The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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OLYMPIC SPORTS UPDATE lenge for a championship — to chal- lenge a team that's a lot better than us. "At the NCAAs, we'd like to be in the top 10, and I think that's a doable goal for us." WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS SPARKED BY YOUTHFUL TALENT Things could not have gone much better for the Michigan women's gymnastics team to begin the 2015-16 season. With convincing wins in each of their first four meets through Jan. 18, the Wolverines find them- selves ranked No. 1 in the nation and at the top of the Big Ten standings. The season started for U-M across the border Jan. 2 at the Cancun Clas- sic in Mexico, where it defeated both No. 13 Arkansas and Iowa with a team score of 196.975. A week later, the team prevailed again, defeating Georgia in a tightly contested meet (196.925-195.200). U-M also bested rival Ohio State (196.950-195.275) Jan. 16. "Obviously, it's really early to be making predictions on outcomes for the year, but I couldn't be happier with the way we've started," head coach Bev Plocki said. The early success for the Maize and Blue has only helped the confidence of the young team, which features seven freshmen or sophomores on the 12-woman roster. Even so, there remains some room to grow. "I think our confidence is good. I still think we have a lot of youth in what we're doing, and so our con- fidence still needs to continue to get better," Plocki said. "We know better than anybody else where the things are that we need to continue to im- prove upon." In terms of who Michigan fans should keep an eye on going for- ward, two names stand out among the talented pack. "[Junior] Nicole Artz absolutely has been one of the most dynamic athletes on our team both of her first two years and will be again this year," the coach said. Artz, already a five-time NCAA All-American in her first two sea- sons, earned the all-around title at the Cancun Classic with a score of 39.525 and has six individual event titles overall comprising of floor (three), bars (two) and beam (one). "We have also an incredibly dy- namic new freshman — Olivia Karas — who is right there with Nicole, nipping at her heels," Plocki added. "I think that Olivia will be an incred- ible standout on our team and in the Big Ten Conference this year." The rookie impressed in her col- lege debut below the border, win- ning both the vault (9.925) and bal- ance beam (9.90) competitions. Even more impressive, though, Karas took home her first college all-around vic- tory Jan. 16 against Ohio State with a score of 39.425. Her standout per- formance included her third straight vault title with a score of 9.875. Still, it's not about individuals. "We don't have second and third string," the head coach explained. "Even though there are individual