If the national championship is the Michigan men’s gymnastics team’s opportunity to show off its talent as a team, then the Winter Cup Challenge was its opportunity to show off individual talent. This year, the fifth-ranked Wolverines sent four team members, along with undergraduate assistant coach Sam Mikulak, to Las Vegas to show off their routines and compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
Seniors Stacey Ervin, Adrian De Los Angeles, Nick Hunter and freshman Dmitri Belanovski represented at the weekend-long event. Belanovski participated in the all-around, while Ervin showed off five routines and both De Los Angeles and Hunter each participated in three.
On the first day, Ervin took home second place on floor routine, with a total of 15.50. His vault also broke 15 points, good enough for sixth place. De los Angeles, who has been recovering from an knee injury, placed sixth on pommel horse and seventh on parallel bars, with scores of 14.90 and 14.50, respectively.
In his first appearance at the Winter Cup Challenge, Belanovski placed 22nd in the all-around, with a total of 81.60. His top performance on the first night was his floor exercise, which earned 14.25 and a 17th-place finish.
Those who earned a spot in the top 42 on the first day were able to compete in the second day. Ervin, de los Angeles and Belanovski all made it to the second round of the event.
On day two, Ervin wowed the crowd with a second-place finish on floor, with a two-day total of 30.55. He also placed 11th on parallel bars and 14th on vault. De los Angeles finished in 12th place on pommel horse with a final score of 28.90.
Belanovski finished the weekend in 22nd in the all-around with a final tally of 163.200. Mikulak, the former Wolverine, earned his best score in the event with an 87.85, but placed behind Belanovski.
The total scores from the Winter Cup Challenge will go into consideration for the U.S. National Team that will compete at the Olympics. Currently, five of eight spots on the team are open.