'M' gymnasts clinch third at Super Six By Richard Haddad Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women's gymnastics team continues to prove that it is one of the nation's elite. Opening its season at the nationally-televised "Super Six Challenge" at Georgia this weekend, the fourth-ranked Wolverines were pitted against five of the nation's top nine teams on one of college gymnastics' biggest stages. The results were encouraging for the young squad. Michigan captured a third-place finish with a score of 194.925, behind only No. 2 Alabama and No. 1 Georgia, the defending national champ. While Michigan coach Bev Plocki was "disappointed that we let the chance to win slide through our fingers, the strong performance and the opportunity we had to win the meet is a testament to our potential." The Wolverines, who finished second in the NCAA Tournament last year, opened up the competition with a 49.075 on the floor exercise, paced by freshman Janessa Grieco's 9.900 and excellent performances by fellow frosh Cami Singer and sophomores Melissa Peterson and Jodie Rosenberg. The vault provided another good showing for Michigan, as veterans Sarah Cain and Christine Michaud led the way with a 9.850 and a 9.800, respectively. Michigan sustained its effort with a score of 49.100 on the uneven bars. Its top five scores in the event were all above 9.800, trailing only Alabama for the lead with the balance beam beckoning. "The balance beam is the neutralizing event in the sport of gymnastics, because you just never know," Plocki said. "It is the Achilles' heel of the sport in general, and that applies to every single teams." The Wolverines proved it to be no different. They started their beam routine nicely behind Karina Senior's 9.825. A couple of falls by her teammates were enough to leave Michigan just short, recording a 48.075 to land them in third, ahead of No. 6 Nebraska, No. 3 UCLA, and No. 9 Florida. "It was really exciting competing on this level for the first time, but I've never felt so much pressure," said Singer, echoing a recurring theme. "I wasn't just doing it for myself, but for the team as a whole, and that made it more fun knowing other people were pulling for me." Originally on page 6B in the 1-10-2000 issue of the Daily.