The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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56 THE WOLVERINE ❱ APRIL 2023 Women's Gymnastics Michigan won its conference-leading 27th Big Ten championship March 18, posting its second-ever 198 score in the 10-team meet in Coralville, Iowa. Graduate student Abby Heiskell won three event titles, including a beam title where she scored a perfect 10.0. Heiskell also took home an uneven bars crown with teammates Sierra Brooks, Carly Bauman and Natalie Wojcik, who all scored 9.550. For the second year in a row, Brooks was named the Big Ten Gymnast of the Year at the conclusion of the con- ference championship meet. Five U-M gymnasts were first-team all-conference selections — Brooks, Heiskell, Wojcik, Naomi Morrison and Gabby Wilson, while Bauman and Nicoletta Koulos both earned second-team honors. In addition, four Wolverines combined for seven regular-season All-America citations from the Wom- en's Collegiate Gymnastics Association. Brooks re- ceived first-team honors in the all-around and vault plus second-team accolades on uneven bars, and was joined by Wilson (first team, vault), Wojcik (second team, uneven bars and balance beam) and Heiskell (second team, all-around). Next up for the No. 3-ranked Wolverines is a trip to Colorado for the NCAA Denver Regional, where it will compete alongside No. 14 Denver, No. 18 Min- nesota, No. 28 Arizona and No. 35 North Carolina March 31-April 2. The NCAA Championships are set for April 13-15 at Fort Worth, Texas. Men's Gymnastics After trailing most of the meet, U-M rallied to win its third straight Big Ten regular-season cham- pionship with a 411.250-405.550 victory over No. 5 Illinois March 18. The Wolverines turn their attention next on at- tempting to win a third straight Big Ten champion- ship, which would be the 20th in program history. They head into Columbus, Ohio, as the No. 1 seed in the postseason meet that runs from March 31 to April 1. Both night sessions will be televised at 8 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network. Men's & Women's Swimming And Diving The Michigan men finished in 20th place at the NCAA Championships in Minneapolis, while the women finished in 23rd place. Sophomore Gal Groumi took home All-America honors on the men's side after an eighth-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:42.37. Sophomore Letitia Sim earned honorable mention All-America accolades in the 100-yard breaststroke (2:08.39) at the NCAA meet in Knoxville, Tenn. In addition, the U-M women collected honorable men- tion All-America honors in the 200-yard medley relay, 200-yard freestyle relay, 400-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay. Baseball The Wolverines (12-11, 3-0 Big Ten) struggled out of the gate under new head coach Tracy Smith, but found their groove in a home series with Penn State to open Big Ten play. Michigan swept the Nittany Lions to the tune of 13-4, 12-3 and 3-1 victories March 24-26. Sophomore catcher Joe Longo has been a major contributor for the Wolverines this season. He is cur- rently on a nine-game hitting streak with 14 hits over that span. Longo did not play at all last season but has started 14 straight games and has 3 home runs so far on the season, good for a tie for the team lead with senior infielder Ted Burton. Among qualified batters, Longo leads the team in batting average (.350) and slugging percentage (.550). He (33) trails just Burton (35) in total bases, but Burton has 22 more at-bats than Longo. U-M closes out an eight-game home stand with a game against Central Michigan March 28 in Ann Arbor. Softball Softball also has new leadership under longtime assistant Bonnie Tholl. There have been plenty of struggles early on — and plenty of weather-adjusted scheduling developments — but the team sits at 14- 13 overall and 1-2 in Big Ten play as the conference season kicks into high gear. Graduate student outfielder Lexie Blair leads the team with a .368 batting average, followed by sopho- more outfielder Ellie Sieler (.306). Sophomore Lauren Derkowski is the ace of the staff with a 1.83 ERA and a 9-6 record in the pitching circle. Next up is a March 29 game versus Oakland and weekend series at Nebraska from March 31-April 2. Men's Track And Field Michigan closed out the Raleigh Relays March 25 with four competitors in the 800 meters. Freshman Riley Flemington (21st), senior Thomas Shilgalis (30th), freshman Myles Liss-Riordan (138th) and fifth-year Derrick Simmons (142nd) were U-M's rep- resentatives in the event. Next is the Florida Relays from March 30-April 1 at James G. Presley Stadium at Percy Beard Track in Gainesville, Fla. Women's Track And Field The Wolverine women closed their first meet of the outdoor season at the Black and Gold Invitational with a record-setting finish in the 4x100 relay. The group of junior Aasia Laurencin, sophomore Savannah Sutherland, senior Hanna Hearn and sophomore BreeAna Bates finished third with a 44.70-second time. The Wolverines claimed a second top-10 finish in the 4x100 with junior Ziyah Holman, grad- uate Nikki Stephens, freshman Trinity Henderson and graduate student Sophie Isom finishing in sixth (45.43). Women's track and field will also travel to Gainesville for the Florida Relays March 30-April 1. Men's Golf U-M posted a 907 total for a ninth-place finish at the Louisiana Classic March 13-14. Junior Will An- derson tied for 25th (225), while sophomore Hunter Thomson (226) tied for 28th. Next up for the team is the Tiger Collegiate Invita- tional April 10-11 in Columbia, Mo. Women's Golf No. 33 Michigan finished 17th with a three-day total of 906 at the PING/ASU Invitational at Papago Golf Course March 24-26 in Tempe, Ariz. Senior Hai- ley Borja led the way for the Wolverines, tying for 50th (224). Junior Monet Chun and senior Anika Dy finished 57th (226) and 70th (229), respectively. Michigan returns to action April 15-16 at The Lady Buckeye in Columbus, Ohio. Men's Lacrosse The Wolverines started 4-4 overall and 0-1 Big Ten after dropping their league opener 15-11 to No. 8 Johns Hopkins. Michigan finished the month with a 2-2 mark, highlighted by a 16-12 win at No. 19-ranked Delaware March 4. That was followed by a 19-13 win at Harvard and an 18-8 loss to then-No. 2 Notre Dame. Junior attackman Michael Boehm and sopho- more attackman Ryan Cohen lead the team in scor- ing with 34 points (16 goals and 18 assists apiece) through eight games. Senior Josh Zawada has a team-high 17 goals and is third with 29 points. Next up for Michigan is an April 1 game at No. 2 Maryland, which will be televised at 1 p.m. on ESPNU. Women's Lacrosse U-M enters the stretch run of its season riding ❱ OLYMPIC SPORTS UPDATE Maize & Blue Highlights The U-M women's gymnastics squad celebrated its record 27th Big Ten title March 18 in Coralville, Iowa. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY