Season Review: 2018 Michigan Men's Gymnastics
5/10/2018 4:24:00 PM | Men's Gymnastics
• Team Captains:Alec Krystek, Tristian Perez-Rivera
• Record: 15-9, 2-2 Big Ten
• Big Ten Championships: Second place
The University of Michigan men's gymnastics team took another step forward on the national landscape with a second-place finish in front of a home crowd at Crisler Center at the 2018 Big Ten Championships. Michigan also placed eighth at NCAAs and compiled a 15-9 regular-season record.
Highlights
• At the NCAA Championships, U-M earned a trio of All-America honors. Freshman Jacob Moore tied for an NCAA runner-up finish on floor exercise with a 14.366, the highest finish for a Wolverine on the exercise since 1992. Freshman Cameron Bock placed 10th in the all-around with a score of 81.032, just outside of a citation, and took fifth on parallel bars (14.400) for his first All-American honor. Junior Ryan Dunning scored a 13.900 on still rings for a third-place finish. The trio of All-Americas for U-M is the most since 2016. As a team, Michigan placed fourth of six teams in qualifying Session I, scoring a 400.590 to end its team competition season, placing eighth overall.
• U-M hosted the 2018 Big Ten Championships and placed second in the team competition (408.600) behind Illinois. The last time U-M earned a runner-up finish was during the 2012 season, when the Wolverines also took second to the Illini. Bock took fourth in the all-around competition with a score of 82.800, becoming the first freshman since Sam Mikulak (2011) to earn All-Big Ten honors in the all-around. The Wolverines qualified eight gymnasts on 12 routines for event finals, led by Moore, who qualified first on floor exercise with a score of 14.700.
• Individual finals saw Bock take fourth in two of his three events: high bar (13.725) and still rings (13.825). As a whole, U-M found success on rings with Bock narrowly missing the top-three by .05, scoring a 13.825. Senior Dmitri Belanovski placed fifth with a 13.800. U-M took fourth and fifth on vault with a 14.700 from junior Emyre Cole and a 14.675 from junior Anthony McCallum.
• The Wolverines compiled their best team score of the season in their final regular-season home meet with a 417.700 on March 31 against UIC. U-M swept all six events and earned season-high marks on pommel horse (67.900), parallel bars (69.150) and high bar (69.550). Bock and Moore each took home a pair of event titles on the afternoon.
• Against preseason Big Ten favorite Ohio State, U-M defeated the No. 6 Buckeyes on Feb. 3 by a 411.850-410.650 score inside Cliff Keen Arena. The Wolverines took the top two spots on vault with a first-place finish from Cole (14.300) and a second-place finish from redshirt junior Marty Strech (14.250). Moore had the top-floor score in the NCAA en route to the event title (14.95), while senior captain Tristian Perez-Rivera made his first appearance for the Wolverines in nearly a full calendar year after suffering a season-ending injury early in the 2017 campaign.
• U-M's top road score of the season came on March 3 at the International Collegiate Challenge in Palo Alto, California. The matchup saw U-M's previous-best road score bested by 15.50 points and the Wolverines defeated the Japanese national team, No. 3 Illinois, No. 12 Cal and the Canadian National team with a team score of 410.350. Michigan had season-high scores on floor exercise (71.45) pommel horse (67.45) and vault (71.10). The Wolverines sat in third heading into the final rotation on parallel bars, but a 68.050 team mark was enough to leapfrog Japan and move into second place. Cole took second on both vault (14.80) and floor exercise (14.70).
• Moore earned College Gymnastics Association and Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors on Feb. 6 and March 3, while Bock was named CGA/Big Ten Gymnast of the Week (April 1).
• As a whole, U-M captured 21 event titles on the season, led by Cole's six. Bock and Moore each secured four titles, while Krystek had two. Strech, Belanovksi, freshman Nick Guy, Mack Lasker and Dunning each secured one event win apiece.
• According to RoadToNationals.com, Bock finished the season as U-M's team MVP (752.647), followed by Strech (452.931), Moore (444.048) and Belanovski (440.448).
2018 Individual Top Scores:
Floor Exercise: Jacob Moore, 14.950
Pommel Horse: Mack Lasker, 14.450
Still Rings: Ryan Dunning, 14.400
Vault: Anthony McCallum, 14.850
Parallel Bars: Cameron Bock, 14.600
High Bar: Cameron Bock, 14.650
Honors and Awards
Cameron
Bock
Alec
Krystek
Jacob
Moore
Tristian
Perez-Rivera
Ryan
Dunning
Conference and National Awards
Big Ten Gymnast of the Week: Cameron Bock (April 2)
Big Ten Freshman Gymnast of the Week: Jacob Moore (Feb. 5, April 2)
CGA Rookie of the Week: Jacob Moore (Feb. 6)
All-Big Ten: Cameron Bock
Big Ten Sportsmanship Award: Alec Krystek
NCAA All-Americans: Jacob Moore (floor exercise), Cameron Bock (parallel bars), Ryan Dunning (still rings)
Dmitri Belanovski, Sr., International Studies, Milwaukee, Wis.
Mitchell Brown, So., LSA Undeclared, Fortville, Ind.
Parker Chiapuzio, So., Engineering, Tigard, Ore.
Justin Hopgood, Jr., Biopsychology, Cognition & Neuroscience, Hudson, Ohio
Alec Krystek, Sr., Aerospace Engineering, Lake Orion, Mich.
Justin Murphy, So., LSA Undeclared, Fenton, Mich.
Thomas Paul, So., Biomedical Engineering, Morgantown, W. Va.
Tristian Perez-Rivera, Sr., Electrical Engineering, Caguas, P.R.
Players Mentioned
