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Big Ten To Send Full Contingent To NCAA Men’s Championships
All of the Latest Happenings in the Penn State Men's Gymnastics Community
ROSEMONT, Ill. (April 4, 2023) – The Big Ten Conference will have its full complement of teams competing at the 2023 NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships, as all five conference programs were among the 12 teams selected for this year’s meet that will take place April 14-15 at Penn State’s Rec Hall in University Park, Pa.
Big Ten Champion Michigan heads the list of conference participants, having accrued the third-highest qualifying score this season (409.850). Illinois had the fourth-highest score (407.050), followed by Nebraska in fifth (406.538), Penn State sixth (406.413) and Ohio State seventh (404.150).
The NCAA Championships will begin April 14 (1 and 7 p.m. ET) with two pre-qualifying sessions consisting of six teams each. The top three finishing teams in each session will advance to the NCAA finals on April 15 (6 p.m. ET). In addition, the top three all-around competitors not on an advancing team, plus the top three individuals in each event not already advancing as a member of a team or in the all-around competition, will also take part in the April 15 finals.
Live coverage of the meet will be announced at a later date.
Current Big Ten programs have won 39 NCAA men’s gymnastics national championships since the meet was first held in 1938, with the most recent Big Ten national champion being Michigan in 2014. Three former conference programs also won one NCAA title each as members of the Big Ten — Chicago (1938), Michigan State (1958) and Iowa (1969).
2023 Big Ten Men's Gymnastics Championship Central
COLUMBUS, Ohio (April 1, 2023) — Six individual event titles were handed out Saturday night to cap off the 2023 Big Ten Conference Men’s Gymnastics Championships at the Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio. In addition, University of Michigan freshman Fred Richard was named the Gymnast of the Championships, while Wolverine head coach Yuan Xiao was chosen the Big Ten Coach of the Year by a vote of the conference coaches.
Earlier this week, Richard was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, while Nebraska’s Taylor Christopulos earned Big Ten Gymnast of the Year honors. Richard is the first conference freshman chosen Big Ten Gymnast of the Championships since the latter award was first presented in 2017 and the third Wolverine to capture the award in its brief history, along with Cameron Bock (2019) and Paul Juda (2022).
Yuan was chosen Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season since taking the helm in Ann Arbor. It is also the eighth time a Wolverine coach has captured that honor, including each of the past four seasons — Yuan’s predecessor at Michigan, Kurt Golder, was the recipient in 2020 and 2021.
Richard, who won the Big Ten all-around title on Friday, added an individual event championship to his resume on Saturday with a victory on the high bar (14.725), the second consecutive year a Wolverine won that event (Juda).
Christopulos also picked up an individual title on Saturday with a winning score of 14.900 on the vault. He is the first Husker to prevail on that apparatus since Anton Stephenson’s three consecutive victories from 2017-19.
A trio of Illinois gymnasts took home individual event titles on Saturday. Ashton Anaya successfully defended his crown on the rings (14.475), the sixth Fighting Illini gymnast in the past seven championships to win the event title (14.375), following Alex Diab’s four-year dominance in the event from 2016-19.
Anaya’s teammate, Ian Skirkey, claimed top honors on the pommel horse (14.800), while another Fighting Illini gymnast, Connor McCool, won the floor title (14.725). Skirkey is the first Illinois winner on the pommel horse since 2017 (Brandon Ngai), and McCool returned the Fighting Illini to the top of the podium in the floor competition for the first time since 2015 (C.J. Maestas).
Penn State’s Josh Karnes rounded out Saturday’s individual event winners with a title on the parallel bars (14.350). He is just the second Nittany Lion to take first place in that event during the past 15 years and first since Sam Zakutney in 2019.
A total of 20 gymnasts earned All-Big Ten honors by virtue of their performances at this weekend’s conference meet, including seven from Illinois, four from Michigan, and three each from Nebraska, Ohio State and Penn State.
The 2023 Big Ten men’s gymnastics individual award recipients and all-conference honorees can be found below.
2023 BIG TEN MEN’S GYMNASTICS HONORS
Gymnast of the Year: Taylor Christopulos, Jr., NEB
Gymnast of the Championships: Fred Richard, MICH
Freshman of the Year: FRED RICHARD, MICH
Coach of the Year: Yuan Xiao, MICH
ALL-BIG TEN FIRST TEAM
Ashton Anaya, ILL
Michael Fletcher, ILL
Connor McCool, ILL
Ian Skirkey, ILL
Landen Blixt, MICH
Fred Richard, MICH
Taylor Christopulos, NEB
Matt Cormier, PSU
Josh Karnes, PSU
ALL-BIG TEN SECOND TEAM
Max Farkhadau, ILL
Evan Manivong, ILL
David Pochinka, ILL
Evgeny Siminiuc, MICH
Adam Wooten, MICH
Donte McKinney, NEB
Nathan York, NEB
Donovan Hewitt, OSU
Kameron Nelson, OSU
Caden Spencer, OSU
Chase Clingman, PSU
BIG TEN SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD HONOREES
Connor McCool, ILL
Adam Wooten, MICH
Moritz Mueller, NEB
Luke Smigliani, OSU
Matt Cormier, PSU
Unanimous selections listed in ALL CAPS
Penn State Again Sweeps Big Ten Men’s Gymnastics Weekly Honors
Gymnast AND Freshman of the Week 3.20.23
Ian Raubal, Penn State
Fr. – Zurich, Switzerland – Gymnasium Biel Seeland – Major: Biomedical Engineering
• Won his second all-around title of the season with a score of 80.700 to help No. 6 Penn State to a non-conference road win at 13th-ranked William & Mary on Sunday
• Also picked up victories on the rings (14.200), parallel bars (13.650) and high bar (14.000)
• Tied his career-high score on the high bar
• Earns his first career Big Ten Gymnast of the Week award
• Last Penn State Gymnast of the Week: Josh Karnes (March 20, 2023)
• Captures his second Big Ten Freshman of the Week award
• Last Penn State Freshman of the Week: Matt Underhill (March 20, 2023)
2023 Big Ten Men’s Gymnastics Honorees
Jan. 9
P: Matt Cormier, Jr., PSU
F: Landen Blixt, MICH
Jan. 17
P: Matt Cormier, Jr., PSU
F: Ian Raubal, PSU
Jan. 23
P: Kristian Grahovski, Fr., OSU
F: Fred Richard, MICH
Jan. 30
P: Fred Richard, Fr., MICH
F: Parker Thackston, OSU
Feb. 6
P: Matt Cormier, Jr., PSU
F: Landen Blixt, MICH
Feb. 13
P: Josh Karnes, So., PSU
F: Fred Richard, MICH
Feb. 20
No selections
Feb. 27
P: Fred Richard, Fr., MICH
F: Fred Richard, MICH
March 7
P: Caden Spencer, Fr., OSU
F: Caden Spencer, OSU
March 13
P: Josh Karnes, So., PSU
F: Matt Underhill, PSU
March 20
P: Ian Raubal, Fr., PSU
F: Ian Raubal, PSU