The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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next few dual meets, Big Tens and NCAAs. That was the youngest team I had ever coached at the time. "This year 's team is younger. We're probably going to start slow, experience some defeats and climb the ladder as the season goes on. I think we'll be in pretty good shape at NCAAs at the end of the season." Michigan, which begins its season Jan. 17 at the Windy City Invitational in Chicago, returns All-Americans Dmitri Belanovski and Nolan No- vak. A sophomore, Belanovski was Michigan's team MVP in 2015 after earning All-America honors on the high bar. Novak, a senior, was the 2015 NCAA runner-up on the pom- mel horse. Talented freshmen An- thony McCallum and Emyre Cole are the headliners of the large rookie class and will seek to help Michigan win its third Big Ten title in four sea- sons (2013 and 2014). WRESTLING VETERANS WILL TRY TO LIVE UP TO LOFTY RANKING Last year, Michigan's wrestling team battled through several inju- ries en route to an 8-6 dual record. The Wolverines claimed a fourth- place Big Ten finish before taking 11th at the NCAA Championships. Under the direction of 17th-year head coach Joe McFarland, Michi- gan entered the 2015-16 season with the No. 3 ranking in the USA Today/ NWCA preseason poll, but is now No. 10 after beginning the season with a 3-1 record and a seventh-place finish at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Michigan returns 10 NCAA quali- fiers, including five All-Americans, led by junior Domenic Abounader, who took second in the 185-pound weight class at the Cliff Keen event, and sophomore Alec Pantaleo, who took third at 149 pounds. "You develop through experience and time," McFarland said. "We've got some guys that have been through the grind of the season, un- derstand it and are physically able to handle it better now than when they were a little younger. "That's in all aspects — focus, training habits as well as managing their nutrition, academics and social Men's gymnastics coach Kurt Golder's 2015 team features 15 freshman versus a com- bined 11 sophomores, juniors and seniors, making it the youngest of his 20-year tenure. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS