Weekly Release #1

This Week: Michigan Women's Gymnastics Maize and Blue Intrasquad
Saturday, Dec. 10   Crisler Arena   4 p.m.

Next Event: Wolverines at No. 8 Nebraska
Friday, Jan. 13   Bob Devaney Sports Center   7 p.m. CST

Let's Get It Started - The Intrasquad
Michigan gets its first taste of competing before an audience with the 2006 edition of the women's gymnastics team in the Maize and Blue Intrasquad on Saturday (Dec. 10) at 4 p.m. at Crisler Arena. The Intrasquad splits the Wolverines into two teams (Maize and Blue) and pits each against each other like a regular dual meet.

Tentative Line-ups for the Intrasquad...

Maize Team
Jenny Deiley
Carol McNamara
Clare Flannery
Katie Lieberman
Becky Bernard
Huneth Lor
Lindsay Bourdon

Blue Team
Lauren Mirkovich
Becca Clauson
Lindsey Bruck
Nellie Kippley
Megan Moore
Tatjana Thunener-Rego

Last season, the Maize team took the Intrasquad, led by Jenny Deiley, Carol McNamara and Lindsey Bruck, with Katie Lieberman, Becca Clauson and Kara Rosella helping the team to victory. Elise Ray won all four events for the Blue team, leading a cast of student-athletes that included Shanna Duggan, Clare Flannery, Nellie Kippley, Lauren Mirkovich and Megan Moore.

The women's gymnastics program will be hosting a free poster giveaway at the Intrasquad. Head coach Bev Plocki will also conduct an in-squad clinic during rotatations in which she will offer insights on the 2006 team as well as offering tips for what to look for on each apparatus.

MGoBlue.com will also be offering live video streaming of all home meets on its All-Access site (subscription) throughout the season, as well as teaming with select schools to offer live video of away meets as well. MGoBlue.com will also offer links to live scoring for each home meet.

A Look at the 2006 Wolverines
Michigan returns nine letterwinners and five All-Americans to a 2006 squad that finished fifth in the nation one year ago. Junior Lindsey Bruck, senior Becca Clauson, senior Jenny Deiley, sophomore Katie Lieberman and fifth-year/senior Lauren Mirkovich return with All-America credentials to lead the Wolverines in 2006. They are joined by returning letterwinners junior Clare Flannery, sophomore Nellie Kippley, junior Carol McNamara and sophomore Megan Moore.

Also returning is sophomore Lindsay Bourdon who sat out with injury in 2005. Michigan welcomes three newcomers in freshmen Becky Bernard, Huneth Lor and Tatjana Thuener-Rego.

Michigan loses a pair of All-Americans from last year's team in Chelsea Kroll and Elise Ray. The Wolverines also lose Kara Rosella, Sarrie Rubin and Shanna Duggan, who stays on with the team as a volunteer assistant this season.

Notable News and Notes

Wolverines Fifth in Preseason Poll
Michigan was ranked fifth in the GymInfo Preseaon Coaches Poll, earning 492 points. Defending national champions Georgia topped the list with 603 points and 15 first-place votes, while Utah was second with 589 points and five first-place votes and UCLA was third with 579 and three first-place votes. Alabama was listed fourth with 532 points and two first place votes.

Demystifying the GymInfo Ranking
The GymInfo ranking changes its criteria as the season progresses. From January 9 to January 16, the GymInfo rankings are based on highest score. From January 23 to February 13, the rankings shift, based on total season average. Then, from February 20 to end of the regular-season, the GymInfo rankings are based on the regional qualifying score (RQS).

Competing Against the Best
Michigan will face seven teams ranked in the GymInfo Preseason Coaches Poll, including preseason No. 1 Georgia (March 11), preseason No. 2 Utah (Feb. 11) and preseason No. 8 Utah (Jan. 14). No. 12 Penn State (Jan. 21), No. 21 Denver (March 3), No. 24 Minnesota (March 25) and No. 25 New Hampshire (Feb. 17) round out the ranked schedule. Seven programs receiving votes in the poll are also on the Wolverines' schedule (Central Michigan, West Virginia, Illinois, Iowa, Southern Utah, Michigan State, Ohio State).

NCAA Longevity
Michigan is one of only five programs in the nation to qualify for each of the last 13 NCAA Championships. U-M advanced to its 13th straight and 14th overall NCAA Championship after winning the 2005 NCAA South Central Regional with a score of 196.600.

Big Ten Title Streaks
Michigan set a Big Ten record for the most consecutive Big Ten titles with its seventh in a row at the 2005 Big Ten Conference Championships. The Wolverines held the previous record, winning six titles in-a-row from 1992-97 and from 1998-2004. U-M has 14 Big Ten titles, the most in Big Ten history.

Record Crowds - Fourth-Best in the Nation
Michigan recorded the fourth-best home attendance in the nation in 2005, averaging 3,933 fans per meet. The Wolverines saw their highest attendance in U-M gymnastics history against No. 3 UCLA when 5,039 fans packing Crisler Arena. 4,376 fans witnessed Michigan's win over No. 20 Penn State - the fourth-best crowd in U-M gymnastics history - and the second highest attendance for a regular-season meet.

Deiley Moving Up the All-American Charts
Jenny Deiley earned three All-America honors at the 2005 NCAA Championships, picking All-America first team honors on vault and earning All-American second team accolades in the all-around and on bars. Deiley's two first team and six second team honors tie her for fifth in U-M gymnastics history with eight All-America citations (Heather Kabnick (1995-98) graduated with eight All-America awards).

Bruck Consistently Excellent in the All-Around
Lindsey Bruck posted 12 straight all-around scores of 39.000 or better in 15 meets in 2005, falling one score short of the record for most consecutive all-around scores of 39.000+. Bruck took a pair of all-around titles and finished runner-up six times, including a second-place finish at the 2005 Big Ten Championships. Bruck entered the postseason ranked 13th in the nation in the all-around (39.395). She finished the season tied for the second-most all-around scores of 39.000+ in as single season (13) and set a new sophomore record for most all-around scores of 39.000 or better, two more than Beth Amelkovich (11) managed in 1997.

The Triple Backflip Trivia Challenge
A new addition to the Weekly Release, the Triple Backflip Trivia Challenge offers Michigan women's gymnastics fans a chance to test their knowledge of the program to win invisible and imaginary prizes each week on MGoBlue.com. Answers (or guesses) should be emailed to rretyi@umich.edu and winners will be announced each week with the correct answer provided.

The intrasquad edition of the Trivia Challenge will help to welcome one of Michigan's newcomers to the fold -- Miami native Tatjana Thuener-Rego (pronouced Teener-Ray-go ... a free bit of trivia for you there). This week's question is:

"Who was the last Wolverine newcomer to hail from the state of Florida and in what year did she debut for the Maize and Blue Also, what was this athlete's hometown"

Good luck!

Contact: Richard Retyi (734) 763-4423