on beam killed her, but she fought through and did it. I could go through our roster and show you all the kids who have dealt with some sort of problem this season."
Sophomore Elise Ray
On not advancing ... "Things like this happen in gymnastics. We fought as hard as we could and that is what matters. We are going to hold our heads high."
On competing with an injured knee ... "I had no idea what to expect. I thought I would go to bed, wake up and it would be all better. That didn't happen. I had so much support from the coaches and my teammates. They really encouraged me to not put myself at risk. There is a big difference between being dangerous and knowing you can still do everything, and I felt like I could still do everything. It hurt a lot, but I wanted it so badly. I just fought through the pain."
Contact: Jason Gerdom (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
