ST. LOUIS, Mo. – It took a few days for the news to sink in for Zaakira Muhammad.
The junior gymnast knew she had competed well in front of the home crowd at the WVU Coliseum at the 2017 NCAA Morgantown Regional Championships on April 1. She smiled when her name was called during the award ceremony, and she waved to her friends and family when she received a bouquet of flowers for her 39.325, fourth-place finish in the all-around.
But – did the Pennsauken, New Jersey, native completely comprehend that she had just made program history, earning the WVU gymnastics team’s 19th individual NCAA National Championships qualification and first since 2014?
“I wasn’t putting the pieces together,” she recalled through a big laugh. “Sunday came and went. Then Monday, as I was walking to class, people were coming up to me and congratulating me. That’s when I thought, ‘Wow! I really made it to nationals! I can’t believe this!’
“People would ask me how it felt, and I told them I was really excited. I didn’t really get it until after the fact.”
Muhammad “gets” it now. Following an extra eight days of training with her teammates in Morgantown, she is prepped and ready to compete in the all-around in the second semifinal session of the 2017 NCAA National Championships tonight, at 8 p.m. EST, at Chaifetz Arena.
The clarity followed months of hard work. A gifted athlete with a powerful will to succeed, Muhammad entered her third season with the Mountaineers needing to conquer one last hurdle – the balance beam. She made her career debut on the event in 2016, scoring as high as 9.85 in a second-place finish on March 6, but a fall at Pitt two meets later shook her confidence, and Muhammad did not return to the beam lineup for the final two meets of the season.
Armed with a new series, Muhammad was determined to work her way back into the beam lineup this year. After months and weeks of training, she made her beam return at the WVU Coliseum on Feb. 26, and the hard work was on full display, as she not only anchored the event, she earned the individual victory with a career-high 9.875 score. Muhammad’s excited teammates immediately swarmed her and pulled her to the ground to celebrate.
“I was so emotional at the end of that routine,” Muhammad said. “My teammates helped me get back into the beam lineup. I was so touched to see the confidence they have in me. They have helped me throughout this entire season, and at that moment, I felt so happy knowing that I had not only my coaches, but my peers as well, standing behind me.”
Muhammed followed her season debut with a 9.825 showing at Pitt on March 3, but just two days later, a lapse in concentration resulted in a fall on her dismount and a 9.2 score at the WVU Coliseum. This time, though, a fall did not derail Muhammad’s self-assurance.
“After I fell, I still had so much confidence I could compete beam,” she explained. “That’s when I realized I could compete in the all-around. This is fun! Before, I was so nervous to compete. I don’t think beam is that bad anymore. I have realized that I have so many chances and so much time to compete my routine. I know I can do this.”
Muhammad’s renewed faith in her skills has been evident on all four apparatuses this year. Tops on the team in 2017 with 439.85 points, she has set or matched career highs on vault (9.9), uneven bars (9.9), balance beam (9.875) and the all-around (39.4). She ranks No. 32 nationally in vault with a 9.86 regional qualifying score (RQS) and earned her first career All-Big 12 Championship Team honor with a second place, 9.9 finish at the conference championship on March 18. Muhammad also paced the team this season with 23 podium finishes, including six event wins – two on vault and in the all-around, and one on bars and beam – and shows a team-best 58 career podium finishes.
While the statistics and rankings are impressive, one number-fueled fact stands above the rest – Muhammad enters tonight’s semifinal session as the top all-around qualifier, earning the highest mark of any individual competitor at the regional championships two weeks ago.
Sixth-year coach Jason Butts, associate head coach Travis Doak and assistant coach Kaylyn Millick believed in Muhammad’s ability. When the 2017 season opened, they knew the year could end in St. Louis with Muhammad competing on podium at the National Championships. They just needed their athlete to believe in herself.
“We’ve been telling Zaakira she had the abilities to compete in the all-around since her days at TNT Elite Gymnastics,” Butts said. “This year, you could see her grow and start to believe she could do it. Zaakira had to grow up as a person, mature, and gain confidence as a young student-athlete. She’s done it. I am thrilled it clicked this season, because we can build on this next year.
“We talked about ‘Rise Up’ this season, and Zaakira exemplifies that theme. I’m excited we get to cap off this season at the National Championships, but I’m even more excited to build on this success in her senior season.”
“Every time I doubted myself this season, my coaches never had a doubt,” Muhammad added. “They always pushed me and told me I could do whatever I wanted to do. I was so excited to qualify, because I knew my coaches would be happy, too.”
Muhammad debuts on the NCAA National Championship stage tonight at 8 p.m. EST. Rotating with sixth-ranked Alabama, she and the group will open the meet on floor exercise. The group’s complete rotation order is Floor-Vault-BYE-Uneven Bars-Balance Beam-Bye.
Fans can watch the championship live on ESPNU. The meet will slide to ESPN at 9 p.m. Dedicated links for all four events, as well as an all-around feed, will be available on WatchESPN and the ESPN app.
