The No. 7 Michigan men’s gymnastics team was more united than ever on Saturday’s Senior Night. Making their final salute at Cliff Keen, the seniors took with them one last rivalry win at home, with a meaningful victory.
After a slow transition into the pommel horse and vault events, the Wolverines’ (6-3 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) team score seemed sticky, while No. 3 Ohio State (4-3, 1-2) grew confident with their lead. But thorough ambition and consistent skill execution brought Michigan charging back in the competition where it took down the Buckeyes 328.100-322.000.
“We have a spite spirit in us,” freshman Solen Chiodi said. “We talk about it every single day, the meet’s not over until the last routine is done. And we know that going into every single competition and every single practice. All the guys on the team are fighters and we’re hungry for a win.”
After an imperfect leading performance from sophomore Pierce Wolfgang, the Wolverines were down by a full point. Chiodi pushed into the competition with his usual rotation on the floor exercise. After sticking the landing on his second and fourth passes, he earned the second highest floor routine score of the day right behind sophomore Charlie Larson. Larson completed a double-back pike and stuck the landing for the final pass of his routine, earning his third floor exercise title. With dignifying routines from the underclassman, Michigan managed to win the floor event, 54.000-53.650, with the slightest edge over Ohio State.
“Mindset is really important right now,” Chiodi said. “A lot of the physical stuff is done. Now it’s time to get my mind right.”
Mansberger continued this trend for the underclassmen. After a rocky start on the pommel horse, Mansberger narrowed in on his routine, providing exceptional power to this event. Looking down at the floor to avoid distraction, Mansberger marked his routine on the sideline, going through the motions with hands, while waiting for the Buckeye to finish. During his run he held remarkable control of the momentum in his circle and loop movements.
Mansberger boosted the difficulty, before completing a clean dismount and sticking the landing, giving the Wolverines’ their highest score on the pommel horse for the competition of 14.600. Even with his best efforts, Mansberger couldn’t completely compensate for the low difficulty scores of the first three gymnasts. Michigan took the loss in this rotation, 55.400-53.550.
Graduate students Paul Juda and Evgeny Siminiuc pushed the Wolverines over the edge in the final event to earn Michigan the win, while freshman Aaronson Mansberger and Chiodi built up momentum with their high scoring.
As the final home regular-season meet came to a close, the graduating teammates stepped up. Both Siminiuc and Juda performed impressive routines on high bar, catching the bar perfectly after every release and sticking the landing on the dismount. Juda closed out the meet for Michigan, and it was his eagerness and team passion that energized him through the very last second of the competition and inspired the nearly perfect routine.
Each Wolverine put themself in a place to optimize their performance and boost team morale in any way they could. While their work inside the gym built their strength and endurance, against Ohio State it was up to the gymnasts to bring the mental stamina and show up at their best. Michigan coach Yuan Xiao credits the seniors’ four-consecutive Big Ten championship wins to that additional effort applied outside the gym.
“Outside the gym, they are holding themselves to a high standard for the student athletes,” Xiao said.
The Wolverines’ all-around commitment to mental and physical consistency gave Michigan the stability to push through an unfavorable point differential as a team. It seemed as though not an ounce of energy was lost by the end of the final rotation. The Wolverines were on a high and their excitement was memorable as the underclassmen joined the seniors at the top of the scoreboard and sent the Buckeyes home with a loss.
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