Assistant women's gymnastics coach Shannon Welker completes his second season with the Wolverines, helping U-M capture their 18th Big Ten title and their second with Welker on staff.
In his second season at Ann Arbor, Welker headed Michigan's vault and floor exercise groups. Welkers athletes took home a Big Ten vault title, Regional floor title and nabbed three All-America honors on the two events. Welker helped newcomer Natalie Beilstein capture the Big Ten vault title, while Beilstein and fellow Wolverine Kylee Botterman shared the floor exercise title at regionals. Both were first team All-Americans (Botterman on vault and Beilstein on floor) joining freshman Natalie Martinez who also earned All-America first team honors on vault. The Wolverines captured nine vault and seven floor titles all year.
Welker spent one year as an assistant at Bowling Green after nine years as the head women's gymnastics coach and program director at the St. Louis Gymnastic Center in Missouri. While with the Falcons, Welker focused on the vault and uneven bars, helping send a pair of athletes to the NCAA Regionals for the first time in program history.
A graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Welker was a four-year standout on the men's gymnastics team (1993-97). He was a three-year team captain, an NCAA All-American in 1996 and was the school's Athlete of the Year his senior season. Welker was also a diver from 1993-94.
He spent a year (1997-98) as an assistant men's gymnastics coach for his alma mater and, in 2005, was inducted into the University of Illinois at Chicago Athletics Hall of Fame.
Welker earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1998, with a Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology.
Welker and his wife, Molly, have two sons, Ian and Brendan.
