Having gymnasts finish on the podium in an event is a strong indicator of team success. And when a single team sweeps the podium, it’s even better.
After finishing as the NCAA Championship runner-up for the past two years, the No. 2 Michigan men’s gymnastics team (1-0) opened its season with a victory, posting 310.900 over No. 14 Greenville’s (0-1) 299.450 and No. 15 Simpson’s (0-1) 287.400, while 13 Wolverines gymnasts secured podium finishes.
Competing this year is different with NCAA rule modifications, though. One reduces event lineups to four gymnasts from the previous five. With as much talent as Michigan displayed during their intrasquad meet, it makes it difficult to identify the top gymnasts to compete in each event.
“(It’s) really hard for us to find the top four,” Wolverines coach Yuan Xiao said. “But (if) you’re gonna be the great gymnast, you can represent the team to compete for every single meet.”
But that greatness didn’t come right away as Michigan opened on the floor. With the highest scores of 12.700 coming from both freshman Solen Chiodi and senior David Wolma, and the lowest score of 12.100 from junior Landen Blixt, the Wolverines had a slim .250 lead over the Storm and a larger 1.350 lead over the Panthers after the first rotation.
“Every event is unique,” Xiao said. “Some events we do a great job. Some events we need (to work on) just because, just starting the season, we had to find some new skill we need and try to turn a different direction to make that work too.”
While the floor may be a work-in-progress for Michigan, the pommel horse, still rings and vault are strengths. At the pommel horse, two Wolverines podiumed with sophomore Kyle Walchuk winning the event, with a 13.700. Michigan earned a podium sweep on the still rings led by freshman Carson Eshleman’s 13.400, followed by senior Rithik Puri and junior Robert Noll. On the vault, the Wolverines posted its highest team score of 55.500 with Wolma and Blixt in the top-two positions respectively. This steady improvement and consistent podium performances widened their lead.
On the parallel bars, however, Michigan struggled on the dismounts, costing the team valuable points. Its failure to podium shrunk the lead to 13.9 over Greenville and 18.35 over Simpson. The Wolverines, while executing their routines, failed to maintain consistency as scores ranged from 10.850 to 13.750. The inconsistency in scores, coming from a range of difficulty scores and routine points being deducted after mislandings, were only part of the reason why the Wolverines’ lead shortened. On vault, three of Simpson’s scores were over 13 while the lowest was just below at 12.950. And on the horizontal bar, Greenville’s scores were also consistent as they were in the 12-point range.
“I think we’re definitely gonna do a lot more dismounts on parallel bars,” Eshleman said. “That seems to be a little bit of an issue.”
But, the parallel bar struggles didn’t halt Michigan as another podium sweep with Eshleman, Noll and sophomore Pierce Wolfgang in the final rotation secured Michigan’s season-opening win. While difficulty scores were lower for this event than the parallel bars, the consistency of the routines execution improved.
The Wolverines are already striving for greatness in every competition. If Michigan can clean up its parallel bar dismounts and maintain consistency, more victories may be in its future.
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