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Coming off back-to-back second-place finishes at the NCAA Championships, the expectations are high for the 2025 Michigan men’s gymnastics team.
“It makes us work even harder,” Wolverines coach Yuan Xiao said. “Everyone knows our goals. We’re not going to change our goals until we win a national championship.”
Entering the season, Michigan’s roster is deep. Three Olympians are back: senior Lais Najjar represented Syria, while graduate Paul Juda and junior Fred Richard competed for the United States. Juda and Richard, who each have NCAA all-around titles to their names, helped lead the U.S. to a bronze-medal finish in Paris. Additionally, the Wolverines return six NCAA All-Americans and add one more in Navy graduate transfer Syam Buradagunta.
“Those guys have been out there,” junior Landen Blixt said. “You can take their experience and their knowledge and apply it to your own gymnastics and not even gymnastics, just being a great person. Those three Olympians and all the transfers and every guy on the team, we push to be the best Michigan men that we can be every day, supporting each other, being respectful and just wearing the block ‘M’ proudly.”
Saturday’s exhibition pitted many of those teammates against each other, with assistant coaches Juha Tanskanan and Jordan Gaarenstroom leading the Blue and Maize teams, respectively. Gaarenstroom, a two-time NCAA champion, was a member of the program’s last title team.
The meet kicked off on floor, where Blixt — a two-time All-American and the defending Big Ten champion on the apparatus — took home the highest score. Blixt’s 13.400 and a trio of 12.900s from senior David Wolma, sophomore Pierce Wolfgang and freshman Carson Eshleman led the Maize team to an early lead after one rotation.
As the teams moved to pommel horse, the Wolverines’ youth continued to stand out. Freshman Aaronson Mansberger recorded a 13.300 to lead all competitors, a score that exceeded the next highest execution total by nearly a full point. Sophomore Kyle Walchuk posted a 12.650, only bested by Mansberger and senior Zachary Granados.
“I’m so happy every freshman is competing so well,” Xiao said. “That’s new blood for our team. I believe this team is pretty balanced, and I’m looking forward to seeing the big time for our freshmen.”
On the third event of the day, Blixt shone again. He posted the highest score with a 14.400 on vault, ahead of Wolma. Freshman Solen Chiodi, who brings top scores in the national development program to Ann Arbor, finished third with a 13.950. Following his performance, the Blue team erupted into celebratory chants of “he’s a freshman!”
“We have accountability partners on the team … and mine’s Solen Chiodi,” Blixt said. “I’m very proud of him, and I can’t wait. He’s going to do amazing things in the future.”
While the plan for the meet was to rotate through all six apparatuses, high bar and still rings were not competed, meaning that parallel bars were the fourth and final event.
As did the rest of the day, the parallel bars too showcased Michigan’s dynamic mix of new and old talent. Senior Logan McKeown scored highest with a 13.900, followed by Richard — who won the NCAA title on parallel bars in 2023 en route to his all-around title — and Eshleman.
In the abbreviated meet, the Blue team took home the win, 194.300 to 191.100. Blixt, who competed for the Maize team, was the all-around winner with a total score of 54.350. The Wolverines’ freshman class accounted for four podium finishes on apparatuses, headlined by Mansberger’s pommel horse routine.
In a show for the crowd at Cliff Keen Arena, Michigan showcased its depth and talent, even beyond just the gymnasts it returns.
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