Season Review: 2016 Michigan Men's Gymnastics
5/13/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
• Team Captains: Nolan Novak, Michael Strathern
• Record: 6-19 overall, 1-6 Big Ten Conference
• Big Ten Championships: 7th place
• NCAA Championships: 9th place
In the midst of a rebuilding year, the University of Michigan men's gymnastics team came up short in reaching the NCAA Super Six for the first time since 2006, breaking one of the longest streaks in the NCAA. After a regular season that featured dual-meet victories over No. 8 Penn State and No. 19 UIC, the Wolverines finished seventh at the Big Ten Championships and followed with a fifth-place effort in session II of the NCAA Championships, good for ninth place overall. Led by NCAA vault champion Anthony McCallum, three Wolverines totaled four NCAA All-America honors, upping U-M's all-time total to 207.
Team Highlights
• The Wolverines earned their first win of the year vs. Puerto Rico and Temple on March 5 in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, scoring a team total of 416.05, and followed with another victory two weeks later over the No. 8 Penn State Nittany Lions, 431.65-420.70. U-M's senior trio of Michael Strathern, Nolan Novak and Colin Mahar wrapped up their Cliff Keen Arena career with all three winning an event title on Senior Night with a victory over the UIC Flames.
• At Big Tens, five Wolverines qualified for the individual event finals and performed a total of eight routines after Michigan placed seventh in the team competition with a 417.250. Two weeks later at NCAAs, U-M scored a 422.150 to place fifth in session II of the championships and ninth overall.
• U-M finished the season ranked second in the NCAA on vault (74.275) as well as ninth on both still rings (72.238) and parallel bars (71.713).
Individual Highlights
• Anthony McCallum became Michigan's first NCAA vault champion in 13 years and only the third in school history, joining Gil LaRose (1963) and Andrew DiGiore (2003). The win for McCallum was the 30th NCAA individual championship in school history.
• Dmitri Belanovski (all-around, floor) earned his second and third NCAA All-America citations, while the honor for Colin Mahar on still rings was his first. U-M has had an All-America honor on floor each of the last six seasons and seven of the last eight, while the last still rings honor came in 2010 (Chris Cameron).
• Anthony McCallum also won the Big Ten vault title with a school-record 15.675. Classmate Emyre Cole marked a season-high 84.95 all-around score to place sixth and earn All-Big Ten first team honors, and Anthony Stefanelli took third on vault (15.200) and earned All-Big Ten second team honors.
• Emyre Cole earned Big Ten Gymnast and Freshman Gymnast of the Week for his performance against UIC. He placed first with a then-school record on vault (15.50), third on floor (15.00) and fifth on parallel bars (14.15).
All-Americans (from left) Mahar, McCallum and Belanovski
Honors and Awards
Anthony
McCallum
Dmitri
Belanovski
Colin
Mahar
Emyre
Cole
Anthony
Stefanelli
NCAA Champion
Anthony McCallum (vault)
NCAA All-America
Dmitri Belanovski (all-around, floor exercise)
Colin Mahar (still rings)
Anthony McCallum (vault)
Big Ten Champion
Anthony McCallum (vault)
Big Ten Conference
All-Big Ten First Team: Anthony McCallum, Emyre Cole
All-Big Ten Second Team: Anthony Stefanelli
Sportsmanship Honoree: Emyre Cole
Big Ten Gymnast of the Week
Gymnast of the Week: Emyre Cole (March 28)
Freshman Gymnast of the Week: Emyre Cole (March 28)
Academic All-Big Ten
Jonathan Chin, Jr., Sports Management
Adam Dean, Jr., Architecture
Alec Krystec, So., Aerospace Engineering
Colin Mahar, Sr., Engineering Physics
Nolan Novak, Sr., Sport Management
Communications Contact: Scott Kemps
Players Mentioned
