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Usually, a freshman gymnast would mostly be concerned about transitioning to the collegiate level, not even thinking about being the star athlete or being part of the next talented freshman duo at their school.
But after the graduation of several accomplished gymnasts last season, a new, unexpected, duo is ready to rise for the Michigan women’s gymnastics team. Freshmen gymnasts Jahzara Ranger and Sophia Diaz made huge splashes in their collegiate debuts during the Wolverines’ exhibition on Dec. 6 and signaled that they are the next names to keep eyes on.
“When those two are really hitting on all cylinders, the sky’s the limit for them,” Michigan coach Bev Plocki said Dec. 6 following the exhibition.
Both Ranger’s and Diaz’s vault performances hit as they both shared the vault title with scores of 9.875. These performances outscored that of former gymnasts Sierra Brooks’ and Gabby Wilson’s — two eventual All-Americans — vault scores in their Michigan debuts in 2020, signaling a promising career for Ranger and Diaz.
“I see myself being the best version of myself I can be,” Ranger told The Daily. “If that looks like some of the accolades that Sierra and Gabby achieved, then I love that, because they’re amazing people and gymnasts. If I can do 1% better than I did yesterday, that I’m improving, and seeing that, or having that in the back of my mind every day I go into the gym is a huge motivating factor to keep me going and grinding so I can reach my highest potential, whatever that looks like.”
While the vault was the highlight of the exhibition for them, however, they weren’t just limited to competing in only that event.
“I just put the best six or seven kids up in the lineup where I thought that they deserved to be,” Plocki said.
Because of their all-around potential, Ranger also competed in the uneven bars and balance beam events, with Diaz competing on floor too. Although vault was the only individual event title they won, Ranger posted the second-best score for Michigan on bars, just .100 below graduate Carly Bauman’s score, showing that she could be ready to consistently enter the Wolverines’ starting rotation.
While Ranger shined on bars, both she and Diaz struggled at times, each posting relatively-low scores of 9.625 in both the beam and floor events. Despite the early struggles, accountability for each other is key for improvement.
“I honestly feel like me and Jahzara are really on the same level gymnastics-wise, and I feel like sometimes she’s ahead of me, and sometimes I’m ahead of her,” Diaz said. “And so it honestly just pushes both of us to get better and work harder.”
Although Ranger and Diaz only won one event in their Wolverines debut, their exhibition performances proved they’re ready to shine at the collegiate level. With two freshmen off to an exceptional start, the Michigan women’s gymnastics is ready to compete with this new duo.
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