NCAA gymnastics regionals: Michigan loses spot in championships on tiebreaker; MSU just misses

Kirkland Crawford, Detroit Free Press
·3 min read
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Michigan gymnastics was denied a chance at another national title on a tiebreaker.

The Wolverines, who won the program's first national title in 2021, finished tied for second in the Denver regional on Sunday night, but only two teams from the four regionals advance to the championship round.

Denver won the regional with a 197.875, and Michigan and LSU tied for second with a 197.750. But after calculating all scores, including those not used in final scoring (teams use the five highest per rotation, eliminating one), LSU won the spot in the finals.

Michigan State, the Big Ten regular season co-champions with U-M, finished third in the Pittsburgh regional on Sunday, missing the cut to the championships by less than 0.2 of a point.

U-M opened the Denver regional with the balance beam and was able to use five scores of 9.9 or higher to jump out to the lead after the first rotation. Sierra Brooks and Natalie Wojcik scored 9.950.

Midway through the competition, U-M maintained the lead, 0.025 points ahead of LSU, thanks in part to another 9.950 from Brooks, this time on the balance beam, along with 9.900 from Wojcik and Nicolette Koulos.

After the third rotation, U-M and LSU tied at 148.325, just 0.075 points ahead of Denver, after Brooks scored a 9.925 on the floor exercise. She was backed up by Koulos and Naomi Morrison's 9.9s.

The Wolverines then scored a 49.425 on the vault in their final rotation, with top scores posted by Brooks, Kaylen Morgan and Gabby Wilson (9.9).

Only Denver's Lynnzee Brown (39.800) and LSU's Haleigh Bryant (39.750) had better all-around scores than Brooks (39.725).

Michigan State, the surprise story of the Big Ten gymnastics season, was 0.150 points short of extending its season, scoring a 197.650 in the four-team regional in Pittsburgh on Sunday. But it was not enough to qualify for the NCAA championships, as California (198.075) and Florida (197.800) advanced.

The Spartans were in second place after two rotations, excelling on the beam and floor. Both Nikki Smith and Giana Kalafe scored 9.9 on the beam and Smith had a 9.950 on the floor. Gabi Stephen (9.925) and Delanie Harkness each reached the 9.9 threshold.

But the competition made up ground in the third rotation. After the vault, MSU was in fourth place, though Smith scored 9.9 in that discipline. And the Spartans' valiant effort in the fourth rotation, the bars, included closing performances by Smith (9.950) and Harkness (9.925).

Smith's all-around score of 39.700 was third-best on the day in Pittsburgh, bested by only Florida's Leanne Wong (39.775) and California's eMjae Frazier (39.750).

U-M and MSU split the conference title and the Wolverines eked out the Big Ten championships by 0.45 points over the Spartans.

Oklahoma, Kentucky, Utah and UCLA all qualified for the national championships, April 13-15 in Fort Worth, Texas.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: NCAA gymnastics regionals: Michigan and MSU miss out on championships