Weekly Release #14

This Week: NCAA National Championships at Nebraska
Thursday-Saturday, April 24-26 -- Bob Devaney Sports Center -- Lincoln, Neb.
   Thursday, April 24 -- Team Preliminaries, 1 p.m. CDT
   Friday April 25 -- Super Six Team Finals, 7 p.m. CDT
   Saturday, April 26 -- Individual Event Finals, 7 p.m. CDT

Big Ten and Regional Champ U-M Off to National Championships
The No. 10-ranked University of Michigan women's gymnastics team (17-6, 9-1 Big Ten) closes the season at the 2003 NCAA Women's Gymnastics National Championships this week (April 24-26) in Lincoln, Neb. The championships are hosted by the University of Nebraska at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. U-M, which is looking for its first women's gymnastics national title, opens the championships in the afternoon session of the team preliminary competition at 1 p.m. CDT Thursday (April 24). This is Michigan's 11th consecutive trip to the NCAA National Championships and its 12th trip in program history.

The Championships Structure
Twelve teams and 12 all-around competitors earned bids to the NCAA National Championships from six NCAA regional competitions. The teams and individuals are split into two sessions for the preliminary team and all-around competition on Thursday (April 24). The top three teams from each session advance to the Super Six team finals at 7 p.m. CDT Friday (April 25) to determine the national champion. The individual all-around champion is determined Thursday, with the highest all-around scorer from the two preliminary sessions winning the title. The top four individual event finishers (plus ties) from Thursday's sessions and individual event qualifiers from the regional competition compete in the Individual Event Finals at 7 p.m. CDT Saturday (April 26).

The Field
Michigan is joined in the afternoon session of the preliminary team and all-around competition by No. 1 UCLA, No. 3 Arizona State, No. 5 Alabama, No. 13 Iowa and No. 14 Louisiana State. The six teams in the evening session (7 p.m. CDT) are No. 2 Nebraska, No. 4 Georgia, No. 6 Stanford, No. 8 Utah, No. 9 Florida and No. 17 Auburn. The teams were placed in the sessions based on their finish at the regional championships. Three first-place and three second-place teams were randomly assigned to each session.

Follow the Action Live
Go to mgoblue.com to follow the action live during the NCAA Championships. The official site of the University of Michigan Athletic Department will provide a link for fans to "watch" the meet live on the Internet.

Catch the Meet on Television One Week Later
The NCAA National Championships are scheduled to be televised tape-delayed at 1 p.m. EDT on Sunday, May 4, on CBS. Check local listings for details.

Michigan and the NCAA National Championships
This is Michigan's 12th trip to the NCAA National Championships. U-M was first at the national championships in 1982 and has been back for each of the last 11 years (1993, '94, '95, '96, '97, '98, '99, 2000, '01, '02 and '03).

Michigan qualified for the national championships by winning the NCAA Northeast Regional. This is the fifth time in the last seven years that the Wolverines won a regional championship to advance to nationals.

Individually, Michigan freshman Jenny Deiley (Dayton, Minn./Elk River HS) enters the meet ranked 12th in the all-around with a Regional Qualifying Score of 39.525 and tied for 24th on the vault (9.900) according to the latest GymInfo rankings (March 31). Teammate Calli Ryals (Elyria, Ohio/Midview HS) is ranked 19th in the all-around (39.480) and tied for sixth in the floor exercise (9.955), while senior co-captain Janessa Grieco (Mahopac, N.Y./Carmel HS) is tied for 18th on the balance beam (9.905).

Elise Ray (Columbia, Md./Wilde Lake HS), who has missed the 2003 season due to a shoulder injury, is the defending NCAA balance beam champion. Ray was the first U-M gymnast to win an all-around title at the NCAA Championships when she shared the honor with UCLA's Onnie Willis as a freshman in 2001. Beth Wymer (1992-95) won three uneven bars titles from 1993-95 for the Wolverines.

Other Important Info
Fans can purchase tickets on-line at www.huskers.com or by calling the Nebraska athletic ticket office at 1-800-8-BIG-RED.

There is a media press conference with the head coaches and one student-athlete from each of the 12 participating teams scheduled from 3-4 p.m. CDT on Wednesday (April 23) in the Wrestling Room-A at the Devaney Center.

Looking for the Big One
The Wolverines enter this year's NCAA Championships looking for the program's first national championship and the second national title by a women's team at U-M (field hockey, 2001). Six times a Michigan women's team has finished as the runner-up, including twice by gymnastics (1995 and 1999).

Against the Field
Michigan has faced four of the other five teams in the afternoon session of the preliminary competition. The Wolverines lost at then-No. 2 Alabama (Jan. 31) and fell to No. 1 UCLA (March 7) at home during the regular season. U-M posted back-to-back first-place finishes to defeat No. 13 Iowa (Big Ten Conference Championships, March 29) and No. 3 Arizona State (NCAA Northeast Regional Championships, April 12) in the first two postseason meets.

Eleven Consecutive for the Wolverines
Michigan's trip to the 2003 NCAA Championships is its 11th consecutive appearance at the national championships. U-M qualified for its first NCAA Women's Gymnastics National Championships in 1982 but then went on a hiatus until 1993. Since its return to the NCAA Championships in 1993 under then fourth-year head coach Bev Plocki, Michigan has made it to the championships each year. The Wolverines are one only five programs (Alabama, Georgia, UCLA and Utah) to have appeared in each of the last 11 NCAA Championships.

Looking for Three Champs in a Row
Elise Ray, who will miss the NCAA Championships due to a shoulder injury, has won an NCAA title in each of the last two years (all-around, 2001; balance beam, 2002). With an individual title this year, Michigan would tie the school record for consecutive seasons with an NCAA event winner. Beth Wymer won three consecutive uneven bars titles from 1993-95.

Rotation for Preliminary Session is Set
Michigan opens with the bye before uneven bars at the NCAA Championships on Thursday (April 24). The Wolverines will have a bye in the first and fourth rotations. This is the same rotation Michigan drew for the preliminary competition last season.

Competition Order

No.	Vault	Bye I	Bars	Beam	Bye II	Floor
1	LSU	Michigan	Alabama	ASU	UCLA	Iowa
2	Iowa	LSU	Michigan	Alabama	ASU	UCLA
3	UCLA	Iowa	LSU	Michigan	Alabama	ASU
4	ASU	UCLA	Iowa	LSU	Michigan	Alabama
5	Alabama	ASU	UCLA	Iowa	LSU	Michigan
6	Michigan	Alabama	ASU	UCLA	Iowa	LSU

Last Year at the NCAA National Championships
Michigan narrowly missed qualifying for the Super Six Team Finals after finishing fourth with a score of 196.175 in the first preliminary session at the 2002 NCAA National Championships at the University of Alabama. U-M did not advance for a shot at the national championship for the first time since 1998, finishing .400 behind third-place Nebraska (196.575). Calli Ryals and Elise Ray led a valiant team effort -- a number of the Wolverines were fighting through injuries, including Ray who hyperextended her left knee in the practice session -- with outstanding individual efforts. Ray and Ryals finished second and third, respectively, in the all-round competition and combined to bring home eight All-America honors. Ray tallied a 39.575, tying the second-highest U-M all-around total at the NCAA National Championships (Sarah Cain, 2000). Ryals' all-around score of 39.475 tied Wendy Marshall (1996) for fifth on the same list.

In the Rankings
Michigan remained No. 10 for the third consecutive week in the latest GymInfo rankings (March 31) with a Regional Qualifying Score of 196.895. The Wolverines have spent six of the last seven weeks at No. 10, moving up to No. 9 in the March 10 rankings. UCLA remained in the No. 1 spot for the eighth consecutive week with an RQS of 197.980.

A Look Back at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships
After a close competition at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships (April 12), Michigan captured its sixth regional title in school history after outlasting No. 3-ranked Arizona State in the final event. U-M totaled a 196.825 to edge the Sun Devils (196.725), who also qualified for the national championships. Helping Michigan to the regional title were first-place finishes in three events, as Wolverines took the top two positions in the all-around and tied for first on the uneven bars and floor exercise. Leading the way was Calli Ryals, who won the all-around title with a score of 39.500 after tying for first with teammates Jenny Deiley and Lauren Mirkovich (Burlingame, Calif./Notre Dame HS) on the uneven bars (9.900) and tying for top honors on the floor exercise (9.950). Deiley finished second in the all-around (39.475) and tied for second on the vault (9.900).

Team Scores	Vault	Bars	Beam	Floor	Total
1. MICHIGAN	49.050	49.025	49.300	49.450	196.825
2. Arizona State	49.050	49.050	49.200	49.425	196.725
3. Iowa State	48.650	48.950	49.350	49.575	196.525
4. Penn State	49.125	48.950	48.650	49.450	196.175
5. New Hampshire	48.825	49.075	48.350	49.150	195.400
6. Pittsburgh	48.650	47.825	48.875	49.150	194.500

A Look Back at the Big Ten Conference Championships
Big Ten Freshman of the Year Jenny Deiley and All-Big Ten first team selection Calli Ryals led Michigan to a season-high 197.450 and helped the Wolverines capture their fifth consecutive Big Ten title and 11th in the last 12 years March 29 in Champaign, Ill. Deiley and Ryals tied for second place in the all-around with team-high scores of 39.575. The team's effort throughout the injury-plagued season and outstanding performance in the championship helped head coach Bev Plocki earn Big Ten Coach of the Year honors for the seventh time in the last 12 years.

Team Scores	Vault	Bars	Beam	Floor	Total
1. MICHIGAN	49.125	49.425	49.450	49.450	197.450
2. Iowa	49.175	49.250	49.125	49.300	196.850
3. Penn State	49.150	49.150	49.250	49.100	196.650
4. Minnesota	48.725	49.200	48.300	49.200	195.425
5. Ohio State	48.875	49.025	48.325	48.750	194.975
6. Illinois	48.325	47.950	48.675	48.625	193.575
7. Michigan State	47.800	48.450	48.050	49.125	193.425

Deiley Recognized for Her Outstanding Freshman Season
Freshman Jenny Deiley was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year after one of the most outstanding seasons by any gymnast in the league. Deiley started the year off with a bang, winning the all-around in the season-opening meet against Ohio State (Jan. 11). She was named the Big Ten Gymnast of the Week twice (Jan. 15 and Feb. 26) and shared the Big Ten uneven bars title with a 9.950 at the conference championships (March 29). She was the NCAA Northeast Regional uneven bars co-champion and has been among the top 25 all-around gymnasts in the nation for much of the last half of the season, ranking as high as No. 6 in the country in the GymInfo rankings (March 3).

Michigan Dominates All-Big Ten Teams
Michigan not only won the Big Ten team title, but it had five student-athletes named to the 20-member All-Big Ten team. Senior co-captain Janessa Grieco joined freshman Jenny Deiley and junior Calli Ryals on the first team, while freshman Becca Clauson (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall HS) and sophomore Lauren Mirkovich collected second team honors. This is the first season in which the coaches voted on the all-conference teams, with the top 10 vote-getters being placed on the first team and the next 10 being placed on the second team.

Start Clearing Out Room for the Academic Awards
Michigan, two-time recipient of the Leaders and Best Award as the Michigan athletic team with the highest team grade-point average, placed six student-athletes on the Academic All-Big Ten team. Janessa Grieco, owner of the team's highest GPA, led the way with her third consecutive selection to the team, earning the award each year she has been eligible.  The other five recipients -- Chelsea Kroll (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny HS), Kara Rosella (Ann Arbor, Mich./Greenhills School), Erica Rubin (Chatsworth, Calif./Harvard Westlake HS), Alison Rudisi (Mississauga, Ontario/Loyola Catholic Secondary School) and Kallie Steffes (Naperville, Ill./Central HS) -- were all selected to the academic all-conference team for the first time.

Plocki Named Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year
Michigan head coach Bev Plocki was named the Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year. It is the seventh time in the last 12 years that she has earned the award.

Just Beaming
In 14 meets this season, Michigan has posted five of the top 15 balance beam scores in school history. The Wolverines' season-high 49.450 at the Big Ten Championships tied the third highest score in program history and is the second highest postseason balance beam score in school history. U-M's 49.300 on beam at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships also cracked the top 15 overall scores and is the third highest postseason balance beam score by a Michigan team.

Grieco is Recipient of U-M Big Ten Medal of Honor
Senior co-captain Janessa Grieco, along with U-M swimmer Jeff Hopwood, received the Michigan Big Ten Conference Medal of Honor which is given annually to a graduating male and female student-athlete who has demonstrated the highest proficiency in scholarship, athletics and service to the community. Grieco is the third gymnast to receive the honor (Beth Wymer, 1995; Beth Amelkovich, 1999).

Grieco Tabbed for Phyllis Ocker Award
Senior co-captain Janessa Grieco received Michigan's Phyllis Ocker Award as the senior female varsity athlete who has distinguished herself academically in the Division of Kinesiology. She is the second gymnast to earn the award (Wendy Marshall, 1996).
 
Grieco Named AAI American Award Finalist
Senior co-captain Janessa Grieco has been named one of six finalists for the AAI American Award. The award, sponsored by American Athletic Incorporated, is given annually to the nation's top senior gymnast as voted on by the coaches. She is one of six seniors vying for the award, joining Utah's Theresa Kulikowski, Nebraska's A.J. Lamb, Penn State's Katie Rowland, Alabama's Kristin Sterner and UCLA's Onnie Willis. The winner will be announced at the 2003 NCAA National Championships award banquet on Saturday (April 26) in Lincoln, Neb.

The Next One Puts Deiley in the Record Books Again
Freshman Jenny Deiley has racked up 11 consecutive all-around scores of 39.000 or higher and has 12 overall this season. The 11 consecutive is a school record, and her total of 12 is a school record for freshmen. With her next all-around score of 39.000 or higher, she will move into sole possession of the school record for most occurrences in a single season. Currently, Deiley is tied for first with Beth Wymer (1992-95), who had 12 all-around scores of 39.000 or higher in 1994.

Pretty Impressive
After two weeks of three Michigan gymnasts among the top 25, only Jenny Deiley and Calli Ryals are ranked among the top 25 all-arounders in the nation in the latest GymInfo rankings (March 31). Deiley is 12th with an RQS of 39.525, and Ryals is 19th (39.480). Nebraska's Richelle Simpson is ranked No. 1 with an RQS of 39.725.

Michigan's Senior is Peaking at the Right Time
Big Ten Gymnast of the Year finalist Janessa Grieco, Michigan's lone senior, had a successful regular season and started the postseason with a ton of momentum. She increased her career high in the all-around in each of the final three weeks of the regular season with a personal-best 39.525 against Michigan State and Pittsburgh (March 22) in the regular-season finale. She opened the postseason by capturing the Big Ten balance beam title (9.950) and finishing fifth in the all-around with a total of 39.475. At the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships (April 12), she tied her season high in the floor exercise (9.925) to tie for fourth.

Right There Every Time
Senior Janessa Grieco has developed a reputation as one of the most consistent performers for the Wolverines. However, it is not the top of the award stand where she has made her mark, it is simply being on the award stand. Grieco has performed in 209 events, including the all-around, in her career. While she has won just 14 event titles (seven percent), she has finished among the top five 123 times (59 percent).

Ryals Ready to Top Her School-Record Floor Average
Calli Ryals is averaging 9.925 in 14 floor exercise routines this season. She set the school record for season average on the floor exercise (minimum seven performances) last year with an average of 9.913 (16 performances). Ryals is the only performer in school history to average over 9.900 on the floor.

More About Ryals and the Floor Exercise
Calli Ryals is tied with Utah's Melissa Vituj and Annabeth Eberle for sixth in the nation on the floor exercise with an RQS of 9.955 in the latest GymInfo rankings (March 31). UCLA's Jamie Dantzscher is No. 1 with an RQS of 9.985. Ryals has been extremely consistent on the floor this season. She has recorded nine of U-M's top 10 scores with two marks of 9.975 and seven marks of 9.950. She also has two scores of 9.925 and has only scored less than that three times, a 9.875 against Michigan State and Pittsburgh (March 22), a 9.825 against No. 1 UCLA (March 7) and a 9.800 against then-No. 12 Minnesota (Jan. 17). Ryals has won or shared the floor exercise title in nine of 14 meets, including sharing the Big Ten Conference and NCAA Northeast Regional event titles.

Deiley on Fire
Big Ten Freshman of the Year Jenny Deiley has competed in 70 events this season, winning 18 event titles (26 percent) and finishing among the top five 51 times (73 percent) in her first 14 collegiate meets. Her 18 event titles and 51 top-five finishes are both team highs. In her most consistent event, the all-around, Deiley has won four titles and finished no worse than fourth in the 14 meets this season.

It's Official... Ray Will Not Compete in 2003
Junior Elise Ray underwent season-ending surgery on her shoulder in mid-March. Ray injured her shoulder in December and suffered a repeat of the injury in late January.

Slim Pickin'
Michigan went through most of the fall practice season in great health. However, all that changed in December. Michigan was without five of its 12 scholarship athletes for the season opener against Ohio State (Jan. 11). U-M returned Kallie Steffes on vault against Minnesota (Jan. 17), but she has not competed since. Christine Mantilia (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan HS), torn anterior cruciate ligament, and Elise Ray, shoulder, are out with injuries.

Grieco and Ray Selected as Captains
Senior Janessa Grieco and junior Elise Ray are serving as co-captains for the 2003 Wolverine squad. Grieco was a co-captain in 2002 as a junior.

GymInfo Top 25 (3/31/03)
(by Regional Qualifying Score)

RANK, TEAM RQS 1. UCLA 197.980 2. Nebraska 197.585 3. Arizona State 197.490 4. Georgia 197.485 5. Alabama 197.345 6. Stanford 197.300 7. Oklahoma 197.250 8. Utah 197.180 9. Florida 197.010 10. MICHIGAN 196.895 11. Washington 196.715 12. Oregon State 196.665 13. Iowa 196.515 14. Louisiana State 196.485 15. Iowa State 196.460 16. Ohio State 196.355 17. Auburn 196.350 18. California 196.160 19. Arizona 196.100 20. Brigham Young 196.075 21. Denver 196.035 Kent State 196.035 23. Minnesota 195.960 24. North Carolina State 195.930 25. Central Michigan 195.780

Contact: Jason Gerdom (734) 763-4423