When the Michigan men’s gymnastic team won its third straight regular season Big Ten title on March 18, freshman Fred Richard wasn’t in the building.

In fact, he wasn’t even in the country. Richard was in Germany competing for Team USA as the Wolverines squared off against Illinois for the conference title. On Saturday, Michigan once again faced the Fighting Illini with hardware on the line. This time, Richard was in the lineup — and he made an impact.

In his first NCAA Championship, Richard won the parallel bars, high bar and all-around titles.

“College meets, energy wise, (are) just a whole different experience,” Richard said. “It’s so fun.”

Richard has been dominant all season. The true freshman was crowned the Big Ten all-around champion just a couple weeks prior, named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and owns the top score among Wolverines in three of the six events. Coming into the NCAA Championship, Richard was fresh off dominating performances in the NCAA Nationals Qualifier and the Big Ten Championship. 

After a career best on the floor, Richard stared down the pommel horse. Michigan ranks in the top four in the country in each event except pommel, where it is only eighth. Richard has been one of the Wolverines’ best performers in the event; his services were badly needed if Michigan looked to claim a national championship. He scored a 12.83. It was the lowest score among his teammates and third lowest of the event. 

“I didn’t know if I’d still win the (all-around) after the pommel,” Richard said.

But Richard bounced back strong. Despite his freshman status, Richard’s presence is mature. He has taken on a difficult role in his freshman year and, despite missing part of it competing overseas right before, led the Wolverines to a 20th Big Ten Championship.

“It’s not an easy job to be the all-around,” Michigan coach Yuan Xiao said.

And with the absence of last year’s all-around, senior Paul Juda, in 2023, Richard has had to step up into this already-difficult role in the shadow of a Nissen-Emery award recipient. 

At the root of this maturity is Richard’s routine, which borders on professional. The freshman doesn’t let vices get in the way of his performance on the floor and is clear about his intention to put gymnastics first.

“Some guys think their training is only the three hours, four hours that they’re in the gym but then they (start) eating bad food, not sleeping as well, partying,” Richard said. “… While (I’m) in college, still maintaining everything towards getting better at the sport, I think that mentality is what separates me.”

It was on Saturday, April 15, where that separation was evident. Despite an all-time low score in the pommel, Richard scored back to back 14.6s on the rings and vault. As he jumped up to the chalk-laden parallel bars, Michigan sat precariously in third; it had bounced back well in rings, but a low pommel score still rang softly in its ears. Richard eased the noise with a meet-high 15.000 on the parallel bars. The freshman had brought his team back into the top two, solidified his position at the top of the all-around charts and earned himself an NCAA championship for the event. 

As Fred Richard’s feet hit the mat for a final time, he had secured his second and third titles. His high bar routine anchored the Wolverines event, and while Richard’s 14.433 topped the meet, it wasn’t enough to vault Michigan past Stanford.

“I just felt super proud,” Richard said. “All five of us on our high bar rotation did amazing.”

Richard’s high bar performance is not only indicative of his ability to make in-meet adjustments, but to redeem himself from previous meets’ mistakes. Friday, in NCAA Qualifiers, he had fallen on high bar. Saturday, he was the high bar champion.

“(The high bar score) is like a redemption moment,” Richard said.

The freshman ended with a score of 85.998, clearing his nearest competitor by more than two points. Despite an uncharacteristic pommel horse, Richard became the 14th Michigan gymnast to be crowned the all-around champion, and third to take home three championships in one night. 

Despite a late, valiant push, the Wolverines finished second overall behind Stanford on Saturday. 

But freshman Fred Richard is a national champion. 

The post Fred Richard wins parallel bars, high bar, all-around NCAA titles appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

In the narrow landscape of NCAA men’s gymnastics, one program sits atop the throne.  

Stanford has dominated the past four years, winning national championships in 2019, 2021 and 2022.  The lone year without a Cardinal championship was 2020, canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

On Saturday, the No. 2 Michigan men’s gymnastics team (22-9 overall) had the opportunity to change that narrative at the NCAA Championships Meet — but ultimately fell short.

Despite setting a new season record with a total team score of 419.889, the Wolverines fell just short of Stanford, as the Cardinal won yet another national championship. Stanford maintained its seat atop the sport, and Michigan settled for second fiddle to the Cardinal’s 422.458 points.

“I’m super proud of our freshmen,” Michigan coach Yuan Xiao said. “Fred Richard, and also Landen (Blixt) are two guys that give the team so much confidence.”  

The freshmen rightly earned Xiao’s praise as Richard was the hero for Michigan. He won individual titles in parallel bars and high bars to boost him to the all-around title.

While Richard, became a three-event national champion, fellow freshman Blixt and senior Adam Wooten paced the Wolverines’ floor routine, both scored 14.233s which pushed Michigan ahead of Oklahoma for second place. Richard lost the execution-score tiebreaker to Kleuber in his floor routine, an impressive 14.800, but remained pleased with his performance.

“When you compete for the team and you succeed, everybody feels like they succeeded,” Richard said. “It’s a whole different feeling.”

Michigan’s success during the first day of the meet as they set their then-season-record score of 413.992 to advance to day two for a shot at the finals.

“I think a lot of things went well on day one, we just knew we had to qualify … and we did that,” Senior Adam Wooten said. “A lot of day one was conserving our energy and keeping our minds right.”

The calm and positive energy put forth by the senior leader was evident in the Wolverine’s day two performance, when they set another team record en route to their runner-up finish.

“Once we got to day two, one thing we did well was to stay loose, stay calm, and roll with the punches as they came,” Wooten said. “That really helped us minimize mistakes and react pretty well when we did have the couple mistakes that we had.”

The most minor of mistakes remained between the Wolverines and the national championship. A sub-par routine from Richard on the pommel horse and a trio of falls on Michigan’s high-bar routine were the difference. However, Michigan’s program is building something that Xiao is excited about.

“Last year we were 10 points behind the number one team which is Stanford,” Xiao said. “This year we closed the gap to one or two points. It was a big gap that we closed.”

Growth and progress will remain imperative for Xiao’s program, which is looking to return to the success it found in back-to-back national championships in 2013 and 2014 when Xiao was an assistant coach.  

“We’re working hard and are happy with where we are at,” Xiao said. “So in the next two years, we can bring the trophy back to Michigan.” 

For now though, second place will have to do.

The post Michigan falls just short, finishes second at NCAA Championship appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

The Michigan women’s gymnastics team was in Fort Worth on Thursday for the NCAA Championships — but only four members were there to compete. 

After a crushing tiebreaker loss in the regional finals, the Wolverines’ hopes of a team national championship were lost. However, four gymnasts — graduate student Abby Heiskell in the all-around, graduate student Natalie Wojcik on bars, senior Sierra Brooks on floor and junior Naomi Morrison on vault — had the opportunity to represent Michigan as individuals. 

And they did it with grace. 

“It’s heartbreaking to be here without a team,” Michigan coach Bev Plocki told said on Thursday. “But I am incredibly proud of the young women that we have that competed here today. I think they had an incredible showing and represented Michigan and our team in a really positive light.”

Morrison, Wojcik and Brooks were attached to No. 9 Kentucky, while Heiskell joined No. 1 Oklahoma, which went on to win the NCAA Championship. The individual gymnasts performed at the end of their host teams’ rotations for their qualifying events, scoring only for themselves.

On vault, Morrison showed off a yerchenko 1 ½, which earned her a 9.900. She took fourth place and first-team All-America honors, the first such nod of her career. Wojcik received a 9.925 for her final collegiate routine, earning a second-team All-America nod, totaling 21 All-American citations for her career. 

Brooks – who won the prestigious AAI award on April 10 — competed on the floor with a three-pass routine, sticking the landing on two of them. Her high-amplitude full-in, tour jete half split full and front tuck to double tuck scored a 9.950. She tied for third place and took home first-team All-America honors, her seventh such award. 

But it was Heiskell who had the responsibility of representing the Wolverines in all four events, and she felt the support of her team — even if they weren’t all on the mat with her. 

“It definitely made it a little more comforting knowing that I had three other teammates on the floor with me even though they were across the arena most of the time,” Heiskell said. “Almost every girl on our team made the way to Fort Worth to come and support us along with their parents. … (I) wanted to go out there and compete for the girls that couldn’t be down on the floor with us and really just represent the block M with pride one last time.”

With that support behind her, Heiskell showed why she is an all-around star. Starting her night on the uneven bars, she tied for second place overall with a 9.950. On the vault and beam, she received a 9.7750  and 9.88375 respectively. And on floor, her fan-favorite ABBA mashup was played one last time as she landed a double Arabian and roundoff 1 ½ front full, scoring a 9.9375. Heiskell earned first-team All-America honors for bars and a second-team nod for floor and the all-around, garnering 12 citations for her career. 

While Wojcik and Heiskell leave Michigan with big holes to replace, Morrison and Brooks return next year with hopes to finish what they started this season. 

But next year, they hope to have their entire team compete with them. 

The post Four gymnasts earn All-American honors as individuals at NCAA championships appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

For the second year in a row, the Michigan women’s gymnastics team is home to the best senior gymnast in the country after Sierra Brooks won the 2023 AAI Award on Tuesday. This comes a year after graduate gymnast Natalie Wojcik won the same award. 

Brooks’ illustrious four-year career has cemented her as one of the best gymnasts in Michigan history. She won Big Ten Gymnast of the Year for the second year in a row this year, is the first Michigan gymnast to become a three-time Regional Gymnast of the Year by winning the award again this year and has earned first-time all-conference honors four years in a row. 

The all-arounder scored a perfect 10.0 on the floor in the regional meet to claim the regional championship on the event and earn her spot to compete for the individual national championship this weekend in Fort Worth, Texas. Brooks finished the season as one of the nation’s best all-around gymnasts. She finished the season ranked fifth on the vault, 14th on the uneven bars, 18th on the floor and 19th on the beam. She ranked eighth nationally in the all-around this year. 

Brooks’ Michigan career isn’t over quite yet. She recently announced she will be taking a fifth year to continue her academic career at the Ross School of Business and compete for another year with the Wolverines. 

Brooks is just as impressive outside of the gym that she is inside of it. She is currently the president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, is a three-time Academic All-American and received the Leaders and Best Award and the Bates Deskins Award for most outstanding student-athlete in her class as a sophomore and junior. 

“Sierra is just an unbelievable Rockstar,” Michigan coach Bev Plocki said Jan. 28. “That young lady has her you-know-what together in all facets of her life like President of SAC, super, super, super smart student, business school, whatever, captain of our team, you know, 9.900. Rocks out. … She’s just an amazingly talented athlete and an amazing young woman.”

Receiving the AAI Award only solidifies what most already know about Brooks — that she is an undeniable superstar and one of Michigan’s best athletes. 

The post Sierra Brooks wins AAI award, the nation’s most prestigious gymnastics award appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

On Sunday, the No. 3 Michigan women’s gymnastics team suffered an uncharacteristic finish in the NCAA Regional Finals in Denver, missing the NCAA National Championship meet on a gut-wrenching tiebreaker favoring No. 6 LSU. 

While it is easy to dwell on the heartbreaking end to an incredible season, it is more important to focus on just that: an incredible season and two historic careers.

Graduate students Abby Heiskell and Natalie Wojcik have spent their entire careers as Wolverines alongside each other and made a mark on the culture of this Michigan program since day one. 

The pair struggled with their performance at Regionals, but their leadership shone through and supported their team through a difficult night.

“My fellow fifth-year Natalie (is one of my biggest influences),” Heiskell told The Daily on March 22. “It’s been super fun being able to lead beside (her) and do gymnastics beside (her) for another year.”

Heiskell made her Wolverine debut in a dual meet against Iowa her freshman year, competing in vault and floor. Her season highs were 9.825 on vault and bars, and 9.850 on floor. Additionally, Heiskell competed in the NCAA Semifinals, scoring just shy of her season highs in all three events. These humble beginnings were just the beginning of her ascent.

Meanwhile, Natalie Wojcik made a name for herself as soon as she stepped foot in Crisler Center, winning the all-around title in her home debut. She earned her first perfect 10.000 on vault, the NCAA Championship title on beam, and Big Ten wins on floor and all-around competition. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Heiskell and Wojcik’s sophomore year season ended before they could compete for NCAA honors. The season brought Heiskell a team Most Improved Award, three individual titles, and individual records in vault, beam, and bars. For Wojcik, 16 routines with a score of 9.900 or higher, an all-around best of 39.775, and a top-50 national finish in every event — but no chance to compete for a national title.

But, a year can make a significant difference.  

2021 was a monumental season for the Wolverines, earning the program’s first NCAA Championship. Heiskell’s increased determination as a junior led to her Michigan Female Breakthrough Athlete of the Year award, first place at the NCAA finals on the balance beam, and 21 routines throughout the season scoring 9.900 or higher. 

Unfortunately, Heiskell was unable to perform to her own standards at the 2023 NCAA Regionals, with three of her events scoring below 9.900. But on the uneven bars, she clinched her own record of 9.950 and gave the Wolverines a strong start.

Wojcik earned 15 event titles throughout the 2021 season, two perfect 10.000s, and a Big Ten title in vault. Additionally, with a phenomenal NCAA Championship meet and an all-around score of 39.7375, she took Michigan’s second-best all-around score ever in the NCAA Championship. 

“(Heiskell and Wojcik) led us to a national championship,” Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. “First ever.”

The opportunity for a second NCAA Championship slipped through their fingers in the 2023 NCAA Regional Finals. Neither performed at their best, and their Wolverine careers ended prematurely. However, their legacies will not be defined by a single meet.

During her senior year, Heiskell demonstrated that her ceiling was even higher than she revealed in 2021, earning three Big Ten individual titles, logging her first 10.000 on vault and leading the team to a second Big Ten title in four years. 

Wojcik compounded these accomplishments through an individual win on beam in the Big Ten, her third career perfect 10.000 on vault, 21 individual titles through the season, and the American Athletics Inc. award — the most coveted award for college gymnasts. 

And in their final season, the two experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

As a graduate student, Heiskell earned another perfect 10.000 on vault and received an additional perfect 10.000 on beam at the Big Ten Championship. She earned three Big Ten titles in the all-around, bars and beam. Wojcik’s fifth year brought an individual title in bars at the Big Ten Championship tied with two of her teammates, including Heiskell. 

Though Wojick had a powerful season, her final meet was met with uncharacteristic and rare errors. She started strong on the uneven bars, with an additional 9.950 to round out the rotation for Michigan. She had a solid performance on beam with a triple flight series and a small hop on the dismount that resulted in a 9.900. Wojick’s floor routine scored 9.800 due to a sidestep landing and her vault earned a 9.875. 

One performance should not define an entire career, and Heiskell and Wojcik’s troubled performances came at an unfortunate time.

“(Heiskell and Wojcik) are such a big part of what we’ve been able to do this year, in so many ways,” Plocki said. “I’m heartbroken they didn’t get to finish vying for a national title.”

Despite the difficult weekend, Heiskell and Wojcik’s work isn’t done. The two will be traveling to Fort Worth, Tx., for the NCAA Nationals as individual competitors. Heiskell will be following the Oklahoma University team as an all-around competitor, and Wojcik will follow the University of Kentucky on bars.

Heiskell and Wojcik have bounced off of each other for motivation and support their entire collegiate careers, and their fifth-year season was a gift to Michigan gymnastics, for their team and their fans. Regardless of a rough finish, what will be remembered are their record-breaking performances and leadership as Wolverines.

The post Anna Miller: Focus on the legacy of Abby Heiskell and Natalie Wojcik appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

Something was off from the start. 

Before the No. 3 Michigan women’s gymnastics team could even get going, senior Gabby Wilson fell on the second routine of the team’s first rotation. With an uncharacteristic fall on bars, Wilson, and the Wolverines’ hopes, were already on the ground. And that’s just about where they would stay — no matter how hard the team fought. 

Although Michigan (26-2 overall) led for the first two routines and was tied going into the final rotation, it had a subpar meet at the worst possible time, failing to qualify for the National Semifinals for the first time since 2018 with a score of 197.750, while No. 14 Denver and No. 6 LSU advanced.

The Wolverines and Tigers ended the meet tied, so it all came down to a tiebreaker. All six gymnasts were counted in all four events. While Michigan could usually move past an uncharacteristic fall on an event, the falls were the Wolverines’ kryptonite on Sunday.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. “We have had an amazing season. I think we’re a team that could contend to win a title, but I think it’s a combination. I still feel like even with the meet that we had, we deserved to be one of the teams that advanced. But when we open the door and kind of put things into a gray area and we put control into someone else’s hands, that does not always end well.”

And the Wolverines cracked that door open from the beginning. 

Although Michigan had one fall on the bars with Wilson’s slip, they still excelled and led after the first event. Graduate students Abby Heiskell and Natalie Wojcik and senior Sierra Brooks led the charge with 9.950s. They looked like their usual stalwart selves and helped Michigan gain a .225 point lead. Despite the fall, the team already reached its peak, securing the fourth-best bars score in program history with a 49.650. But, with the tiebreaker the fall is the one thing that would ultimately matter.

And that was all the history and happiness the Wolverines could muster. 

The beam rotation started out no better than the bars. Junior Carly Bauman fell on the beam, her second beam fall of the weekend. Once again, the rest of the routines would have to be nearly flawless to make up for the early misstep. Once again, as Brooks has done so often through this season and her career, she led the charge with a 9.950 that included a back handspring double twist and a stuck dismount. But, no matter how hard Brooks and her teammates fought, the Pioneers and the Tigers were clawing back, and Michigan’s lead dwindled to just .075 points. 

Luckily for the Wolverines, they had their strongest event to resurrect their national title hopes. Three gymnasts scored 9.9 and above, with Brooks once again leading the way with a 9.925. But, it didn’t seem to matter, as they still underperformed. After three rotations, Michigan was in hazy territory. They were tied with LSU for the lead, clinging on to hope that they would be one of the top two teams to advance. 

Michigan has dictated so much of how its meets went this season. But this one was out of its hands. As they finished on vault, the Tigers still had gymnasts performing for their lives on the floor. On vault, one of the Wolverines’ strong suits, they had an average performance in a situation where they needed a spectacular one. Freshman Kaylen Morgan anchored the event with a stuck landing and a team high 9.9. But it didn’t matter. It was all up to LSU and Denver. 

And there’s one thing you should never do in gymnastics: leave the door open. 

When LSU’s final floor routine finished, there was a shock around the arena. Michigan and the Tigers were tied at 197.750. No one seemed to know what was going on. Except for the Wolverines. You could see it on their faces. 

All you could see were tears. 

After a few moments of deliberation among the judges, where they counted all six gymnasts’ scores for all events as the tiebreaker, the outcome was clear. With its falls on beam and bars, Michigan’s sixth gymnast couldn’t dig it out of a hole. Instead, that sixth gymnast was its Achilles heel. The one time the Wolverines needed all six gymnasts, for a team that is uncannily deep, was the one time not all six gymnasts showed up for every event. And thus, the shocking, unthinkable outcome was true:

For the first time since 2018, Michigan would not be competing for a National Championship. 

“We win and we advance together as a team,” Plocki said. “… I think we deserve to advance, but when we open the door and put control in someone else’s hands then it doesn’t always come out the way that we wanted.”

The failure to advance is shocking, heartbreaking even for the Wolverines. But it wasn’t for a lack of high scores and stuck landings. The overall score was respectable but a far cry from Michigan’s standard.

“We have six up and five count for a reason,” Plocki said. “… We won bars. We won vault. We tied to win floor. … There were a lot of bright spots. It’s a little bit hard. I haven’t been sitting here quite honestly thinking about that because everybodies just really disappointed and brokenhearted about the outcome.”

At the end of the day, despite the bright spots, the tears and the heartbreak will be the lasting memory. There was nothing going into this meet that foreshadowed what the final outcome would be. There were no warning signs. Everyone, especially Michigan, thought this meet was just a stepping stone to bigger things.

“Tonight it didn’t end well for us,” Plocki said. “It’s a really difficult pill to swallow. But we have to take it as a look at what we have control over, that we could have changed or done better. And that’s what we have to learn from this experience.”

This type of heartbreak stings. It’s one few experience and one no one wants to. The only thing worse than defeat may be a shocking, unexpected upset while knocking at the doors of greatness. And that’s exactly what Michigan experienced on Sunday in Denver. 

A team full of national title hopes saw its season and dream end suddenly. A team, led by a coach that felt like her team truly deserved it, won’t get to see how high it could truly climb. 

But there was something off from the beginning. And at the end, instead of a trophy, all that was left was tears in the Wolverines’ eyes. 

The post In heartbreaking upset, Michigan fails to qualify for Nationals after promising season appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

The No. 3 Michigan women’s gymnastics team, chasing its second National Championship in just three years, showed why it is back in the conversation for a national title Friday. 

The Wolverines (26-2 overall) advanced to the Denver Regional Finals with a score of 198.025, the second-highest regional score in team history, moving forward alongside No. 13 Denver (7-5) and beating out Minnesota (10-6-1) and Arizona (4-11). Backed by strong performances from senior Sierra Brooks and graduate student Abby Heiskell, Michigan advanced to continue its chase for its second-ever national title. 

The Wolverines started out the night on beam and showed some struggles reminiscent of early season woes. Junior Carly Bauman led off by falling off the beam, an uncharacteristic mistake that placed added pressure on the rest of the rotation.

Senior Gabby Wilson followed, showing no signs of discouragement. Wilson stuck a flic layout and followed it with a standing switch. Finishing her routine with a high-amplitude double tuck, Wilson’s team leading 9.950 steadied the Wolverines. Brooks, senior Nicoletta Koulos and Heiskell earned a 9.875, 9.800 and 9.850, respectively. Graduate student Natalie Wojcik’s 9.900 in the anchor spot helped Michigan recover from lower scoring earlier.

Heading into floor, their best event throughout the season, the Wolverines looked to make up for the .225 deficit they had accumulated. The rotation started strong with three consecutive scores of 9.900 or higher from Koulos, Heiskell and Wojcik.

“Look at the result. 49.700,” Michigan coach Bev Plocki told The Daily. “Obviously the judges liked the quality routines. The tumbling was good, it was great.”

But it was Brooks who stole the show on floor. Sticking the landings on a tour jete ½ to split full, Brooks gained confidence throughout her routine. After a perfectly stuck front tuck through to a double tuck, Brooks was met with roaring applause from her team. Earning a perfect 10.00, the first of her career on floor and the first perfect score in a regional event since 1995, Brooks’ performance was the catalyst that the Wolverines needed for the rest of the meet. 

After the .600 swing bolstered by Brooks, Michigan pulled ahead of Denver going into the vault. Wojcik began the rotation with a 9.825, a below average performance, followed by Wilson with a 9.925. Junior Naomi Morrison went third with an event-title winning routine, sticking the landing on a high-amplitude yurchenko 1 ½ and earning a 9.950. Brooks and Heiskell added a pair of 9.900s, pushing the Wolverines into a comfortable .650 lead. 

Despite the large advantage, Michigan refused to be complacent. 

“There’s a lot more pressure and anxiousness riding on (the postseason),” Brooks said. “That’s just what makes the postseason a little bit different. We have to be very intentional. We know that every meet matters. … We’ve done a really good job all season if we have a hiccup, just locking in and understanding that it’s not the end of the world, we can bounce back and I think today was a great example of that.”

In the final rotation, veteran performances at the bookends were the difference for the Wolverines, as they were led off with a 9.950 by Heiskell and anchored with a 9.975 from Wojcik. In the five spot, Brooks earned a season-low 9.475 after losing her grip on a jaeger and nearly falling off the bars. This forced the team to keep a sub-par 9.825 and score below its season average in the event. Michigan finished the meet with an impressive 198.025, .575 ahead of the second place Pioneers, despite not performing to its full potential.

With a lineup consisting of five starters from the 2021 National Championship winning team, the Wolverines’ experience will be crucial in the postseason. 

“Each season has its own life,” Plocki said. “This is just a really special year and I’m blessed to be a part of it with this group of young women who are amazing.”

Even when it’s not at its best, Michigan continues to prove why it is a National Championship contender. And if the Wolverines can get all four events to click at the same time, they may just bring home that second national title they have been chasing.

The post Michigan advances to NCAA regional finals with sixth 198-plus performance of season appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

A perfect 10.0 is the ultimate goal in gymnastics. Every flip, twist and movement is in the pursuit of perfection. 

The two-time reigning Big Ten Gymnast of the Year and one of six nominees for the AAI award, senior Sierra Brooks has achieved perfection three times in her career, all on vault. But the 10.0 on floor has remained elusive, as her two scores of 9.975 — which earned a 10.0 from one of two judges — remained just shy.

But in the No. 3 Michigan women’s gymnastics team’s first meet on the path towards a second national championship, Brooks’s excellence could no longer be denied.

Her first career perfect 10.0 on floor led the charge for the Wolverines, headlining a 0.600-point swing in their favor in the second rotation that they only built upon en route to a victory over Denver, Minnesota and Arizona. The win propelled Michigan into the regional finals, where it will compete to place among the top two teams and earn a berth in the national semifinal meet.

“I was just feeling very confident (going into floor),” Brooks said. “I wanted us to all get the ball moving again. We can put up really, really high scores on all of the next three events. So I think (we) just went into it looking forward to competing and just showing everyone how good we are.”

After a beam rotation 0.120 points below their average and facing a deficit, doubt was nowhere to be seen from the Wolverines. Senior Nicoletta Koulos led off the second rotation on floor with a 9.925, followed by a 9.950 from graduate Abby Heiskell and a 9.900 from graduate Natalie Wojcik. Already, Michigan had eclipsed the number of 9.9-plus scores from its beam rotation, with three more routines to come.

Despite the high stakes — anything less than second place in the meet would end their season — the Wolverines didn’t waver. A 9.850 from junior Naomi Morrison captivated the crowd, and her performance amplified Michigan’s already contagious energy, setting the stage for Brooks.

From the moment she stepped on the mat, Brooks was locked in. She exuded focus and confidence, and everyone watching was prepared for something big. Each leap, flip and dance move drew more attention as Brooks piled up stuck landing after stuck landing. On her final pass, a front tuck through to a double tuck, Brooks stuck her third and final pass, finishing her routine with a giant smile and a chorus of cheering from her teammates.

“I feel like I warmed up fine and I was feeling confident, but still those are probably some of my best landings for the day,” Brooks said. “So it’s very exciting to just know that it counts. This is the one that the judges are judging and I just tried to take that in and also I was just happy to contribute to that score, too.”

While Brooks’s score was the headliner — the fourth ever regional-title-winning 10.0 in program history — junior Reyna Guggino closed out the rotation with a 9.925 for a team score of 49.700, Michigan’s highest regional floor total in program history.

The Wolverines prepared all week, going back to the basics on the floor and reinforcing the performance aspect of the routines. And with a regional final berth on the line, their execution in the second rotation, highlighted by Brooks’s 10.0, paved the path forward.

The post Sierra Brooks’ perfect 10 boosts Michigan to regional final appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

When the No. 3 Michigan women’s gymnastics team walks into an arena, their dominant 23-2 record and storied postseason history is all it takes to intimidate opposing teams. With over 30 consecutive years of NCAA regional appearances, Wolverine coach Bev Plocki has created a dynasty. Her staff are no strangers to competing in NCAA Nationals and neither are her athletes. 

Other teams, however, have a difficult road to catch up with Michigan and compete at the Regional Finals for a chance at a Nationals appearance. 

For the second year in a row, the Wolverines head into their NCAA Regionals in Denver with graduate students Natalie Wojcik and Abby Heiskell leading the pack for a team seeking a spot in the Regional Final. 

Coming off of its 27th Big Ten Championship, Michigan will compete on Friday in the second session of the day, facing No. 14 Denver, No. 18 Minnesota, and either No. 28 Arizona or No. 35 North Carolina. With a top-two finish, the Wolverines would compete again on April 2 in the NCAA Regional Finals. 

Nationals are within reach, a feeling this team is used to. 

“At the end go the day, we just need to go to Denver, do our job, and be who we are,” Plocki told the Daily. “If we perform the way we’ve been performing all season and up to the way we perform in the gym every single day, we’ll be fine.” 

The Daily previews the regional where Michigan begins action on March 31.

Can the stars continue to dominate?

Even by Michigan’s standards, the Wolverines have had an unbelievable season, with a program record five meets reaching a total score of 198.000 or higher and perfect 10s from senior Sierra Brooks and Heiskell, along with seven regular-season All-Americans for Brooks, Heiskell, Wojcik and senior Gabby Wilson. 

Brooks got her best all-around score of 39.800 in the most difficult match up of the season against No. 1 Oklahoma earlier this month, and was the highest-scoring Wolverine on floor at Big Tens. Additionally, she was one of six finalists for the American Athletic Inc. award – the most coveted award for senior gymnasts. 

Wilson enters Regionals with the 2023 Big Ten individual title in vault and a victory in the 2022 NCAA Regionals on her floor routine. As team captains and recently-announced returners to the team, consistency and leadership are key from Brooks and Wilson. 

As always, Wojick and Heiskell are powerful cogs for Michigan. Along with Brooks, the pair earned a three-way 2023 Big Ten title in the uneven bars, with Heiskell adding a title in the balance beam. Michigan is hoping to continue finishing at the top of the leaderboard and dominating the individual and all-around competitions. 

“They’re a really incredible group of talented, beautiful, and smart young women,” Plocki said. “The entire team from top to bottom is 100% all in. I have 100% trust in them that their goals are the same … to win the National Championship.”

Specific goals of the meet

In the Regional, the main goal is to win and advance to the National Championship. However, there are distinct aspects of Michigan’s performance that must be fine-tuned for the Wolverines to achieve that. 

To start, vault is about more than “sticking the landing.” Plocki emphasized that the lead-up to the landing is just as important, and everything must line up for the perfect vault. 

“(The team) has been talking about making sure that we get big blocks off the table so we can get those vaults up in the air,” Plocki said. “In order to stick the landing, we have to be aggressive.” 

Moving to the other events, it’s clear that the Wolverines have to focus on doing what they do well and having confidence in their ability to deliver stellar results. 

“(The uneven bars are) really about … hitting every handstand and sticking every dismount,” Plocki said. “On beam, we’ve been working on doing sharp, confident dance and being very aggressive in the way the routine flows and looks.”

Finally, floor practice leading up to Regionals has brought the gymnasts back to their roots through drills emphasizing basic skills that can be easily lost under high pressure. In the final days before the meet, the Wolverines are also practicing holding the attention of the audience throughout the routine. Down the stretch, it’s the little things that make the biggest difference.

“We’ll work on (the performance aspect) a little bit today,” Plocki said. “Just really having fun with playing up to the crowd and to the judges with the dance.”

Final takeaways

The team has a mission and a reputation they are hoping to uphold throughout Regionals. They’re not only performing for themselves and their team and staff but for their school. 

“We want to do it for each other, we want to do it for Michigan and do it for the Block M,” Plocki said. “This is (the gymnasts’) journey, and I get to be a part of helping them along the way.”

If Michigan can perform as they have all year and in previous years, the Wolverines only have themselves to compete with – and could be well on their way to the Regional Finals.

The post Previewing Michigan’s 2023 NCAA women’s gymnastics regional appeared first on The Michigan Daily.

At this point, it seems as if there’s nothing that Sierra Brooks can’t do.

Besides taking a day off. 

As a senior captain on the Michigan women’s gymnastics team, Brooks has garnered a multitude of awards and cemented her role in the starting lineup since her first year on the team. As a freshman, Brooks won Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. As a sophomore, she was instrumental in helping her team win a National Championship, the first in Michigan’s history. As a junior, she was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Year. Now in her senior year, she received that accolade for the second year in a row and was listed as one of six finalists for the AAI award — the most prestigious award in collegiate gymnastics given to the best senior gymnast in the country. 

These acknowledgments continue to accumulate – one article wouldn’t be enough to encapsulate them all – but Brooks is not new to the hard work it takes to achieve success.

***

Described by her parents, David and Shannon Brooks, as having a motor that just doesn’t quit, Sierra has always fully dedicated herself to everything she does. They have witnessed Sierra’s unstoppable drive since her birth.

“Coming out of the womb she’s been incredibly independent and very driven,” Shannon told The Daily. “(David) used to say … that she doesn’t get cheated. She wakes up and she makes the most of her days. She’s always been a busy body, always wanted to do very, very well with things and she’s willing to put in the work. We saw that as a child, but to this day, she does not get cheated. She tries to maximize everything.”

Sierra joined a competitive gym when she was six-years-old, quickly rising through the ranks and reaching level 10 — the highest level for youth gymnastics — in the sixth grade. Colleges began taking note, sending interest letters in the mail. But this didn’t surprise Sierra. This was the expectation. 

“Other kids who were closer to my age or just a little bit older were already committed to schools,” Sierra told The Daily. “It was just very much the culture of gymnastics at the time. It was like ‘Okay, once you hit level 10, and then you make (Junior Olympic) Nationals, you’re probably going to start getting recruited.’ ”

Under the leadership of coach Nick Becker at Aspire Gymnastics Academy — a competitive gym in Illinois — Sierra competed at the Junior Olympic National Championships from 2016 to 2019, placing in the top three in the all-around each year and winning vault, beam, floor and all-around titles in 2019.

Sierra finished her youth career as a five-time Illinois state champion and a 2019 Nastia Liukin Cup qualifier — a tournament held for the top Junior Olympic gymnasts. As Sierra’s Junior Olympic career came to a close, she had interest from multiple colleges. But once she set her eye on Michigan, she was determined to be a Wolverine. 

And in 2019, everything fell into place. 

“I had been taking classes over the summer in high school just because I really liked school,” Sierra said. “(Michigan assistant coach) Scott (Sherman) reached out to me, and they had an opening on the team and I felt that I was ready … I had been competing at level 10 for like six years and felt like I had done everything that I wanted to accomplish. I was willing to graduate early and I think the transition honestly was very smooth. I credit a lot of that to the relationships I already had with the girls on the team.”

Sierra graduated with honors from Oswego East High School in 2019 after just three years, enrolling at Michigan that spring as a student in the Ross School of Business. With the support of senior Gabby Wilson and graduate students Abby Heiskell and Natalie Wojcik, all of whom she knew before coming to Michigan, the transition from the individualistic nature of youth gymnastics to the team environment of college was seamless. 

Even when the pandemic hit in 2020, causing the NCAA championships to be canceled and ending Sierra’s team-MVP freshman season prematurely, she refused to slow down. 

While many students took the time in quarantine to rest, Sierra did the exact opposite. She took online courses in psychology, accounting, video editing and marketing — on top of starting a blog and creating videos of her workout routine. By May, she had begun working as a Content & Brand Marketing Intern for Power Move Marketing. If she couldn’t add to her gymnastics resume, she was going to add to her academic one. 

“Too much free time for Sierra is not good,” David said. “She tries to fill it with productive things … taking courses, working out. That’s just who she is.”

As a sophomore, she made up for lost gymnastics time. Notching 13 event titles and 29 routines of 9.900 or better – including one in all four events at the National Championships – Sierra set new career bests on beam, bars, and the all-around at nationals. She earned the highest all-around score in Michigan history at the NCAA Championships and led the Wolverines to their first national title. Sierra was voted co-MVP for the team and finished the regular season ranked fifth nationally on the vault and 15th in the all-around. 

Throughout Sierra’s junior year, she continued to demonstrate her talent both academically and athletically. Off the mat, she was voted President of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee — an organization that represents all 29 varsity sports and over 900 athletes at Michigan. Throughout the year, she worked as a USA Diverse Future Leaders Fellowship Member for L’Oréal and started a website and Instagram account to showcase her photo editing skills. That summer, she served as a Deals Transformation Associate for PWC – one of the most prestigious public accounting firms in the world.

In the gym, Sierra continued to impress. She was voted co-MVP for the second year in a row, chosen as a team captain, won the Big Ten Gymnast of the Year and became the conference vault champion. Not to mention 15 event titles and 29 scores of 9.900 or higher. 

Now in her senior season, Sierra is showing the same consistency and prowess that she has shown since her freshman year.  

“Sierra is just an unbelievable rockstar,” Michigan coach Bev Plocki said after the team’s win against No. 1 Oklahoma on March 7. “She’s just an amazingly talented athlete and an amazing young woman.”

As one of the captains of a team with national title hopes, Sierra is at the forefront of a talented group of gymnasts. She ranks fifth nationally on the vault, eighth in the all-around, 14th on the uneven bars and 19th on the beam. On top of taking home Big Ten Gymnast of the Year honors for the second consecutive year, Sierra was named a finalist for the AAI award and became just the 13th Wolverine gymnast to earn all-conference selections four years in a row. 

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Sierra’s relentless hard work has led to her resounding success, but she also credits her family for their endless support and motivation. 

“My family is incredible,” Sierra said. “I’ve always been (my little brother Brandon’s) biggest fan and I’ve loved being a role model for him. I adore him and he adores me…And then my parents are there to pick up the phone whenever possible. I call my mom probably 5-7 times a week just to talk through things. … And (my dad) is someone who just listens and hears me out when I want to get something off my chest. They have been very pivotal to my success”

Brandon, David and Shannon will be supporting Sierra as she returns next season for her fifth year to pursue a master’s in business analytics. Sporting an undergraduate degree, an acceptance into a top business program and countless gymnastic accolades, her parents could not emphasize their pride in their daughter enough.

“We knew she would be successful,” Shannon said. “We just didn’t know what it would look like. She deserves it. No one is going to outwork her and she is incredibly humble about it. She internalizes that and doesn’t show it. I don’t even have the words – I’m so incredibly proud of her.”  

Sierra Brooks can do it all, and she makes it look effortless. Heading into regionals this Friday, Sierra’s confidence, leadership and unwavering will to succeed might just help the Wolverines win it all once again. 

But even the triumph of a national championship might not be enough to make her take a day off.

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