Michigan gymnasts get caught up in the emotions of the day

Gymnasts are masters of hiding their true feelings.

Fall off the balance beam and nearly break your back? Hop right back up without a wince, a grumble or even a bat of an eye.

Run a flawless routine but take just the tiniest hop on your landing? Say goodbye to a top score, but smile like you’ve won a million bucks.

Because gymnastics is so incredibly complicated and intricate, survival demands constant concentration on the tasks at hand.

Showing emotion can be not only distracting, but dangerous.

And then there was last week’s collegiate gymnastics meet at Michigan.

It broke all the rules.

Emotion was practically dripping from the walls. It simply could not be helped.

Tissue usage in Ann Arbor might have spiked that day.

Two Michigan gymnasts, both of whom happen to be from the Chicago suburbs, thrilled and gave everyone chills in the process with their inspiring performances last Sunday in a tri-meet inside Crisler Arena that also included Stanford and Nebraska.

It was a meeting of the superpowers as Michigan is ranked No. 8 in the country while Stanford is No. 2 and Nebraska No. 9

Kylee Botterman, a senior out of Lincoln-Way Central, had the vault of her life that day. Her entry was crisp, her height was eye-popping and her landing was absolutely perfect.

It wasn’t the only thing that was perfect. So was Botterman’s score.

Botterman earned a perfect 10. It just so happened to be the first perfect 10 score awarded in the country this year.

And for the record, perfect 10 scores aren’t handed out very often, even in college gymnastics. In 2010, only eight collegiate gymnasts across the nation received 10s. In 2009, there were just five.

“I get chills thinking about it,” said Botterman, who has won five of six Big Ten gymnast-of-the-week honors this winter. “It was such a cool feeling because I had my whole family there and my team was so excited.”

To be precise, Botterman’s teammates went bananas. So did the crowd.

“The crowd went up in a roar. Everyone was chanting 10, 10, 10,” said Botterman’s teammate, roommate and best friend, Trish Wilson. “It was such an emotional moment.”

Wilson, a senior out of Neuqua Valley, was on emotional overload that day too.

She strayed far and wide from normal gymnast protocol by not only getting herself a bit choked up, but by dragging everyone in the building with her.

And that happened when she simply showed up in her uniform.

When Wilson then performed her bars routine for the first time this season in front of the home crowd, it was pass-the-tissue time.

The fact that Wilson wound up earning a 9.925 to tie her career high and win the event title that day was almost too much for one sitting.

You see, Wilson was just recently cleared to compete again after having completed rehab from her sixth knee surgery. Sixth.

She has missed about half of her college career with injuries. She could have quit dozens of times for her own good. No one would have blamed her.

But Wilson couldn’t do it.

“I knew I had a little bit more in me,” laughed Wilson, who has been cleared to do only bars since it is the least strenuous on her knees. “I still really wanted to contribute. I still really wanted to be a part of the team. And this is it for me. I’m a senior.

“When I first got out there, there was a little hesitation, because you worry that you’ll get hurt again. But then you go through your routine and you’ve got your team cheering and the crowd cheering and you feel really good. That was a joyous moment for me. You couldn’t get the smile off my face.”

Wilson was smiling because she wanted to, not because she had to.

Ditto for her teammates.

On that wonderfully, emotionally-charged day in Ann Arbor, nothing was going to stop those real smiles from coming through.

“Trish is such an inspiring story,” Botterman said. “She has had so many unfortunate injuries. It’s not fair that she hasn’t always been able to show the world of college gymnastics just how good she is. It’s been hard for her to spend so much time watching. This is a dream come true for her, to be able to compete during her senior year.

“When I saw her on the bars (last weekend), I was just so happy for her. I got way more chills watching her than I got getting that perfect 10. It was emotional for everyone.”

pbabcock@dailyherald.com