Gymnasts not concerned by State

The Michigan women's gymnastics team heads into its final meet of the regular season this weekend against Michigan State. The competition will take place in the Jenison Fieldhouse in East Lansing at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The Wolverines are coming off of their season high score of 197.4 in last weekend's meet against UCLA and Rutgers. They also posted season highs in the balance beam (49.200) and the floor exercise (49.500).

"We hit six for six routines on the balance beam last weekend, and that builds our confidence immensely," junior co-captain Sarah Cain said. "And the vault keeps getting better and better - the little things are all coming together."

Michigan is presently focusing on the details of its performance in competition. According to senior Lisa Simes and Cain, confidence has been building throughout the season, and the Wolverines are now looking to put everything together in their last meet and in the post season.

DANA LINNANE/Daily The Michigan women's gymnastics team is riding the momentum of a stellar performance last weekend as they wrap up the regular season against Michigan State on Saturday.

"Ultimately, we need to worry about the things that we have control over, and that is our own routines," Simes said. "What we have been working on is not just that we hit our routines, but how well we hit them - when we hit, our scores will show through."

The Wolverines have an advantage entering the meet against Michigan State as the Spartans are plagued with a great deal of injuries and may not be able to compile full lineups for all of the events. Michigan is also ranked No. 6 and Michigan State is unranked.

The two teams have already competed once this season in the State of Michigan Classic in February. It was the seventh consecutive victory that the Wolverines had over the Spartans.

"If we can do what we have been working on in practice and in previous meets, we should have another high scoring meet this weekend," Cain said. "But the scores that we get are completely dependent upon us - they (Michigan State) may be having serious problems, but we need to focus on what we are doing."

The pressure is, however, being felt by the Wolverines as they enter into the final stretch of their season, despite their consistently strong performances. Last year, Michigan lost the Big Ten Championships, and while they made it to NCAA's, they did not qualify for the "Super 6."

According to Cain, Michigan is trying to take each competition one at a time and it is trying not to look too far ahead into the future. After this weekend's meet, the focus will be directed towards regaining the Big Ten title.

"We know that we cannot afford to make any mistakes," Simes said. "As long as we can relax, focus and keep our momentum, we should be fine, and we need to grab those extra tenths of points that we are still letting slip away."

03-18-99