On January 29, the University of Michigan gymnastics team hosted a quad-meet at Crisler Arena with Kent State University, University of Maryland, and University of Illinois-Chicago.

With two falls on the balance beam, it has proven to be the Wolverine’s weakness this season. Despite their struggles, though, the U of M defeated the other teams with a final score of 195.875. Kent State, Maryland, and UIC finished second, third, and fourth, respectively, with scores of 194.675, 193.800, and 189.875.

U of M senior Kylee Botterman won the all-around as well as three individual event titles. She also tied for second on vault. On the U of M team, however, the gymnasts are more focused on the team’s performance as opposed to individual scores.

“It’s not our best meet but we’re definitely improving and we only had to count one fall this weekend, which we’re not happy about but it’s an improvement from the last two weekends,” Botterman said.

To “count” a fall means that it contributed to the team’s final score. Six girls compete for each team and the top five scores are taken; one score is dropped. On beam, it means that one gymnast in the lineup can fall without taking the .5 deduction for the team.

Unfortunately, two gymnasts fell. This put added pressure on Botterman, who anchored on beam for the Wolverines. Botterman pulled through, though, and posted the evening’s best beam score of 9.875.

Reema Zakharia, a freshman, competed on floor for the first time in her collegiate career.

“That was awesome to have [Zakharia] go in the sixth spot and she just rocked it,” Botterman said.

“I think the freshmen are really strong mentally and physically,” said fifth-year-senior Jordan Sexton. “I really applaud them.” Sexton took second on beam and tied for third on bars.

At the gym, the Wolverines are working on beam inter-squads to gain confidence for meets in the future.

“We have very high expectations for ourselves so until we reach our expectations we’re not going to be really satisfied,” Sexton said. “That is why this team is so good because we do understand how much potential we have.”

Watch the eighth-ranked Wolverines compete against ninth-ranked Nebraska and second-ranked Stanford at Crisler Arena on February 13th at 1PM.

Watch Kylee Botterman’s bar routine.

[quicktime]http://the-communicator.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Kylee-Bars.mov[/quicktime]

Watch Jordan Sexton’s beam routine.

[quicktime]http://the-communicator.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/U-of-M-Gymnastics-1-29.mov[/quicktime]

Watch Kylee Botterman’s beam routine.

[quicktime]http://the-communicator.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/kylee-beam2.mov[/quicktime]

Watch the touch-warmup on floor.

[quicktime]http://the-communicator.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/floor-warmup.mov[/quicktime]