2011 NCAA GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
WOLSTEIN CENTER • CLEVELAND, OHIO
FRIDAY, APRIL 15 • Semifinal 1 Post-Meet Press Conference
Michigan • Oklahoma • UCLA
Michigan Head Coach Bev Plocki
Opening Statements:
“I feel like Kylee (Botterman) said, that we are really excited to be back in the Super Six. We
have seven freshmen and five seniors so we have definitely had a lot of leadership from our
senior class. It’s great to see our freshmen start out their careers at the Super Six team final.
That’s what I talked to them (the team) about after the meet that we got better as we went
through every event and we just need to do tomorrow what we did tonight, with the exception of
relaxing and being a little more solid on the balance beam. We are excited to be here and look
forward to having a lot of fun.”
On adjustments for tomorrow and what it will take to win 2011 National Championship:
“So much of our sport comes down to sticking the landings. And from a judging standpoint that
seems to be the most important thing to getting a good score is sticking the landing. So we are
going to have to be on and not make any mistakes.”
Michigan Senior Kylee Botterman
Opening Statement:
“We’re really excited to be in the Super Six tomorrow. It’s the first since I’ve been here and it’s
my senior year so I’m getting the girls pumped for tomorrow. Today, we told ourselves we just
wanted to keep building. We had a little bit of a shaky start on beam, but we wanted to improve
every event. We hit a strong floor, hit six great vaults and then went 6-for-6 strong bar routine.
We’re excited with how we performed today, but we know we have a little bit of cleaning up to
tomorrow in beam and Go Blue!”
On what they team can improve on for tomorrow:
“Like I said earlier, we want to improve on beam, we were a little bit shaky and nervous during
the first event. It’s always a little tough to start on beam. I think our focus is to, depending on
what we start on, is to have a solid beam rotation, because I know we can have a great floor,
vault, and beam rotation.”
Oklahoma Head Coach K.J. Kindler
Opening Statements:
“I am really, really ecstatic. I am proud of my team. I know to make it (to the Super Six) the first
time is difficult, but I think to make it the second time in consecutive years is bigger because
you have that expectation on your shoulders. People expect you to be there. Certainly the
University of Oklahoma expected us to be there so there is just a little bit more pressure. I
think they (the team) handled it pretty well. We had a lot of bobbles, an out of bounds on floor,
I thought we were cautious on beam, ending on beam, and we need to be more aggressive
there. Our last three were very aggressive but our first three were cautious and tight for sure.
Bars was probably one of the best rotations that we had today, but we can be more solid on
our landings on vault. Overall, I think there are a lot of improvements that we can make for
tomorrow but mostly, their mental state of mind and those things will be the most important. We
do have a very young team as well, losing five seniors, and that is a lot of leadership and the
biggest impact that this has on our team is the fact that people stepped up into leadership roles
and this was definitely a team effort because we don’t have an all-arounder. It is a 100% team
effort from top to bottom.”
On adjustments for tomorrow and what it will take to win the 2011 National Championship:
“I agree completely, and it’s magical when that happens. So the team that has that magic is
probably the team that is going to walk out the winner.”
Oklahoma Junior Megan Ferguson
Opening statement:
“We’re also very excited to be competing again tomorrow. As you can see, we already have
some great competitions coming up tomorrow so we’re looking forward to that. As of today,
we went out and we hit very well, but being the first day, we were a little tight on things. I think
tomorrow it’s important for us to go out and to relax and to get out and do what we know how to
do and we’re really excited about that.”
On what they can improve on for tomorrow:
“We also need to improve our beam for tomorrow. We had a amazing start for three events,
were were super solid and we unfortunately had to count one fault on beam. We are going to
have to go out there and do what we trained and what has worked every single day and we
need to be ready for that tomorrow.”
UCLA Head Coach Valerie Kondos Field
Opening Statements:
“I thought that we did well. We had two falls on beam, which is uncharacteristic for us at this
time of the year. I am not concerned about our team at all, they are right on track. They are
prepared both emotionally and physically. They know what they need to do and if they make a
mistake, it is because it is hard, it is gymnastics, and not because they got tight and tense or
doubting themselves or any of that, which is nice as a coach. Not to worry about your team and
individuals doubting themselves. Or if someone has a mistake and it is spiralling out of control.
I don’t consider us to be a veteran team, but we are competing like veterans. It has been a
great championship so far.”
On adjustments for tomorrow and what it will take to win 2011 National Championship:
“I don’t think a team can make a mistake and win a national championship. I think the field is too
deep. It’s whoever is on and hits lights-out. I think that’s what it’s going to take to win this year,
which is great. You don’t want to have a champion being able to win with making a mistake.”
UCLA Junior Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs
Opening Statement:
“We are also super excited to be back here again. We had an amazing beginning to the
competition and we also have some things that we can improve on. We’re super excited about
all that and it’s great to have a new year with a new team. Last year was amazing, but this year
coming up with different people was a whole different story. We’re super excited to go in with
that and make the improvements that we need to make in order to be the best that we can be.”
On what they can improve on for tomorrow:
“When you come out on day one, it’s always easy to get super tense, when focusing on
that goal and trying to reach it to the super six. I think it’s important for us to know that we
accomplished that goal and we are going to go out and let loose and do the performances we
are capable of and start off with a bang and try to finish all four events strongly.”