The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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58 THE WOLVERINE MAY 2019 BY ANDREW HUSSEY M ichigan's winter sports teams just finished off successful years, and three Wolverines won national cham- pionships. Freshman gymnast Nata- lie Wojcik, senior gymnast Anthony McCallum and junior swimmer Felix Auböck all capped their campaigns with national titles, while both gym- nastics teams, women's swimming and diving, and the wrestling squad all posted top-five national showings. Here's a look at their accomplish- ments and how the rest of Michigan's winter teams fared: WOMEN'S BASKETBALL (22-12 OVERALL, 11-7 BIG TEN) Best Per formance — 84-54 win over Kansas State, March 22 at the NCAA Tournament in Louisville, Ky.: In the first round of the NCAA Tourna- ment, the Wolverines advanced after defeating the ninth-seeded Wildcats. Freshman forward Naz Hillmon had a team-best 17 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. U-M posted a 50-19 re- bounding advantage en route to win- ning its second consecutive NCAA Tour- nament opener. MVP — Senior center Hallie Thome: In her final season, she was named first- team All-Big Ten for the third straight season. She averaged 11.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, and ended her U-M career ranked second in points (2,081), rebounds (885) and blocks (202). Honors — Hillmon was a first-team All-Big Ten honoree, making her the first freshman in school history to earn a first-team nod … She was also named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year by the media, the Sixth Player of the Year by the coaches, and a unanimous pick to the All-Freshman team by the coaches … Senior guard Nicole Munger re - ceived All-Big Ten honorable mention from both the coaches and media. Notable — Thome joined Katelynn Flaherty as the only three-time All-Big Ten first-teamers in program history … She is only the third player in pro- gram history to reach the 2,000-point mark … Hillmon was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week six times, tying a school record … U-M won eight of its final nine regular-season games to fin- ish fourth in the conference. MEN'S GOLF Best Per formance — Finishing fourth at the Big Ten Championships: The Wolverines earned their second top- five finish in the last four years, led by sophomore Charlie Pilon's third-place individual showing. MVP — Senior Nick Carlson: In his final season, he started in 10 events and had Michigan's lowest strokes per round average at 73.19. He had one top-10 fin- ish and two top-20 efforts along with a 2-2-0 record in match play. Honors — Pilon was named to the Big Ten All-Championships team for his third-place performance. Notable — Head coach Chris Whitten left the program at the end of the season to become the executive director of the Golf Association of Michigan. MEN'S GYMNASTICS (18-6 OVERALL, 4-3 BIG TEN) Best Performance — Winning the NCAA Qualifier April 19 in Cham- paign, Ill.: The Wolverines (408.389) topped No. 2 Stanford (407.588), No. 7 Nebraska (405.723), No. 6 Minnesota (396.059), No. 10 Navy (393.123) and No. 11 California (390.859) to punch its ticket to the NCAA Team Finals for the first time since 2015. MVP — Senior Anthony McCallum: He won the third NCAA vault champi- onship of his career, becoming the first gymnast since 1989 to win three na- tional titles in the event. Honors — Sophomore Cameron Bock was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Championships after he won the all-around title at the conference cham- pionship meet, becoming the first male gymnast from Michigan to do so since 2014 … He was named first-team All-Big Ten along with senior Emyre Cole and sophomore Jacob Moore … Freshman Kevin Penev was honored on the All-Big Ten second team. Notable — Michigan finished fourth at the NCAA Championships where Mc- Callum (vault), Bock (all-around), Moore (floor) and senior Marty Strech (still rings) earned All-America honors. WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS (23-5-1 OVERALL, 9-0 BIG TEN) Best Performance — Winning the Big Ten Championship May 23 in State College, Pa.: Michigan won its sixth straight league title and its 25th overall. This is the third time in program history the Wolverines have won six champion- ships in a row. Senior Olivia Karas (all- around), freshman Natalie Wojcik (all- around, floor) and senior Emma McLean (vault) all won individual titles. The team scored a 197.400 for its sixth-highest score in the history of the Big Ten Cham- pionships. MVP — Wojcik: The rookie earned first-team All-America status on the bal- ance beam and won the ninth NCAA title in program history with Michigan's best NCAA Championships score ever in the event. She also earned second-team All-America honors in the all-around. The Douglassville, Pa., native was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and accu- mulated 34 event and all-around titles, including league championships in all- around and floor. She became the first U-M female gymnast to win two confer- OLYMPIC SPORTS UPDATE Michigan Winter Sports Win Three Individual National Championships Senior gymnast Anthony McCallum won his third consecutive NCAA championship on vault and helped U-M place fourth nationally. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY