You went and saved the best for last.
Those may be merely the lyrics to a cheesy love song, but fans of Michigan women's gymnast Lisa Simes were probably singing them all night long after Saturday evening's 196.8-195.45 thrashing of Utah State.
The sophomore waited until the season's final home meet to record her first career perfect score, on the vault. Simes then put an exclamation mark on the evening two apparatuses later with another 10 - this time on the balance beam.
"It feels really good right now to finally get a 10," Simes said. "It's very motivating to do it again next week at Big Tens."
Simes and the rest of the Wolverines began the evening red hot on the vault, resulting in three perfect scores on the apparatus and the second-highest team vault score in NCAA history. Michigan recorded a 49.825, second only to Georgia's 49.85, which happened a week before in Athens, ironically against the Wolverines.
But under the circumstances, Michigan's record-breaking performance shouldn't have surprised anyone. The Wolverines were finally back in the comfort of their own home, after a three-meet road losing streak.
And Saturday night was seniors Beth Amelkovich and Autumn Donati's final home meet in Cliff Keen Arena, drawing a huge crowd of 2,024, a Michigan record.
The Wolverines will move to Crisler Arena in three weeks to host the regional championship.
"The crowd was awesome tonight," Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. "Our girls love to compete here in front of them."
The Cliff Keen crowd showed plenty of support Saturday, beginning with a rendition of the cowbell chant heard at football games. The meet was never really close after Michigan opened with three perfect scores on the vault. Sarah Cain and Heather Kabnick recorded the other tens, along with Simes.
The Wolverines slipped a bit thereafter, however, recording two breaks on the uneven bars and three on the balance beam, as their lead dwindled to 1.05 midway through the meet.
"We were very pumped up on the vault," Plocki said. "That might have been what made us a little shaky on bars. Vault is everything you've got, but on bars and beam you have to have your adrenaline in check. If you're too excited, that could act as a negative thing."
Michigan put the meet away with a solid 49.275 on the floor exercise. Cain put the Aggies on ice with a 9.95 on the floor, yet her dismal performance on the uneven bars, 8.875, hurt her overall numbers. However, those numbers continue to astonish. Entering Saturday,. Cain was the second-best women's gymnast in the nation - as a freshman.
"I just came in wanting to help out the team," she said. "But I keep having fun out there, except for my fall tonight."
Despite Cain's season-long glory, it was Simes who stole the show against the Aggies. The sophomore recorded an all-around score of 39.725, far and away her best ever.
Heather Kabnick didn't have a bad meet herself. The junior recorded her first perfect vault score of the season even though she didn't compete on the apparatus until mid-February. Kabnick ended up with the meet's second-highest all-around score, 39.
As for the senior co-captains competing in their final home meet, Andrea McDonald appropriately set the tone for the evening. The four-year letter winner began Michigan's vault entourage with a solid 9.85. The underclassmen followed her lead the rest of the way.
"I can't imagine not being here next year," McDonald said. "I was a little bit teary eyed at the beginning of the meet, but I was all smiles by the end."
Bev Plocki certainly wasn't crying after the affair. Saturday was Plocki's 150th victory as a coach at Michigan. She owns almost three times as many wins as the program's second most successful coach.
"It's important that I've been able to be this successful here," she said. "But I look at the team's success overall as being more important. This year's senior class will probably have been Michigan's most successful class over the years at the NCAA Championships."
JEANNIE SERVAAS/Daily
The Michigan women's gymnastics team won its final home meet on Saturday.