No. 10 Wolverines Ready for Big Ten Championships
3/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
March 29, 2016
THIS WEEK
Fri-Sat., April 1-2 -- at Big Ten Championships (Columbus, Ohio), 7 p.m.
Tickets | TV: BigTen Network | BTN2Go | Live Results (Day 1) | Live Results (Day 2) | Twitter Updates
Seeking its 18th Big Ten championship, the No. 10-ranked University of Michigan men's gymnastics team (5-9, 1-6 Big Ten) will take on the rest of the conference at the 2016 Big Ten Championships (April 1-2) at Ohio State's St. John Arena. Both sessions will start at 7 p.m. and be shown live via the Big Ten Network, with Bernie Guenther and John Roethlisberger on the call.
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Congrats to @emyre97 on being named #B1G Gymnast & Freshman of the Week! pic.twitter.com/CmTwoHm0vY
-- Michigan Gymnastics (@umichgym) March 28, 2016
WOLVERINE BITES
• Michigan sits at No. 7 in the Big Ten with a four-score average of 430.383 and ranks No. 1 in the conference on vault (74.467) as well as fifth on both still rings (72.017) and parallel bars (72.217).
Full Team Rankings
Floor: 6t (72.800)
Pommel Horse: 7 (68.900)
Still Rings: 5 (72.017)
Vault: 1 (74.467)
Parallel Bars: 5 (72.217)
High Bar: 7 (69.667)
• In the latter part of the NCAA season, U-M has excelled on vault, with three gymnasts in the top 10. Freshman Anthony McCallum tops the nation and leads the Big Ten with a 15.383, while classmate Emyre Cole sits tied for third in the conference with a 15.233. Junior Anthony Stefanelli (15.217) is tied for fifth.
On parallel bars, sophomore Dmitri Belanovski is tied for second (15.100) and is also No. 2 in the all-around (87.183).
• Senior Nolan Novak, the NCAA runner-up a year ago on pommel horse in 2016, has rounded into form in the latter part of the season after changing the dismount on his routine. His event-winning 14.80 on the horse vs. Penn State was .05 off his season high of 14.85 that he achieved in the Stanford meet. In his final home meet at Cliff Keen Arena vs. UIC, Novak dominated the pig with a 14.55 for the event title.
• Freshman Emyre Cole was named Big Ten Gymnast and Freshman of the Week on Monday (March 28) for his record-setting vault performance in U-M's victory over the UIC Flames on March 26. He was the first Wolverine to garner Big Ten accolades this season.
Cole, who ranks No. 4 in the nation on vault, turned in a performance for the ages on the table in U-M's victory over the Flames, sticking his Yurchenko 2.5 to not only capture the event title on the day but also break the U-M school record with a 15.50. He also tied for second on floor with a 15.00 and took fifth on parallel bars with a 14.15.
Big Ten Championship History
• The Wolverines have won three of the last seven Big Ten Championships, dating back to the co-championship in 2009. Most prominently, U-M double-dipped in 2013 and 2014, winning the Big Ten and NCAA crowns and has not finished lower than third in the meet since the 2008 season.
• After a third-place team finish a year ago, junior Anthony Stefanelli is the lone Wolverine who boasts All-Big Ten honors from a previous season, as he earned second team honors last season after placing third on the floor exercise. The 2015 NCAA pommel horse runner-up Nolan Novak took fourth on pommel horse, while Colin Mahar (ninth on rings) and Michael Strathern (eighth on vault) also placed in the top 10 on their respective events.
• Head coach Kurt Golder has won four Big Ten Coach of the Year honors, coming in the 1999, 2000 and 2013-14 seasons.
• A handful of U-M gymnasts boast chances of individual glory, ranking in the top 10 in the conference in their respective events. Outside of the four-score averages, Colin Mahar's 15.60 vs. Penn State on still rings ranks as the third-highest score in the conference on the event, while Anthony McCallum's 15.50 on vault is tied for the third-best score in the conference this season.
With the Big Ten Championships upon us, here are the conference rankings on an individual basis, based on the NCAA's four-score average:
All-Around
2. Dmitri Belanovski 87.183
9. Marty Strech 83.600
10. Emyre Cole 82.867
Still Rings
5t. Colin Mahar 15.100
Vault
1. Anthony McCallum 15.383
3t. Emyre Cole 15.233
5. Anthony Stefanelli 15.217
12. Michael Strathern 14.967
Parallel Bars
2t. Dmitri Belanovski 15.100
7t. Anthony McCallum 14.817
High Bar
6t. Dmitri Belanovski 14.850
Keep Up With the Wolverines -- Stay current with everything going on with the Wolverines by following Michigan men's gymnastics on Twitter (@umichgym) and "liking" the Wolverines on Facebook! Fans can also follow in-meet commentary via the Twitter channel, and new this season is the broadcasting of meets via Periscope. Additional content will be provided via Instagram (@umichgym), and Snapchat (@umichathletics).
NEXT MEET
Fri-Sat., April 15-16 -- at NCAA Championships (St. John Arena), 7 p.m.
Communications Contact: Scott Kemps
