Though the national championship banners remain unchanged, the members of the Michigan men’s gymnastics team who won them have finally moved on.
The Wolverines graduated eight seniors after winning back-to-back championships last season, including Olympian Sam Mikulak. However, the same team chemistry that aided last year’s squad was evident at the annual Maize and Blue Intrasquad meet on Saturday.
At Cliff Keen Arena, the Blue team won 337.8-329.4, carried by a strong all-around performance from senior Stacy Ervin.
Michigan took the meet as an opportunity to introduce four freshmen to the lineup. Freshman Marty Stretch made a strong first impression by winning the still rings for the Maize team with a score of 14.60. Fellow freshman Alec Krystec had a solid performance on vault, scoring a 14.30 for the Blue team.
The meet was also an opportunity to bring back some old faces, like senior Michael Strathern, who has missed the last two seasons with a foot injury. Strathern, who captained the Maize team, was the top scorer on vault on Saturday, with a score of 15.15.
“To see (Strathern) doing floor and winning vault is great,” said Michigan coach Kurt Golder. “He hasn’t competed for two years, so he’s got to knock the rust off.”
Added senior Nick Hunter: “(Strathern) is one of the hardest workers on the team, and that’s going to carry him well through the season.”
Saturday also set up senior Adrian De Los Angeles to come back from a knee injury that forced him to miss the latter half of last season. De Los Angeles competed in three events, placing first on pommel horse with a score of 14.15.
Mikulak’s position in terms of versatility is one that won’t be easily filled, but despite the loss, Golder said he views this new team as reloading rather than rebuilding.
“We’re not as deep as last year,” Golder said. “We find out where we are at (the intrasquad) meet and we’ve got a lot more work to do this year than we did at this time last year. I know we have a nucleus of a team here, but we’ve got a long way to go.”
Golder remains optimistic, and said that the Wolverines will be able to work on their routines before their next competition in January at the Windy City Invitational. He added that this team has the potential to be just as great as last year’s.
“(The team) needs to recognize what they need to do and analyze their routines,” Golder said. “If they do that, then we’ll be fighting for a national championship again.”