Richard wins the overall championship as the Wolverines win their fourth consecutive Big Ten title.
The No. 4-ranked University of Michigan men’s gymnastics team secured its fourth-straight Big Ten Championship with a 418.100 team score on Friday (April 5) inside Illinois’ State Farm Center. Sophomore Fred Richard also captured his second-straight Big Ten all-around title with a combined event score of 83.900.
U-M’s four-straight titles replicate a similar run of success from the early 1960’s, as the Wolverines reeled in six titles from 1961-66.
Michigan (16-2) trailed for the first three rotations, but blew away the competition in the second half of he meet. The team score was good enough to best host institution Illinois (413.750), as well as top-seeded Nebraska (407.350)
How it Happened
Floor Exercise
The Wolverines began their quest towards a four-peat on floor, but were forced to count a fall in the leadoff spot. Following a 13.85 from Richard in the second spot, Paul Juda ripped off a 14.75 and Landen Blixt followed with a 14.45 as U-M compiled a 68.850 on the exercise and sat in second by 1.7 points behind Nebraska.
Pommel Horse
Freshman Kevin Chow led off on pommel horse with a 12.50, with sophomore Zach Granados tallying a 13.20. The third spot was highlighted by a stellar effort from Juda with a 14.05 on the apparatus. Blixt closed out the rotation with a 13.80, just .05 off a career high. In all, U-M tallied a 66.350 on the event, and slid into third after two rotations.
Still Rings
Junior Rithik Puri led off on rings with a 14.00, while Richard led the Wolverine contingent with a 14.35 for a team score of 69.550. At the midway point, U-M had a running total of 204.840 and trailed Illinois by 5.75 points.
Vault
A season-high 73.300 for the Wolverines gave U-M the lead in the meet by 3.3 points. Juda marked a 15.05 while Blixt registered a career-high 15.00 on the table. Richard scored a 14.45 on the event as well, and moved into third-place in the all-around with a running score of 55.550.
Parallel Bars
Blixt led off with a 13.75, and 2022 Big Ten parallel bar champion senior Evgeny Siminiuc registered a 14.55 in the second spot. Senior Crew Bold also excelled with a 14.60, while Richard (14.75) and sophomore Logan McKeown (13.45) closed out the set.
High Bar
Michigan held a comfortable lead heading into the final rotation of 5.6 points, but was forced to count a pair of falls from Richard (13.60) that were still good enough to take home the all-around title. Juda scored a 13.10 on high bar, while Siminiuc and Bold both paced the Wolverines with matching 14.10’s. The Maize & Blue marked an event total of 68.600 on the final event of the night to secure the four-peat.
