Olympian Ray debuts at Cliff Keen Friday

By Naweed Sikora

Daily Sports Writer

Tomorrow is the day that the Michigan women's gymnastics coaches, team members and fans have been waiting for. Freshman Elise Ray, captain of the 2000 Olympic U.S. women's gymnastics team, will make her highly-anticipated Michigan debut at Cliff Keen Arena when Michigan hosts Iowa and Minnesota.

Ray was forced to miss the first two meets of the season because of a non-binding contract that she signed to compete at the professional level before the season began. Still, Ray does not feel that the time she missed was a total loss.

"I wasn't quite ready to compete at the beginning of the season," Ray said. "This way, I got a little extra time to regain my form."

The addition of Ray will strengthen a well-balanced team that has already proven its ability to dominate. The Wolverines are coming off an impressive victory over Oregon State last Friday at home.

Michigan received impressive performances from several gymnasts in the win. Karina Senior, Calli Ryals and Bridget Knaeble finished in the top three spots for the all-around competition. Sophomore Janessa Grieco also performed well, finishing second in both the vault and the floor exercise.

The Wolverines will once again need their stars to excel this weekend if they hope to capture wins over both opponents. Iowa is coming off a first-place finish at the Michigan State Invitational in which the Hawkeyes defeated both Michigan State and Eastern Michigan.

Minnesota began the season with an impressive victory over Ohio State, before dropping its next meet to No. 4 Utah.

With a win over Penn State in the Super Six Challenge to open the season, the Wolverines are 1-0 in the Big Ten, but only 3-3 overall.

Ray hopes that she will be able to help in this area by contributing her skills and talent to the team.

"I still feel like I have a lot to learn," Ray said. "This is very different from anything I have ever done before, so I just want to go with the flow right now and see what happens. In my gymnastics roles, I hope to help out the team by performing well and getting high scores."

BRANDON SEDLOFF/Daily

Elise Ray, captain of the U.S. women's gymnastics team, makes her debut for Michigan tomorrow.