Practice makes perfect, and perfection is exactly what the Michigan women's gymnastics team accomplished this past weekend with three perfect scores in a lopsided win over Kentucky.
The eighth-ranked Wolverines entered the competition ranked below the Wildcats, but now control the series with a 5-0 lifetime record versus Kentucky. Sunday's meet at Cliff Keen Arena marked a season-high score for Michigan of 196.80. Kentucky struggled throughout, finishing with only 191.60 points.
"Kentucky coach Little's comment after the meet was, 'I apologize for our performance," Michigan coach Bev Plocki said.
The Wildcats' performance was lacking throughout the meet, as they only secured one top-three position, and even that was in the form of a three-way tie on the uneven bars.
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| JOHN KRAFT/Daily The women's gymnasts soared over Kentucky this weekend - high enough to prompt an apology from the Wildcat coach. The Wolverines are back on track after a dismal performance against UCLA. |
"It's always a mood-setter when they settle into their zone and nail an event," Plocki said. "They went into the uneven bars feeling very relaxed."
The groove Michigan settled into with the vault translated into a first-place tie in the uneven bars between sophomore Sarah Cain and Kabnick, with scores of 9.850.
Both Cain and Kabnick have fully recovered from their injuries and are now back in the lineup for good - as long as they remain healthy.
"We are still not at 100 percent," Plocki said. "But getting people healthy has helped a lot."
Each of Michigan's top four finishers in the uneven bars earned personal bests for the season. Senior Lisa Simes and freshman Bridget Knaeble finished directly behind Cain and Kabnick with scores of 9.825.
Cain contributed a perfect 10 on the floor exercise on her way to a first place in the all-around with a score of 39.550. According to Cain, the score was especially gratifying considering how tight the judges have been this season.
"They're judging harder this year," Cain said. "It's harder to get a 10, so I didn't expect it."
Plocki said that her team's performance this past weekend made up for a rather subpar showing one week ago in the UCLA Invitational.
"I will not allow my team to make excuses for UCLA," Plocki said. "They were not in it mentally last week, but coming back and having a meet like this assures us we are good."
Michigan has two weeks off to prepare for its meeting with No. 1 Georgia on Feb. 28. Plocki will be recruiting while the team will take a three-day weekend to rest. In the meantime, The Wolverines hope to build on this weekend's performance.
"This is the best meet so far," Kabnick said. "We're finally starting to put four events together. We're peaking at the right time."
02-16-98
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