Winning its first NCAA women's gymnastics championship Friday night was ...
The news bulletin over the radio would please fans of the Michigan women's gymnastics team - at least until the last word.
... UCLA.
Friday night's NCAA championship in Gainesville, Fla., went to a first-time recipient but it wasn't the Wolverines, the owners of the best regional performance who dethroned highly favored Georgia for the first time.
Instead it was the Bruins, who looked into their past and found the ability to defeat the Bulldogs, posting an all-around score of 197.15. Arizona State finished a surprising second, tallying a 196.85, and Georgia and Michigan were close behind at 196.6 and a 196.5, respectively.
UCLA was the top-ranked gymnastics team in the country last December, before Georgia earned that distinction in early January and galloped through the entire regular season.
Only a dismal performance two weeks ago at the Southeast Regional left the stables open for another team to come in and snatch away the NCAA title.
It happened - but no Wolverines stood on top of the awards podium this weekend.
"I don't know if we were ever favored to win it," Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. "All along, people have talked about Georgia being the favorite and UCLA and Michigan being teams that could take it away from Georgia if they faltered. Basically Georgia faltered and UCLA stepped up there and won the championship."
The Wolverines made it close, but slowed to a trot on the last apparatus.
Michigan was running neck and neck with UCLA going into the last event, when the Wolverines finished with a sub-par 48.875 on the floor exercise to wind up fourth overall.
Still, the lower finish did little to diminish Michigan's accomplishments this year and its ability to compete with the nation's best.
"I'm extremely pleased with the way the kids have done the whole weekend," Plocki said. "If you talked to any coach, they would all tell you that the pairing of the teams and the closeness of the competition was unlike any other Super Six championship we've ever had before. The difference between (Michigan and Georgia) was .10 of a point. A .10deduction is a shoulder shrug. That's how minute the difference is."
Though Georgia failed to win the NCAA team title, little could prevent it from dominating the individual championships. Saturday, two out of the three highest vault and floor exercise scores belonged to the Bulldogs, and Georgia's Jenni Beathard won the uneven bars title.
The Wolverines placed competitors in every apparatus championship, but none came away with a title. Freshman Sarah Cain came the closest, falling to Beathard, 9.95-9.9, on the bars.
Ironically, it was another Wolverine, Nikki Peters, who was ranked No. 1 on the bars all season and expected to win the championship on Saturday. But Peters, who finished sixth with a 9.825, was still recovering from two sprained ankles suffered days before the regional meet.
Michigan advanced to Friday's Super Six team championship after finishing second in the evening session of Thursday's preliminary round.
The Wolverines were expected to win the evening session, but Arizona State shocked everyone, defeating Michigan 196.275-196.2, and single-handedly eliminating defending NCAA champion Alabama from the tournament.
"There's a great deal of pressure for the athletes Thursday," Plocki said. "If you take Thursday lightly you end up like Alabama and Utah - not even in the competition. So I was very pleased. We did have to count a couple breaks, but it was mostly due to nerves. We eliminated those mistakes on Friday night."
JOHN KRAFT/Daily
The Michigan women's gymnastics team failed to win its first-ever national championship this weekend in Gainesville, Fla., despite being the No. 1 seed.