Michigan
NCAA Qualifier
Wolverines Ready for NCAA Championships in Columbus
4/15/2024 11:19:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 3-ranked University of Michigan men's gymnastics team, fresh off its Big Ten title, will enter the 2024 NCAA Championships Friday-Saturday (April 19-20) as the third-seeded team. The meet will be held at Ohio State's Covelli Center with U-M competing in qualifying session II on Friday (April 19) at 7 p.m. If qualified, U-M will compete in the session III finals on Saturday (April 20) at 6 p.m.
All three sessions of the championships will be streamed for free via NCAA.com, with the main broadcast feed and separate feeds for each apparatus.
Notes
• Michigan will compete in qualifier session two at 7 p.m. on Friday (April 19), alongside No. 2 Oklahoma, host No. 6 Ohio State, No. 7 Penn State, No. 10 Air Force and No. 11 Springfield. The top three teams from sessions one and two will advance to Saturday's session three, where team and individual accolades will be up for grabs.
• U-M is ranked No. 3 in the latest Road to Nationals rankings (413.050). In terms of individual events, U-M is second on parallel bars (69.400) and still rings (69.163), and is third on high bar (67.775) and fourth on vault (72.150).
• The Wolverines will begin the championships on pommel hose and rotate in Olympic order, followed by still rings, vault, parallel bars, high bar and will end on floor exercise.
• Michigan scored the second-highest score in the country on the season with a 416.300 in an upset win over No. 1 Oklahoma (March 2). Later in the season, U-M scored the top mark in the NCAA with a 425.500 against Penn State (April 17). Overall, U-M is 6-0 against the six teams in its subdivision.
• Two Wolverines lead the country on individual events with senior Javier Alfonso on still rings (14.488) and sophomore Fred Richard on high bar (14.733) leading in national qualifying average. Sophomore Landen Blixt is third on floor exercise (14.367), graduate student Crew Bold ranks second on parallel bars (14.550) and junior David Wolma is third on vault (14.867).
• In terms of event highs, Fred Richard has the highest score in the country on high bar (14.300) and in the all-around (86.950). Senior Javier Alfonso has the second-highest score in the NCAA on still rings (15.100), Bold is No. 2 on parallel bars with a 14.950 and Juda is No. 2 on vault (15.100).
• Richard earned Big Ten's top gymnast honor at its championships and head coach Yuan Xiao was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second and third straight seasons, respectively.
• Richard, along with classmates Blixt and Bold, each earned first-team All-Big accolades while Juda, junior Rithik Puri, Siminiuc and senior Chris Read hauled in second-team honors.
NCAA Championship History
• At the 2023 NCAA Championships, U-M earned a runner-up finish in the finals session with a team score of 419.889. Six athletes took home 10 All-America honors, with Richard winning a trio of titles in the all-around, high bar and parallel bars -- totaling five All-America honors in the process.
• The second-place finish marked the third straight year the Wolverines have finished in the top three. It was also the highest team finish since winning the NCAA title in 2014. Richard's three NCAA titles marked the third time a Wolverine has won three in one season, joining Gil LaRose (1953) and Sam Mikulak (2013). The ten All-America honors brought the U-M program total to 254.
The Last Time a Wolverine Won an NCAA Title
All-Around: Fred Richard (2023)
Floor Exercise: Brian Hinkler (1992)
Vault: Paul Juda (2022)
Parallel Bars: Fred Richard (2023)
High Bar: Fred Richard (2023)
Michigan NCAA Titles by Event
All-Around: 7
Floor Exercise: 3
Vault: 6
Parallel Bars: 10
High Bar: 6
Players Mentioned
