Beam bounces Blue from '6'

LOS ANGELES - There were blinking lights, silver streamers and famous celebrities at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion this weekend for the NCAA women's gymnastics Championships.

The theme was "The Stars Come Out" in L.A. It's just too bad none of those stars were from Michigan.

The worst part of it was that Michigan was supposed to win the preliminaries and get to the "Super 6," as it has for the past four years. The Wolverines were, after all, the No. 5 seed entering the competition - and they missed the final round, losing to Arizona State by .025 points. Had Michigan gotten one fewer break in any routine, the Wolverines would have tied Arizona State and qualified for the Super 6.

The Wolverines' downfall was their shaky performance on the balance beam. The beam caused similar problems for defending national champion UCLA. Both Michigan and UCLA turned in very strong performances on the rest of the events, but the Bruins stil

MARGARET MYERS/Daily Georgia's Sam Muhleman raises her arms after sticking a landing on Friday at the NCAA women's gymnastics championships. She received a 9.9 for her effort.

l made it to the Super 6.

Michigan's performance on the beam in NCAAs was worse than its performance during the entire season. The average score for the Wolverines on beam before NCAAs was a 48.28.

Their finish at the national championship was 47.725 - .555 points lower than their season average, and their fifth-lowest score of the season.

Needless to say, to score so low relative to past performances - in the most important meet of the year - is bad.

Both senior Lauren LaBranche and junior Lisa Simes fell on the apparatus, and freshman Bridget Knaeble touched, which was an obvious deduction in points for the Wolverines.

Michigan coach Bev Plocki said that inexperience in national competition was one reason the Wolverines did so poorly.

"A lot of people who had breaks were our most inexperienced athletes who were competing in the NCAA Championships for the first time," Plocki said. "You never know how they will perform until they are presented with this situation. I know they tried as hard as they could, and that's all we can ask."

While that could have been a factor, the fact remains that Michigan should have been prepared for the competition.

It is not as though Michigan's region is weak. In fact, the Central region might be the strongest of the nation's five divisions.

The season should have given the Wolverines a taste of the NCAAs.

It is understandable, however, that the Wolverines were nervous on the balance beam. After all, it was their first event. But blaming the lackluster performance on inexperience misses the point. There should be no excuses. Michigan should have been in the Super 6.

Michigan had an opportunity to come back in Saturday's individual competitons. The Wolverines qualified three gymnasts - senior Heather Kabnick, junior Nikki Peters and sophomore Sarah Cain.

And the trio managed to salvage the weekend with strong performances.

Peters took second place in the uneven bars. Kabnick finished third on the vault, and Cain and Kabnick tied for fourth on the floor exercise.

All that's left to do is learn from this disappointment Maybe next year the true stars will come out.

04-20-98