The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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MARCH 2026 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 69 BY ANTHONY BROOME MEN'S GOLF Michigan began its spring season at the Pal- mas Mar Collegiate in Humacao, Puerto Rico, on Feb. 9. The Wolverines were in 10th place after 36 holes at the event, headlined by a 67 (-5) by sophomore Dean Muratore in the second round, moving him into an individual tie for ninth place and leading the team with 10 birdies through two rounds of play. After shooting an opening-round 70 (-2), freshman Jordan Hwang shot 73 (+1) in the second round of the event, including three birdies, to sit at 19th through two rounds. U-M's next event will be the Louisiana Classics in Lafayette on March 9-10. WOMEN'S GOLF Using a 303 team final-round total, U-M opened its spring campaign with an 887 54- hole total to finish 16th at Purdue's Puerto Rico Classic at Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande on Feb. 2. Senior Mara Janess finished as the top Wolverine, shooting 218 (+2) to help her tie for 44th in the event. Freshman Reese Ng and senior Sydney Sung tied for 59th and 68th, respectively, in the three-day event that was cut to two days due to inclem- ent weather. Next up is the MSU-hosted Spartan Suncoast Collegiate Invitational in Sarasota, Fla., sched- uled for Feb. 15-16. MEN'S GYMNASTICS The fourth-ranked Wolverines grabbed a 318.550-306.700 win over No. 7 Illinois on Feb. 7 on the road in their Big Ten opener. Senior Fred Richard led the way for the defending national champions, taking home event titles on the pommel horse, still rings and parallel bars. Freshman Adam Lakomy scored career highs in the floor exercise (13.600) and vault (14.300), and junior Jake Islam posted a season- high 13.550 on the floor. Senior Robert Noll and junior Pierce Wolfgang had season highs on the rings and parallel bars, respectively. WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS Eighth-ranked Michigan used the third-best balance beam score in program history to seal a 197.375-197.075 win over No. 19 Ohio State in Columbus on Feb. 7. Its 49.600 on the beam is the second-highest of the season, and took place in the final rotation to secure victory over the Buckeyes. Graduate students Carly Bau- mann and Kayli Boozer shared the beam title with a pair of 9.950s, while freshman Quincy Walters had a third-place finish with a 9.925. The Wolverines won a share of all four indi- vidual event titles in the victory. MEN'S LACROSSE The Wolverines made program history in a season-opening win over Mercyhurst on Jan. 31, setting a school record for goals scored in a 24-2 victory. Freshman Luke Shannehan had 5 goals and 2 assists to earn 7 points on the night, while junior Nick Roode scored 4 goals on all 4 of his shots in the contest. Senior Bo Lockwood had 6 points with 3 goals and 3 assists, while junior Alex Lobel's 6 points (5 goals, assist) also stood out in the win. Shannehan's efforts earned him Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors on Feb. 3. The Wolverines improved to 2-0 with a 14-7 decision over Marquette Feb. 7. Roode finished with a career-high 5 goals against the Golden Eagles, and senior goaltender Hunter Taylor tallied 12 saves in the win. WOMEN'S LACROSSE U-M was picked to finish fourth in the Big Ten in the preseason coaches poll, behind Northwestern, Maryland and Johns Hopkins. It had three of its own named Big Ten players to watch in senior Grace Callahan, graduate student Ava Class and senior Calli Norris. Michigan fell, 12-10, at No. 25 Notre Dame in its season opener, with freshman goalie Elizabeth Johnson making 15 saves. Senior Ceci Stein recorded a hat trick and was among five performers who notched multi-point games. SWIMMING & DIVING U-M's No. 4-ranked women handled Denison, 202-87, on Jan. 31, capping off their regular season on Senior Day in Ann Arbor at Canham Natatorium. The No. 12-ranked men also met Denison, handling business in their events by a score of 202-92. Next up for both teams are the Big Ten Cham- pionships. The women will travel to Minneapo- lis for their events from Feb. 18-21, while the men head to Madison, Wis., from Feb. 25-28 to compete for conference titles. MEN'S TENNIS U-M's three-man haul in the 2026 recruiting class was recently ranked as the fourth best in the country by Tennis Recruiting Network. The incoming group is made of Gustavo Alb- ieri, Naoto Tomizawa and Benjamin Azar, who signed with U-M during the past signing period. The group is Michigan's first top-five recruit- ing class since 2018 and ranks at the top in the Big Ten. Nationally, it trails only Stanford, Texas A&M and Princeton. WOMEN'S TENNIS The Wolverines are off to a 1-3 start to the season with their first victory coming via a 4-0 win over Penn in Ann Arbor on Jan. 24. U-M has played a loaded schedule since, losing to No. 19 Vanderbilt (4-2), No. 15 Virginia (4-2) and No. 4 Auburn (5-0) in the three matches that followed. MEN'S TRACK & FIELD Junior Trent McFarland set the program's in- door mile run record on Jan. 31 at the Razor- back Invitational, placing first with a personal- best time of 3:52.73. McFarland's finish was just under two seconds faster than the previous record and No. 14 all-time in NCAA history. WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD Freshman Keyanna O'Tey ran a personal-best 7.45 seconds in the 60-meter dash preliminar- ies at the Michigan Invitational on Feb. 7, then bested that mark with a 7.44 in the finals to finish in third place in the event. Her finals time tied her for No. 8 on the all-time program performers list. WRESTLING Michigan, ranked No. 10 in the country, dropped a 38-3 dual to No. 1 Penn State in its home finale at Crisler Center on Feb. 6. Its lone individual win in the event came via grad- uate Taye Ghadiali, who earned a 5-1 decision over No. 12 Cole Mirasola in the heavyweight bout with a single-leg takedown late in the second period and 1:04 riding time average. It was his eighth ranked win this year and third in Big Ten competition. Ghadiali, a transfer from Campbell and native of Warren, Mich., now has a 17-2 record in dual matches and is ranked No. 5 nationally, third among Big Ten wrestlers. ❑ ❱ OLYMPIC SPORTS UPDATE WINTER/SPRING SPORTS ROUNDUP Senior Fred Richard led the way for the defending national champions in their Big Ten opening win over No. 7 Illinois Feb. 7. He took home event titles on the pommel horse, still rings and parallel bars. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY