When the Michigan men’s gymnastics team won a National Championship last season, it did so without earning a Big Ten championship.

After tying Illinois in 2009, the Wolverines couldn’t get over the hump in 2010 — falling to the Fighting Illini by 1.55 points.

This season, it will be more than just a two-horse race between No. 3 Illinois and No. 6 Michigan. Penn State and Minnesota enter the competition as the No. 5 and No. 7 teams in the nation, respectively.

Though the members of the senior class have National Championship rings, they are still hoping to finish off a successful career with a Big Ten Championship this weekend in Champaign.

“We’ve got a lot of seniors, and they definitely want to get that ring for their final year,” freshman Sam Mikulak said. “They’ve been pushing us to keep hitting our sets and to have fun out there this weekend.”

At the start of the season, the Wolverines suffered many unfortunate injuries and illnesses. Senior Chris Cameron has been plagued since the fall with a mysterious illness and senior Ben Baldus-Strauss broke his arm early in the season — only recently returning to the lineup. As the season progressed, Michigan started to get healthier and, as a result, has scored higher.

Since their competition against Oklahoma on March 12, where the Wolverines topped the 350-point mark for the first time this season, they haven’t scored less than that mark.

“We knew we weren’t putting our strongest lineup in at the beginning of the year,” assistant coach Geoff Corrigan said. “Our ranking didn’t really show what kind of a team we were. (During the season) we’ve just been working people back into the lineup and getting people healthy.”

With 11 freshmen on a team of 23 gymnasts, the Wolverines have suffered growing pains that young teams undergo. With losses from graduation last season and injuries this season, some of the freshmen have been thrown into a role they probably weren’t expecting.

But every time these young gymnasts have been called on, they have responded — in particular Mikulak and Michael Myler. Mikulak is Michigan’s top performer on the vault and Myler has continuously placed in the top six on the pommel horse and parallel bars during dual meets.

And though ranked nationally behind Illinois and Penn State, Michigan is confident.

“We’re clearly the best team in the Big Ten,” junior Syque Caesar said. “The other teams have no idea of what we’re capable of and that’s a good thing. We’re ready, and we’re going to win Big Tens.”

If Cameron can be a full participant in the competition, Michigan may surprise some people. His minor injuries and illnesses have minimized his production all season. As the defending Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, his points will be critical for the Wolverines to finally earn a Big Ten title.

“We’ve had (Cameron) fill in a couple of different spots, but the team came together (this season),” Corrigan said. “I think they could win without him, but if we do have him it’s going to help us a lot. If we don’t, we need to move forward and do the best we can.”

Aside from the Winter Cup Invitational, where only select Wolverines competed, this will be the first multi-day competition of the season for Michigan. On Friday night, the team finals will take place. Then, on Saturday night, the individual event finals will occur. As the NCAA Championship in two weeks is a three-day competition, the Wolverines who earn a spot in the event finals on Saturday will get great practice for NCAA’s.

“We’re just more prepared for Big Tens than teams that I’ve been on in the past,” senior Thomas Kelley said. “This is probably the most prepared that I’ve (ever) seen our team going into Big Tens. I think that’s only going to serve us well to do even better at NCAA’s.”