'The Best Moment of My Life;' Mulligan Reflects on Journey That Led to Surprise Scholarship
9/28/2023 11:16:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics, Features
By David Woelkers Jr.
"Keep fighting and keep your mouth shut. Work hard. Life is tough. Work through it." -- Stetson Bennett
For University of Michigan senior gymnast Jenna Mulligan, Bennett's quote has been a mantra since she first heard him utter the words. It is not hard to see why -- the parallels between Bennett and Mulligan's careers as college athletes are clear. Both started as walk-ons, both are national champions.
And starting in the 2023-24 season, both have been awarded scholarships in their sports.
In a surprise announcement at the team's preseason retreat, Mulligan learned she was named the Wolverines' final scholarship athlete, a moment she said she will never forget.
"So I didn't know until I read the paper out loud to the team," Mulligan said. "I didn't know what was happening honestly. Our coaches handed us our team handbooks and told us we were going to go through it one by one -- certain pages, certain snippets, just something we usually do at our team retreat but a little earlier than normal.
"(Head coach Bev Plocki) told me to turn to a certain page, and when I did, there was a sticky note over the page that said 'we're awarding you with a scholarship for your senior year.' The second that I read the words 'full scholarship' I started crying. It was so many emotions at once."
We couldn't keep this news hidden any longer … Jenna Mulligan is ON SCHOLARSHIP!
— Michigan Women's Gymnastics (@UMichWGym) September 28, 2023
Feature: https://t.co/0olj3lSO2n#GoBlue ?? pic.twitter.com/e66GhRoaGt
For head-count sports such as women's gymnastics, being awarded a scholarship is no small distinction. Few scholarships ever find themselves without an athlete, and being able to award one unexpectedly is one of Plocki's most treasured moments.
"I cherish the ability to be able to reward an athlete that has earned a scholarship," Plocki said. "We don't always get the opportunity to, with the way recruiting goes we're offering ahead of time. It's wonderful when the stars align like this."
That is not to say Plocki awards them easily -- the team is still a meritocracy, and Mulligan has more than earned her recognition said the Michigan head coach.
"I genuinely believe it is always for a reason that these opportunities pop up when they do," Plocki said. "When that scholarship became available, I knew exactly who it belonged to, and that was to Jenna. She's so deserving of the place she now holds on this team."
Mulligan could have been a scholarship gymnast much sooner, having received offers from other programs during her recruitment. What drew her to Michigan, despite the work that would come with walking on, was the draw for many student-athletes -- the opportunity to get the best of both the athletic and academic worlds on one campus.
However, nothing could have prepared Mulligan for the highs and lows of the 2020-21 season. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wolverines as a team reached the pinnacle of the NCAA Championship, but Mulligan never saw the floor.
In this time, Mulligan, despite having elation for her team, admits to have faced self-doubt. Just as she was there for her team, her team was there for her.
"There were definitely times I had self-doubt, but not because of anybody else, in fact honestly it was despite what everyone else did for me," Mulligan said. "It was just in myself and my own head. It was like, 'Oh, if I didn't make the lineup this week, it was because I didn't do my part', which looking back I now see that wasn't the case, the hard work didn't go unnoticed, and everybody had trust and confidence in me.
"Someone that comes to mind for me in that time was Abby Heiskell, she was and still is one of my role models even to this day, and she was so good about helping me through those moments."
Recounting her time at Michigan, Heiskell remembers Mulligan being a source of positivity for the team, even while going through her own struggles.
"Jenna was always someone with a smile in the locker room," Heiskell said. "She never let her anxieties affect the work she put in every day or how she was as a teammate. We all wanted her to feel like that wasn't going unnoticed, because we all knew how tough it is to put in that work and not feel like it's for naught if you don't get in the lineup."
Since that first year, Mulligan has become a strong rotational gymnast in the lineup -- posting career bests of 9.825 on the vault and 9.850 on floor exercise while also receiving the most improved award in her sophomore and junior years.
Her most treasured achievements, though, have come in the classroom. In the 2022-23 season, Mulligan was a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association Scholastic All-American, posting a perfect 4.0 grade-point average in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts.
Thinking back to her reasons to commit to Michigan in the first place, Mulligan considers those awards a full-circle affirmation of her decision.
"It was super important to me to get those honors," Mulligan said. "It was something I had to work towards since my freshman year, and to finally get to that point was something I'm extremely proud of."
Looking towards this upcoming season, simply getting a scholarship is not the be-all end-all for Mulligan -- she aims to keep fighting, just as the Bennett quote emphasizes.
"I like to look at it as an added pressure, but a good kind of pressure," Mulligan said. "Now my mentality has switched to earning that scholarship money on the floor. I want to show how thankful I am for this, instead of just saying I'm thankful for it. I want my gymnastics to reflect how grateful I am for the opportunity."
Players Mentioned
