Jordan Sexton

April 10, 2010

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Site: Morgantown, W.Va. (WVU Coliseum)
Event: NCAA Southeast Regional Championships
U-M Team Standing: 2nd of 6 Teams (195.800)
Next U-M Event: Thu-Sat., April 22-24 -- at NCAA Championships (Gainesville, Fla.)

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The No. 6-ranked University of Michigan women's gymnastics team punched its ticket to the NCAA Championships for the 17th time in the last 18 years, taking second place at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships with a score of 195.800 on Saturday night (April 10) at the WVU Coliseum.

Wolverines won or shared four individual regional titles -- the program's biggest regional haul since 2003. Junior Kylee Botterman (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) won the outright all-around title (39.550) and shared the floor exercise (9.900) crown with freshman Natalie Beilstein (Butler, Pa./Knoch), while senior Jordan Sexton (Weddington, N.C./Weddington) took the outright uneven bars crown (9.950) with a career-best performance.

Michigan's coaches also received an armload of trophies with head coach Beverly Plocki earning NCAA Northeast Regional Coach of the Year and assistant coach Scott Sherman taking NCAA Northeast Regional Assistant Coach of the Year.

Top seed and No. 6-ranked Stanford won the regional title with a 196.775, followed by third-place Southern Utah (195.325), fourth-place West Virginia (195.100), Kent State (194.825) and N.C. State (193.425).

The Wolverines kicked things off on floor with Beilstein and Botterman equaling their Big Ten Championships scores with matching 9.900s. Senior Sarah Curtis (Reno, Nev./Reno) added a 9.875 to Michigan's 49.150 team score. With top seed Stanford in the wings, Michigan took an early 0.325 lead on second-place Southern Utah, which struggled on vault.

Beilstein and Botterman paced U-M once more in rotation two with back-to-back scores of 9.900, while Curtis and freshman Brittnee Martinez (Colorado Springs, Colo./Doherty) shared scores of 9.850 to post the Wolverines' second-highest vault total of the campaign, a 49.300. Rotating behind Michigan, Stanford scored a 49.300 on floor exercise to make its mark early.

U-M sat out on a bye in rotation three as Stanford set the standard on vault, scoring 49.400 to take a 0.250 lead with two events down for the top two seeds. In rotation four, Michigan put up its best bars total of the season, rocking a 49.375 thanks to Sexton's career-best 9.950 and a third 9.900 from Botterman.

With one final event in the regional and a chasm separating Stanford and Michigan from the rest of the field, U-M was snake-bitten by three falls, scoring a 47.975 and bringing some drama to the finale. Michigan sat out on bye in the final rotation with Southern Utah needing a 49.550 to supplant the Wolverines in second place. The Thunderbirds competed hard but came up short, totaling 195.325 to take third place.

Michigan will travel to the NCAA Championships in Gainesville, Fla., April 22-24, to begin its quest for a national title in the NCAA Preliminary competition on Thursday (April 22). Michigan's draw will be announced next week.

Event-by-Event U-M Individual Scores

Vault
Kari Pearce          9.750
Katie Zurales	     9.800
Brittnee Martinez    9.850
Sarah Curtis         9.850
Natalie Beilstein    9.900 (t2)
Kylee Botterman	     9.900 (t2)

Uneven Bars
Kelsey Knutson       9.250
Maureen Moody        9.850
Brittnee Martinez    9.850
Jordan Sexton        9.950 (1)
Sarah Curtis         9.825
Kylee Botterman      9.900 (t2)

Balance Beam
Sarah Curtis         9.775
Katie Zurales        9.325
Jordan Sexton        9.375
Brittnee Martinez    9.650
Kylee Botterman      9.850 (t3)
Kelsey Knutson       9.125

Floor Exercise
Jaclyn Kramer        9.750
Brittnee Martinez    9.725
Jordan Sexton        9.700
Sarah Curtis         9.875 (t3)
Natalie Beilstein    9.900 (t1)
Kylee Botterman      9.900 (t1)

All-Around
Kylee Botterman     39.550 (1)
Sarah Curtis        39.325 (5)
Brittnee Martinez   39.075

N O T E S

• The Wolverines qualified for the NCAA Championships for the 17th time in the last 18 seasons.

• Junior Kylee Botterman captured the NCAA Regional all-around title, scoring a 39.550. Botterman won Michigan's 10th regional all-around title.

• Junior Kylee Botterman repeated as NCAA Regional floor champion, winning the 2010 title with a 9.900. She shared the crown with freshman Natalie Beilstein. Botterman won the regional floor title in 2009 with a 9.900. She becomes just the second Wolverine to win two regional floor titles and the second to win back-to-back titles (Calli Ryals, 2002-03).

• Senior Jordan Sexton captured the NCAA Regional uneven bars title. Wolverine Becky Bernard won the 2009 regional bars title.

• Junior Kylee Botterman becomes the first Michigan gymnast since Tatjana Thuener-Rego to win a pair of titles at a regional meet. Thuener-Rego took the all-around and floor crowns at the 2007 NCAA Regional Championships in Ann Arbor.

• Senior Jordan Sexton scored a career-best 9.950 on bars -- a full point better than her previous career high.

• Michigan's bars score was a season high (49.375). It also tied for the third-best Michigan bars score in program history at an NCAA Regional Championships.

Contact: Richard Retyi (734) 763-4423