Michigan Wolverines Men's Gymnastics | |
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Founded | 1931 |
University | University of Michigan |
Head coach | Yuan Xiao (2nd season) |
Conference | Big Ten |
Location | Ann Arbor, Michigan |
Home arena | Cliff Keen Arena (Capacity: 1,800) |
Nickname | Wolverines |
Colors | Maize and blue [1] |
National championships | |
1963, 1970, 1999, 2010, 2013, 2014 1969, 1970 (trampoline) | |
Conference championships | |
1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1999, 2000, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2021, 2022, 2023 |
The Michigan Wolverines men's gymnastics team represents the University of Michigan and competes in the Big Ten Conference. The Wolverines have won seven NCAA championships, 20 Big Ten championships and have been invited to 31 NCAA tournaments. Since 1999, Michigan has finished in the Super Six at the NCAA tournament in 11 of 12 seasons. In 2013, Michigan won its fifth NCAA men's gymnastics team championship. The following year, Michigan repeated as National Champions for its sixth NCAA men's gymnastics team championship.
The Michigan Wolverines men's gymnastics team has had five coaches in 65 years of competition: Wilbur West (1931–1933); Newt Loken (1948–1983); Bob Darden (1984–1996); and Kurt Golder (1997–2022), Yuan Xiao (2022–present).
Wilbur West was Michigan's first men's gymnastics coach. In three years under West, the team compiled a record of 1–10. After the 1933 season, the gymnastics program was discontinued and was not resumed until 1948. [2]
Newt Loken came to the University of Michigan in 1944 as a master's degree student. On the side, he coached the cheerleading team. [3] At the time of Loken's arrival, Michigan did not have a men's gymnastics program. [3] In 1947, the athletic board awarded varsity status to men's gymnastics, and Loken was named the head coach. [3]
Loken remained the coach of Michigan's men's gymnastics team for 36 years and compiled a record of 250–72–1. His teams won NCAA men's gymnastics championships in 1963 and 1970 and 12 Big Ten championships. Loken coached 71 Big Ten individual event winners and 21 NCAA individual event winners. [4] [5]
In 1963, the Wolverines compiled a 6–0 in the regular season and won the Big Ten championship with 210.50 points. They went on to win the NCAA championship with a score of 129 points. [6] The 1963 team also won six NCAA individual championships. [2]
In 1970, the team compiled a perfect 12–0 record and won its second team championship with 164.150 points in the NCAA tournament. [2]
Loken also coached the cheerleading team at Michigan as well as the varsity sport of trampoline. From 1947 through 1964, trampoline was included as an event in gymnastics competitions by both the AAU and NCAA. The first trampoline world championships were held in 1964. Loken led the Michigan trampoline team to NCAA championships in 1969 and 1970. [7] Loken produced more trampoline champions and world medal winners than any other collegiate coach. [8]
As of 2007, the 88-year-old Loken was still a regular at Michigan's men's gymnastics practices and events, and it was reported that he had not missed a Michigan home meet from 1948 to 2007. [3] Assistant coach Scott Vetere said: "He knows everybody on the team, and if he forgets, he's 80-some years old, and he'll ask again. He's just a pure gymnastics guy – always wants to be around gymnastics, always wants to learn more, (always) wants to praise guys for what a wonderful job they're doing." [3]
Bob Darden (1984–1996) was head coach for 13 seasons. During Darden's tenure as head coach, the Wolverines compiled a record of 76–111–1 and had no Big Ten championships or NCAA tournament berths. [2]
Kurt Golder took over as Michigan's head coach in 1997. After Michigan finished the 1996 season with an 0–11 record, Golder quickly turned the program around. In 14 seasons from 1997–2010, Golder has led the Wolverines to a record of 246–166–1, four Big Ten championships, 10 NCAA tournament berths and two NCAA national championships. Since 1999, Golder's teams have finished in the Super Six at the NCAA tournament in 10 of 11 years. [2] [9] [10]
In 1999, Kurt Golder led the Wolverines to a 19–5 record in the regular season. The 1999 team went on to win the school's third team gymnastics championship with season-best 232.55 points in the NCAA tournament. [2] [11] The runner up was Ohio State, which finished with 230.85 points. [11] Justin Toman was Michigan's leader at the 1999 tournament with a score of 58.075. [11] The NCAA championship came just three years after a winless season in 1996. Golder was credited with taking over the program and building it into "a national powerhouse." [11] Upon winning the 1999 NCAA championship, Golder told the press, "The plan was to get here in the fourth year and be in contention in the fifth year. We got lucky and got some great recruits. Everything fell into place." [11]
The 2009 Wolverines finished #2 as the runner-up at the NCAA tournament. [2] Michigan gymnast Thomas Kelley was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Year in 2009. [12]
The 2010 Wolverines won the NCAA men's gymnastics national championship, defeating the second place team from Stanford University by 0.7 points. Michigan gymnast Chris Cameron also won the all-around title with 90.500 points, including 15.450 on the rings and vaulting, 15.150 on parallel bars, 15.050 on pommel horse, and 13.800 on the horizontal bar. [13]
The 2011 Wolverines finished second in the Big Ten and fifth at the NCAA men's gymnastics championship. The highlight of this season was freshman Sam Mikulak who won both the Big Ten and NCAA all-around titles. Sam was the first freshman in NCAA history to win the all-around title.
The 2013 Wolverines won their 16th Big Ten Championship behind an NCAA record-setting 15.95 performance on parallel bars from junior Sam Mikulak and a 1–2 all-around competition finish from Mikulak and sophomore Adrian de los Angeles. [14] On April 20, 2013, behind Sam Mikulak's second career NCAA all-around crown and a runner-up performance from Adrian de los Angeles, the team claimed the program's fifth national title. [15]
The 2014 Wolverines captured their 17th Big Ten Championship to become the first back-to-back conference champions since the 1999–2000 team. Senior Sam Mikulak broke two NCAA records with a 93.70 all around score and a 16.1 parallel bar score. [16] Twenty of the thirty competed routines qualified into the individual event finals the following day, a record breaking number. Gymnasts that qualified included: Syque Caesar (vault, parallel bars, high bar), Sam Mikulak (all six events), Paul Rizkalla Jr. (vault), Tristian Perez-Rivera (vault, floor), Konner Ackerman (vault), Jordan Gaarenstroom (parallel bars, still rings), Nicholas Hunter (parallel bars, pommel horse), Colin Mahar (still rings), Alex Bubnov (still rings), Nolan Novak (pommel horse) and Matt Freeman (pommel horse). Freshman Tristian Perez-Rivera and Junior Paul Rizkalla Jr. placed second on floor and vault respectively while senior Sam Mikulak and sixth year senior Syque Caesar tied for third place on parallel bars. [17]
The 2021 Wolverines captured their 18th Big Ten Championship. Michigan won the meet by 13 points, the largest margin of victory in the championship since 1977. Senior Cameron Bock tied for the all-around title and won pommel horse and still rings. Sophomore Paul Juda took third in the all-around and placed second on parallel bars and high bar. [18] On November 29, 2021, Golder announced his retirement after 25 seasons with the Wolverines. He led the Wolverines to four NCAA championships (1999, 2010, 2013, 2014) and six Big Ten Conference titles. [19]
The 2022 Wolverines captured their 19th Big Ten Championship. Junior Paul Juda won the all-around competition with a cumulative score of 85.350, while teammate Jacob Moore took third. [20]
On April 25, 2022, Xiao was promoted to head coach, agreeing to a five-year contract through the 2027 season. [21]
Name | Position | Seasons |
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Xiao Yuan [22] | Head coach | 2022–present |
Jordan Gaarenstroom | Assistant coach | 2019–present |
Juha Tanskanen | Assistant coach | 2022–present |
Name | Year | Hometown | Gym |
Javier Alfonso | SR | Miami, FL | FGTC |
Landen Blixt | SO | Fowlerville, MI | Infinity |
Crew Bold | GS | Delray Beach, FL | Tag USA |
Kevin Chow | FR | Des Moines, IA | Chow |
Casey Cummings | GS | Tustin, CA | South Coast |
Zach Granados | SO | Virginia Beach, VA | Gymstrada |
Eric Hoe | SO | Phoenix, AZ | North Valley |
Jake Islam | FR | Suffield, CT | Western Mass |
Alex Istock | FR | Burlingame, CA | Bayshore |
Ty Jordan | FR | Morrison, CO | 5280 |
Paul Juda | GS | Deerfield, IL | Buffalo Grove |
Joshua Lin | SR | Tustin, CA | South Coast |
Steven Lukasik | SR | Tampa, FL | LaFluer's |
Logan McKeown | JR | Austin, TX | Cypress |
Lais Najjar | JR | Oak Brook, IL | Lakeside |
Robert Noll | SO | Richmond, MI | Michigan Elite |
Akshay Puri | FR | Chicago, IL | Lakeshore |
Rithik Puri | JR | Chicago, IL | Lakeside |
Chris Read | SR | Ann Arbor, MI | MAGA |
Fred Richard | SO | Stoughton, MA | MEGA |
Evgeny Siminiuc | SR | Milton, ON | Gold Medal |
Kyle Walchuk | FR | Seabrook, TX | Infinity |
Pierce Wolfgang | FR | Bryn Mawr, PA | Liberty Bell |
David Wolma | JR | Cypress, TX | Cypress |
Will Young | FR | Albuquerque, NM | Eagle Ridge |
Michigan has had 20 gymnasts who have won NCAA individual championships. [6]
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Michigan has had 19 gymnasts who have been a part of the USA National Team. [24]
Past Olympians
Related Research ArticlesThe Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisional Collegiate Water Polo Association. Team colors are maize and blue, though these are different shades of "maize" and "blue" from those used by the university at large. The winged helmet is a recognized icon of Michigan Athletics. Gilbert Larose was a gymnast who was named NCAA all-around champion for the University of Michigan in 1963 and competed for Canada in the 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics. Larose was the first University of Michigan gymnast to win the NCAA all-around title. Newton C. Loken was an artistic gymnast and coach of gymnastics, trampolining and cheerleading. While a member of the Minnesota Golden Gophers men's gymnastics team, Loken was NCAA all-around gymnastics champion in 1942 and the Big Ten Conference all-around champion in 1941 and 1942. He was the coach of the University of Michigan gymnastics team for 36 years from 1948-1983. Loken's gymnasts won the NCAA championships in 1963 and 1970, as well as 12 Big Ten championships. His record as Michigan's gymnastics coach was 250-72-1. Loken also coached the Michigan trampolining team to NCAA championships in 1969 and 1970. The Michigan Wolverines women's gymnastics team represents the University of Michigan and competes in the Big Ten Conference. Under head coach Bev Plocki, the team has won 27 Big Ten championships and advanced to 31 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships, including sixteen consecutive appearances from 1993 to 2008. In 2021, the Wolverines won the program's first-ever team national title. Chris Cameron is an American artistic gymnast. Competing for the University of Michigan, he won the individual all-around title at the 2010 NCAA Men's Gymnastics championship in West Point, New York. Tyler Mizoguchi is an American gymnast from the University of Illinois specializing in men's all around. He was an NCAA All-American for the 2010 and 2011 seasons and has a career high seven individual titles. In his freshman year, he placed first overall on the parallel bars at the Big Ten Championships. He has also placed second on the pommel horse and second in the all-around against Penn State. Samuel Anthony Mikulak is a retired American artistic gymnast. He is a six-time U.S. national all-around champion, the 2018 World bronze medalist on high bar, and a three-time Olympian. He is also an eight-time NCAA champion, winning the team, individual all-around and several individual event titles at the 2011, 2013 and 2014 NCAA Men's Gymnastics championships. Quazi Syque Caesar is a former artistic gymnast and current coach. He represented Bangladesh at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and was a captain of the Michigan Wolverines men's gymnastics team. He was an assistant coach for the Stanford Cardinal men's gymnastics team for over six years, was the head coach for the men's gymnastics athlete resident program at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center until its dissolution in 2022, and is currently coaching at EVO Gymnastics. The USA Gymnastics National Championships is the annual artistic gymnastics national competition held in the United States for elite-level competition. It is currently organized by USA Gymnastics, the governing body for gymnastics in the United States. The national championships have been held since 1963. Alec Yoder is a retired American artistic gymnast. He represented the United States at the 2020 Olympic Games, competing as an individual athlete. He is the 2014 Youth Olympic all-around bronze medalist and the 2019 NCAA champion on pommel horse. Yul Kyung-Tae Moldauer is an American artistic gymnast. He is the 2017 U.S. national all-around champion and the 2017 World bronze medalist on floor exercise. He represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics and was a member of the bronze medal winning team at the 2023 World Championships. Brandon Robert Briones is an American artistic gymnast. He is the 2018 Youth Olympic vault champion and was a reserve athlete for the 2020 Olympic men's gymnastics team. Uche Devon Eke is a Nigerian-American gymnast. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, he became Nigeria's first Olympic gymnast. He qualified for the Olympics by winning the bronze medal in the all-around at the 2021 African Championships. He is the 2019 African Games pommel horse champion and parallel bars bronze medalist. Stephen Nedoroscik is an American artistic gymnast who specializes on the pommel horse. He is the 2021 World Champion and a two-time NCAA National Champion on the event. He is a member of the United States men's national gymnastics team. John Brody Malone is an American artistic gymnast who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He is the 2021 and 2022 U.S. National All-Around Champion. On horizontal bar, he is the 2021 World Championships bronze medalist and the 2022 World Champion. He is a ten-time NCAA National Champion. Shane Michael Wiskus is an American artistic gymnast who represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Additionally, he represented the United States at the 2019 World Championships and is a three-time NCAA Champion. Paul Wojciech Juda is an American artistic gymnast. He was a member of the bronze medal winning team at the 2023 World Championships. He is currently competing for the Michigan Wolverines in NCAA gymnastics and is a member of the U.S. men's national team. Khoi Alexander Young is an American artistic gymnast. He was a member of the bronze medal winning team at the 2023 World Championships. He is a member of the United States men's national gymnastics team and currently competing in collegiate gymnastics for Stanford. He is the 2023 Pan American champion on pommel horse. Asher Keen Wah Hong is an American artistic gymnast and a member of the United States men's national gymnastics team. He was a member of the bronze medal winning team at the 2023 World Championships. His surname (湯) is pronounced Hong when spoken in Taishanese. Frederick Nathaniel Richard is an American artistic gymnast. He is the 2023 World all-around bronze medalist, as well as the 2021 and 2022 Junior Pan American Champion. References
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