Four gymnasts earn All-American honors as individuals at NCAA championships

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.