Plocki leads women's gymnastics to sunny NCAAs

The Michigan women's gymnastics team is currently in Los Angeles adapting to the Pacific time zone and savoring California's sunny skies and 70-degree temperatures.

Michigan coach Beverly Plocki has led her squad to the City of Angels for the NCAA Championships.

The site? Pauley Pavilion, home of the UCLA Bruins. The dates? Tomorrow through Saturday. The goal? Bring the University its third national championship in one school year.

In the past five seasons at Michigan, April has become synonymous with the NCAA Championships. The Wolverines have become a mainstay among the top of college gymnastics.

But, when Plocki took over the coaching position in 1990, she was not bestowed a team that simply needed a new face to take it to the NCAAs. Plocki was only able to muster a 7-15 record in her maiden season at Michigan, despite the same coaching mentality that has earned her four Big Ten coach of the year awards.

Following her only losing season, Plocki transformed Michigan into a women's gymnastics powerhouse. In 1990, the team finished sixth in the conference. The next season produced notable improvement as the team climbed to third place.

In retrospect, the third-place season was a meager improvement compared to what the next six entailed - six consecutive Big Ten titles. Better yet, the Wolverines tied for second in the nation in '95, and won the '96 Central Regional Championships.

Plocki has earned the utmost respect and admiration from her colleagues.

"She's my hero!" Michigan men's gymnastics coach Kurt Golder said. "I'm trying to live up to her standards."

Plocki is not only an extremely talented coach, she also took care of business as an athlete.

In her freshman year at West Virginia, she tumbled her way to All-American honors.

She maintained similar standards as an upperclassman, claiming all-Atlantic 10 status in her final two years of school.

For now, all the preparations are complete, and only time will tell what mark the 1998 squad will make. But one thing is certain-the team has been coached by one of women's gymnastics' finest.

04-15-98