Gymnastics is more than flipping around on a mat..

It is a sport where athletes display finely honed and energetic movements to the admiration of audiences and the critical eye of judges.

Bela Karolyi coached Olympic gold medalists Mary Lou Retton, Nadia Comancei and Kerri Strug.

Early in his career he remarked: "I realized that gymnastics was the purest physical and mental challenge of all the sports I had tried."

Natalie Beilstein has never met the famous coach but she agrees with his assessment and the 5-foot dynamo has been establishing her credentials to reinforce Karoli's opinion.

Recently, Beilstein, 19, a freshman at the University of Michigan and a Knoch High School graduate, was voted the inaugural Big Ten Women Gymnastics Freshman of the Week (Jan. 11) after winning a pair of event titles in her first collegiate meet.

Beilstein competed in two events. She scored a 9.875 on vault and a 9.850 on floor exercise at the Michigan Tri Meet. Along with the host Wolverines, Iowa and Bowling Green were represented.

Her vault score was the second highest in the Big Ten this year, while her floor score was sixth highest in the first week of competition. Beilstein's stellar performances allowed Michigan to extend its Big Ten winning streak to 29 meets and remain undefeated in conference action over more than two seasons.

Eleven days later (Jan. 20), against the rival Michigan State Spartans, Beilstein almost duplicated her scores and helped the Wolverines extend their Big Ten mastery.

For the season, the Wolverines are 5-1 -- their only loss was to No. 9-ranked Nebraska, 196.025-194.725 -- and they are currently ranked No. 17.

Beilstein earned her way into the beam lineup for the first time during a weekend meet at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, scoring a 9.825 in her debut collegiate routine.

Beilstein had her fourth consecutive dominating meet, putting up a career-best 9.900 in the floor exercise and scoring 9.850 on the vault, winning the floor title, taking runner-up on vault and finishing third on beam.

Her efforts helped Michigan defeat Iowa State and Brigham Young. She'll get a chance to perform somewhat close to home this weekend as the Wolverines will compete in a quad meet at West Virginia along with Iowa State and William & Mary.

Beilstein's successful collegiate takeoff in gymnastics comes as no surprise to Steve Heasley, Beilstein's coach during her years as a club gymnast at Butler Gymanstics. He fondly reminisced about the natural talent of a preschool 2-year-old who came to the gym with her brothers.

"She developed into one of our top gymnasts, a junior Olympian," Heasley said. "She's the most talented girl I've had."

That's taking a lot into account considering the numerous athletes he has trained at Butler Gymnastics in the past 33 years.

Although Beilstein attended Knoch High School, she competed for the a Club/Junior Team, the Butler Hy-Flyers. There she became a two-time national champion on the floor exercise, four-time regional champion and six time state champion.

Region 7 encompasses Pennsylvania and six surrounding states. In 2007, Beilstein was selected Region 7 Athlete of the Year.

The 2009 season was productive for her. She took runner-up on vault, fourth on floor and ninth in all-around at regionals. At the state championship meet, she won vault and floor while taking third on balance beam, fifth on uneven bars and third all-around.

Her consistency in her chosen sport earned her a scholrship to the University of Michigan.

"The facilities are great, so are the girls," Beilstein said. "I've made a good connection here. Hopefully, I can keep improving and help us win an all-around team title and an NCAA Championship."

She's enrolled in the Division of Kinesiology -- a study of the movement of the human body. That's an appropriate choice for a young woman whose body has been moving in gymnastics for the past 17 years.

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