No. 11 Wolverines Prepare for 2016 NCAA Championships
4/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
April 12, 2016
THIS WEEK
Fri-Sat., April 15-16 -- at NCAA Championships (Columbus, Ohio), 7 p.m.
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Coming off the 2016 Big Ten Championships that featured a Big Ten vault title from freshman Anthony McCallum, as well as an All-Big Ten First Team honor for Emyre Cole and second team honor for Anthony Stefanelli, the University of Michigan men's gymnastics team takes on the rest of the country at the 2016 NCAA Championships (Fri-Sat., April 15-16, 7 p.m.), hosted by Ohio State at St. John Arena in Columbus.
The NCAA has modified the format of the championships this season, reducing the champions from four sessions to three.
Sessions I and II remain NCAA Qualifying events, with each session featuring six teams. The top three scoring teams in each session advance to session III for team, all-around and individual championships that will be contested on Saturday night. Individual event qualifiers from Friday will be distributed amongst qualifying teams for session III. The current structure thus eliminates the fourth session from years past.
TWEET OF THE WEEK
On this day, two years ago...#MGymDynasty pic.twitter.com/ENImCPTPW8
-- Michigan Gymnastics (@umichgym) April 11, 2016
WOLVERINE BITES
• Michigan will compete in session II of the NCAA Team Finals on Friday (April 15). U-M is grouped with No. 2 Stanford, No. 6 Illinois, No. 7 Iowa and No. 10 Air Force. The Wolverines will start the championship on still rings.
• At the 2016 Big Ten Championships, freshman Anthony McCallum captured the Big Ten vault title, hitting his Tsukahara Double Pike for a 15.675 en route to earning U-M's 14th title on the event in program history and first since 2006 (Andrew DiGiore). The score is the third highest in NCAA history and broke the school record set by classmate Emyre Cole against Penn State earlier this season (15.50).
• Anthony Stefanelli's second-place (15.20) finish on floor earned him back-to-back All-Big Ten honors, as he earned second team honors last season.
• As a team, U-M scored a 417.250 to take seventh out of seven teams at the Big Ten Team Championships on Friday (April 1). Fourteen of U-M's 30 routines on the night came from either true or redshirt freshmen. In all, six Wolverines made their Big Ten Championships debuts in Marty Strech, Emyre Cole, Samuel Su, Anthony McCallum, Alec Kystek and Adam Dean.
Cole shined the brightest on the night, scoring an 84.95 in the all-around to take sixth place and earned First Team All-Big Ten honors for his efforts.
• U-M enters as the No. 11 team in the country (427.100 NQA) and ranks No. 2 in the country as a team on vault (74.275). U-M is also in the top 10 on parallel bars at No. 9 (71.713).
Full Team Rankings
Floor -- 12 (72.500)
Pommel Horse -- 15 (67.188)
Still Rings -- 8 (72.238)
Vault -- 2 (74.275)
Parallel Bars -- 9 (71.713)
High Bar -- 13 (68.950)
• A handful of U-M gymnasts boast chances of individual glory, ranking in the top 10 in the nation in their respective events. Outside of the National Qualifying Average, 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 15.675 on vault at the Big Ten Championship is the top vault score in the country this year. Emyre Cole's 15.500 ranks No. 4 in the country, while Anthony Stefanelli's 15.169 comes in at No. 7. Sophomore Dmitri Belanovski's 87.700 ranks No. 9 in the country.
U-M also features 2015 NCAA runner-up on pommel horse in Nolan Novak, who enters the meet with a 14.644 NQA and a season high of 14.850.
With the NCAA Championships upon us, here are the national rankings on an individual basis, based on the NCAA's National Qualifying Average. Each athlete's season high is listed in parenthesis, along with the national rank of the season high score.
All-Around
8. Dmitri Belanovski, 85.394 (87.700/9)
Still Rings
7. Colin Mahar, 15.213 (15.600/3)
Vault
1. Anthony McCallum, 15.481 (15.675/1)
6. Anthony Stefanelli, 15.217 (15.169/7)
8. Emyre Cole, 15.125 (15.500/4)
• McCallum, who enters the meet as the No. 1 ranked vaulter in the NCAA, has an opportunity to become only the third NCAA vault champion in U-M history, joining Gil Larose (1963) and Andrew DiGiore (2003).
Michigan has never won a still rings title in program history, while Sam Mikulak (2014) was the last Wolverine to win the NCAA All-Around title.
• Freshman Emyre Cole was named Big Ten Gymnast and Freshman of the Week on 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.
NCAA Championship History
• Last season, U-M took fourth place as a team (437.650), while two current gymnasts in Nolan Novak and Dmitri Belanovski earned NCAA All-America honors on pommel horse and high bar, respectively.
• U-M has captured two of the last three NCAA team titles, including three this decade. At the 2014 NCAA Championships, U-M became the first Michigan program to win back-to-back national championships in 44 years.
• U-M hosted the 2014 event and welcomed 9,559 fans, which was the highest four-session total since 1992 when Stanford welcomed 13,007 fans to the championship.
• Head Coach Kurt Golder has won four NCAA titles during his time at U-M in 1999, 2000 and 2013-14 seasons, earning CGA National Coach of the Year honors in each season.
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).
Communications Contact: Scott Kemps
Players Mentioned
