A big smile stretched across freshman Natalie Beilstein’s face as her name echoed over the loudspeakers, and she stepped confidently onto the podium and into team history for the No. 6 Michigan women’s gymnastics team.

A seventh-place finish at the NCAA Individual Events Finals was just fine with her.

Two days after the team fell out of the running for a national championship in Gainesville, Florida, four Wolverines were named to the All-American First Team and were offered their own shot at an individual national title — junior Kylee Botterman and freshman Brittnee Martinez on the vault, Beilstein on the floor and senior Kelsey Knutson on the beam.

Beilstein placed seventh out of a field of 13 athletes with her 9.8750 floor exercise performance on Saturday.

“I was just ecstatic,” Beilstein said. “I went out there in my first national championships and actually got a spot on the podium, and that was a big accomplishment for me.”

Despite the successful outing, she couldn’t help but look back and wish for a little bit more. But with three years remaining at Michigan, she’ll have plenty of opportunities to improve and get another shot at a championship.

“I had a pretty large step after the (first jump), so I wanted to bring it back and show the crowd what I was made of,” Beilstein said. “The crowd was really giving me energy, and it really helped to make it through the floor routine.”

Botterman also notched a seventh-place finish. She performed her combination — a Yurchenko layout full, coupled with a Yurchenko tuck full — on the vault to finish with an average score of 9.7938.

The other vault performer, Martinez, made a strong showing in her NCAA debut, taking 12th place with her score of 9.7188.

Unfortunately for them, neither had prepared a second vault for the competition, so the starting values for their final vaults were lowered, inevitably leading to lower overall scores.

On the beam, Knutson finished up her collegiate career by placing just off the leader board, as her 9.7000 was good for ninth place.

But even as the team watched Knutson’s career-ending dismount cap off a memorable four-year stint at Michigan, with only three seniors leaving after this season, the team’s expectations will be just as high for next season.

Two more athletes — seniors Sarah Curtis and Jordan Sexton, both of whom will be returning for a fifth season next fall — received All-American second team honors, but didn't compete in the individual finals.

“I expect that I’m going to improve and our team is going to improve heading into next year,” Beilstein said. “We’re going to make it to the Super Six (finals) next year, and we’re going to try and win that national championship.”

Looking ahead, Michigan coach Bev Plocki has very few doubts about the team's future success after the year it just completed.

“It was great to have two freshmen compete tonight, and we would’ve had a third if Katie (Zurales) hadn’t been injured,” Plocki said. “The future of the program is definitely looking very bright.”