Everyone has room to improve — even Olympians and national title hopefuls.
After its freshmen overperformed last week to lift the No. 6 Michigan men’s gymnastics team (4-1 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) to a win, Wolverines gymnasts young and old showed they still have room to improve this week as they fell to No. 7 Penn State (3-0, 1-0). Not even graduate Paul Juda’s strong performance in his season debut could save Michigan from a series of costly falls, as the team fell 319.00 — 313.90.
“Number one thing I’m going to preach right now is that you either win or you learn,” Juda said. “Today, we’re going to have a lot of really good learning chances.”
The Wolverines’ floor scores improved for the third week in a row as senior David Wolma’s score rose to 13.05 this week. Meanwhile, freshman Charlie Larson hit another season high for the third week in a row. Larson, ranked seventh nationally on floor, once again broke the 14-point barrier with his score of 14.05. Larson’s high score compensated for the two below-average routines and gave Michigan the lead over the Nittany Lions heading into the second rotation.
The Wolverines’ pommel horse struggled mightily this week, dropping a full point and a half compared to the previous week. A fall from graduate Syam Buradagunta and two 12-point routines left freshman Aaronson Mansberger in the anchor spot needing a solid performance to keep Michigan afloat. He delivered a 13.45 to claim the event title, and the Wolverines maintained their lead as the teams moved to the still rings.
“We are ready for the top,” Michigan coach Yuan Xiao said. “(Penn State’s) scores are a little bit high. Even when we win the pommel horse, we talk about Aaronson’s pommel horse routine, the score should be like a 14 and above. They gave it a 13. We feel like they took a lot of ‘dark’ deductions, which are hard to find.”
The pattern repeated itself on the still rings. Two disappointing routines in the 12s were offset by two great performances. Freshman Carson Eschlemann’s triple back dismount scored him a 13.25, while Juda earned a 13.55 and an event title in his strong season debut. The Wolverines failed to significantly improve their vault performance this week, however, and the Nittany Lions took the lead after they scored a massive 55.90 on the vault.
Michigan’s best parallel bars of the season put it back in the lead, however. Graduate Evgeny Siminuc took home the event title with his 14.20 and Juda’s 14.05 garnered third for the Wolverines. A strong performance from senior Logan McKeown balanced out the rotation after freshman Solen Chiodi struggled a bit and Michigan headed into the final rotation just ahead of Penn State.
But it was on the high bar where everything fell apart. After a strong performance on the rings, junior Robert Noll counted a fall and Eshleman counted three on the high bar to earn a poor 12.25 and 9.70, respectively. The Wolverines simply couldn’t make up the gap and Penn State ultimately won, giving Michigan its first conference loss of the season.
“Something that my coach used to tell me when I was a younger gymnast, that you’re not the first one to experience this, and you’re definitely not the last,” Juda said. “Nobody should feel as though they have a single extra amount of blame to put on themselves. We all have something to take from that.”
It wasn’t the Wolverines’ finest performance or what their lineup is capable of at full strength. They’ve suffered a number of early-season injuries, including to junior Landen Blixt, whose presence was crucial last year, and sophomore Frederick Richard wasn’t in the lineup, either. But Michigan will need significantly fewer mistakes than on Saturday from not only its freshmen, but the rest of the lineup as the season gets late.
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