Season Review: 2020 Michigan Men's Gymnastics
6/12/2020 1:00:00 PM | Men's Gymnastics
• Team Captains: Cameron Bock, Mack Lasker
• Record: 11-1, 3-1 Big Ten Conference (led B1G regular-season standings prior to remainder of season being canceled)
• Big Ten Championships: Canceled
• NCAA Championships: Canceled
In a season shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Michigan men's gymnastics team led the Big Ten with a 3-1 conference record and was ranked No. 3 in the Road to Nationals rankings with a team score average of 409.400.
Team Highlights
• Michigan concluded its truncated season ranked No. 1 in the country on high bar (68.450) and was ranked in the top six on five events. U-M also was No. 2 on pommel horse (67.950) and parallel bars (69.767), boasted a No. 4 ranking on still rings (68.000) and finished No. 5 on floor exercise (69.483).
• Michigan was a perfect 4-0 at home on the season, with wins coming over Illinois-Chicago, Northern Illinois, Oklahoma and Minnesota.
2020 Individual Top Scores
Floor Exercise: Paul Juda, 15.000
Pommel Horse: Cameron Bock, 14.400
Still Rings: Bock, 14.550
Vault: Juda, 14.800
Parallel Bars: Bock, 15.050
High Bar: Juda, 14.400
Individual Highlights
• Freshman Paul Juda had quite the freshman season for the Wolverines, as he was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year after also earning a spot on the United States Senior National Team. Juda earned eight event titles on the season, highlighted by three on high bar. He led the country on the event with a 14.083 average and was named a College Gymnastics Association (CGA) regular-season All-American. His top mark of the year on high bar was a 15.000, the third-highest score in the country. He finished the season ranked No. 6 in the NCAA in the all-around with an average of 79.750. Juda also was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Week once, Big Ten Freshman of the Week twice, and was the CGA Gymnast and Freshman of the week on one occasion. The last Wolverine to win the conference Freshman of the Year was Sam Mikulak (2011). U-M has captured the honor six times in program history.
• Head coach Kurt Golder earned his fifth Big Ten Coach of the Year award in his 24 seasons at the helm of the U-M program. In the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, the honor was unanimous as U-M ranked as the top team in the conference for a majority of the year and was ranked as high as No. 2 in the country in the Road to Nationals rankings.
• Senior Mack Lasker was honored with the Big Ten Sportsmanship award, leading Michigan's efforts in the community and serving as a mentor for young gymnasts in the metro Detroit area. He earned a trio of event titles on pommel horse and scored his season high of 14.250 against Illinois-Chicago and Northern Illinois on Feb. 8. Lasker ended the season with a 13.867 average to rank No. 5 in the country on the event.
• A quintet of Wolverines in Juda, Lasker and juniors Cameron Bock, Nick Guy and Jonathan Liu were all named CGA regular-season All-Americans. Bock led the way with a trio of honors on pommel horse, parallel bars and still rings.
• Bock ranked in the top three in the country on two events, led by a 14.250 National Qualifying Score (NQS) on still rings (second) and a 14.317 on parallel bars (third). On rings, he boasted the fifth-highest score in the country (14.550), while his top parallel bars score (15.050) ranked him third. Additionally, he ranked No. 8 on pommel horse (13.750) with a season-best score of 14.400.
• Juda earned plaudits on high bar and floor exercise, leading the country with a 14.083 on high bar and tied for the top score on the event with a 14.400. On floor exercise, he held a 14.433 average, coupled with a season-high score of 15.000 -- the third-highest score in the land.
• Guy was another Wolverine who held the top spot in an event, as he was No. 1 in the country on vault with a 14.717. He had a top score of 14.800 on the campaign to rank No. 8. His success can be attributed to his consistency, as he scored at least a 14.650 in four of five meets this season.
• Lasker earned honors on pommel horse with a No. 5 rank (13.867), and junior Jonathan Liu, who ranked No. 10 on high bar, earned honors with a 13.683 average.
Honors and Awards
Cameron
Bock
Paul
Juda
Jacob
Moore
Uche
Eke
Mack
Lasker
Jonathan
Liu
Mitchell
Brown
Adam
Wooten
College Gymnastics Association
Regular-Season All-American: Cameron Bock, Paul Juda, Nick Guy, Jonathan Liu, Mack Lasker
Gymnast of the Week: Paul Juda (Feb. 18)
Freshman of the Week: Paul Juda (Feb. 25)
Big Ten Conference
Big Ten Coach of the Year: Kurt Golder
Big Ten Freshman of the Year: Paul Juda
Big Ten Sportsmanship Award: Mack Lasker
Big Ten Weekly Awards
Big Ten Gymnast of the Week: Paul Juda (Feb. 11)
Big Ten Freshman of the Week: Paul Juda (Feb. 11, Feb. 18)
Academic All-Big Ten
Mitchell Brown, Sr., Economics, Fortville, Ind.
Parker Chiapuzio, So., Engineering, Tigard, Ore.
Uche Eke, Gr., Information, Brookville, Md.
Alan Gerdov, Electrical Engineering, Evanston, Ill.
Nick Guy, Jr., Economics and Political Science, Indianapolis, Ind.
Jonathan Liu, Jr., Computer Science, Wayland, Mass.
Jacob Moore, Jr., General Studies, West Bloomfield, Mich.
Justin Murphy, Sr.., Political Science, Fenton, Mich.
Thomas Paul, Sr., Biomedical Engineering, Morgantown, W. Va.
James Read, Jr., Computer Science, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Anthony Tawfik, Jr. Biomolecular Science, Mississauga, Ontario
Players Mentioned
