The Michigan Wolverines women's gymnastics team represents the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

and competes in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. Under head coach Bev Plocki, the team has won 27 Big Ten championships and advanced to 31 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships, including sixteen consecutive appearances from 1993 to 2008. In

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, the Wolverines won the program's first-ever team national title.

History

The Michigan Wolverines women's gymnastics team was formed in 1976. In its 42-year history, the team has had six coaches.

Newt Loken Newton Clayton Loken (February 27, 1919 – June 28, 2011) was an artistic gymnast and coach of gymnastics, trampolining and cheerleading. While a member of the Minnesota Golden Gophers men's gymnastics team, Loken was NCAA all-around gymna ...

, head of the men's gymnastics team from 1948 to 1983, was hired to be the first women's coach and served one season. Anne Cornell and Scott Ponto both served short tenures before Sheri Hyatt for five seasons starting in 1980. Under Hyatt, the program won its first Big Ten conference championship and qualified to its first NCAA tournament, both in 1982. Hyatt was followed in 1985 by Dana Kempthorn, and then in 1990 by current head coach Bev Plocki. Plocki has led the Wolverines to twenty-six Big Ten titles, 30 NCAA tournament appearances, 26 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships, including sixteen consecutive championship berths from 1993 to 2008. The Wolverines have had five gymnasts who have won NCAA individual championships. Beth Wymer won the NCAA championship in the

uneven bars The uneven bars or asymmetric bars is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. It is made of a steel frame. The bars are made of fiberglass with wood coating, or less commonly wood. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is UB or ...

three consecutive years from 1993 to 1995. Elise Ray won the NCAA all-around championship in 2001 (tied with UCLA's Onnie Willis), the balance beam championship in 2002 and the uneven bars in 2004. In 2011, Kylee Botterman won the NCAA all-around championship. In 2013, Joanna Sampson won the NCAA championship on floor exercise. In 2019, Natalie Wojcik won the NCAA championship on balance beam. The Wolverines have qualified for the NCAA Championships 31 times. They have qualified to the Super Six team finals ten times: Since the format of the NCAA Championships changed starting in 2019, the Wolverines have qualified to the Four on the Floor team finals one time. In

, the team won their first NCAA Championship with a program-best score of 198.2500.

Coaches

Head coaches

Coaches for the 2022–23 season

Championships

Super Six Appearances

Four on the Floor appearances

Individual champions

Facilities

Michigan's home competitions are held at the 12,707-seat

Crisler Center Crisler Center (formerly known as the University Events Building and Crisler Arena) is an indoor arena located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the home arena for the University of Michigan's men's and women's basketball teams as well as its w ...

. In 2002, the Donald R. Shepherd Women's Gymnastics Training Center was dedicated. The Shepherd Center is the practice and training home of the women's gymnastics team. The facility has of training space; the remaining contains a training room, coaches offices, a locker room, a team lounge, and a study area.

Roster

2024–2025 Roster

Past Olympians

* Elise Ray (

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Michigan Wolverines Women's Gymnastics