2024 Big Ten Men’s Gymnastics Championships Preview: Can Nebraska or Illinois dethrone Michigan?
After a tightly contested season, the 2024 Big Ten Men’s Gymnastics Championships are here.
The regular season displayed the strength of men’s gymnastics in the Big Ten, as it has been the most competitive conference in the NCAA with all teams ranked in the top 7. After winning three consecutive Big Ten regular season titles, Michigan (2-2) lost the title to Illinois and Nebraska this season, who tied at 3-1. Ohio State and Penn State finished the season 1-3 on the year.
This competition looks to be a three-team race with Nebraska, Michigan, and Illinois all within 2 points of each other in the national rankings (by four-score average).
Michigan will come into the competition with a difficulty advantage over the conference and has yet to compete with both Paul Juda and Fred Richard in the all-around on the same day. With that said, the Wolverines have yet to hit at the same rate as Illinois this season. This led to Illinois beating Michigan at home earlier in the season in Champaign. However, Nebraska did route Illinois in Lincoln on their senior night and have scored above the 412 mark three of their last four meets.
With most teams at full health, the Big Ten title is likely to come down to which of these teams has the highest hit rate. Ohio State and Penn State are both underdogs in the competition but have shown high potential, scoring above 412 this season. They will need flawless days to beat out the rest of the conference.
To understand how competitive the conference is this season, we’ll refer back to last year’s Big Ten title meet, when the top four finishers were within three points of each other. Ultimately, Michigan won with a 412.400. No team entered that meet with a four-score average over 410. This year, three teams are well above that mark.
How to watch the 2024 Big Ten Men’s Gymnastics Championships
The 2024 Big Ten Men’s Gymnastics Championships will take place over two days, starting Friday, April 5 with team and all-around finals at 8 p.m. ET and followed by individual event finals on Saturday, April 6 at 8 p.m. ET.
Per the Big Ten, “The 10 highest individual scores on each apparatus from the team competition shall advance to the individual event finals — in case of a tie, it shall be broken by the highest individual E (Executon) judging panel score on that apparatus during the team competition. If a tie still exists, the individual with the higher national ranking prior to the Big Ten Championships will advance.”
Both days of competition will be on the Big Ten Network and will also be available on the FOX Sports app.
Rotation order for 2024 Big Ten Men’s Gymnastics Championships
The rotation order will be as follows:
2024 Big Ten Men’s Gymnastics Championships – Team Rotation Schedule
| Friday, April 5 – Team/All-Around Competition (8 p.m. ET on Big Ten Network/FOX Sports app) | ||||||
| FLOOR EXERCISE | POMMEL HORSE | STILL RINGS | VAULT | PARALLEL BARS | HORIZONTAL BAR | |
| Rotation 1 | Michigan | Ohio State | Illinois | Nebraska | Penn State | |
| Rotation 2 | Michigan | Ohio State | Illinois | Nebraska | Penn State | |
| Rotation 3 | Penn State | Michigan | Ohio State | Illinois | Nebraska | |
| Rotation 4 | Nebraska | Penn State | Michigan | Ohio State | Illinois | |
| Rotation 5 | Illinois | Nebraska | Penn State | Michigan | Ohio State | |
| Rotation 6 | Ohio State | Illinois | Nebraska | Penn State | Michigan | |
Individual title contenders
Below is a list of individual title contenders based on a four-score average, a high score for the season, and prior success.
This is not a comprehensive list of who could win a title over the weekend. With some gymnasts returning from injury, this list could change come April 5.
Qualifiers to event finals will be decided on Day 1, with titles earned on Day 2. Scores are not cumulative across both days.
One event that will stand out this year is vault. Last year’s Big Ten Championships saw no 5.6 difficulty vaults attempted, but this season has seen competitors from almost all Big Ten teams land Lopez or Kas double vaults. Very few U.S. gymnasts since Sam Mikulak and Jake Dalton have consistently performed vaults at this level, and the Big Ten may have more than four gymnasts attempting these difficult skills this weekend.
All-Around
- Fred Richard (Michigan)
- Paul Juda (Michigan)
- Taylor Christopulos (Nebraska)
- Josh Karnes (Penn State)
- Samuel Phillips (Nebraska)
- Michael Fletcher (Illinois)
- Tate Costa (Illinois)
Floor
- Connor McCool (Illinois)
- Kameron Nelson (Ohio State)
- Samuel Phillips (Nebraska)
- Landen Blixt (Michigan)
- Josh Karnes (Penn State)
- Tate Costa (Illinois)
- Fred Richard (Michigan)
Pommel Horse
- Brandon Dang (Illinois)
- Fred Richard (Michigan)
- Cooper Giles (Nebraska)
- Parker Thackston (Ohio State)
- Will Hauke (Illinois)
- Kevin Chow (Michigan)
- Sebastian Ingersoll (Illinois)
Still Rings
- Javier Alfonso (Michigan)
- Ashton Anaya (Illinois)
- Donovan Hewitt (Ohio State)
- Chris Read (Michigan)
- Nate Warren (Penn State)
- Luke Esparo (Penn State)
- Chris Hiser (Nebraska)
Vault
- Amari Sewell (Illinois)
- Taylor Christopulos (Nebraska)
- David Wolma (Michigan)
- Landen Blixt (Michigan)
- Justin Ciccone (Ohio State)
- Kameron Nelson (Ohio State)
- Chase Mondi (Nebraska)
Parallel Bars
- Josh Karnes (Penn State)
- Crew Bold (Michigan)
- Logan McKeown (Michigan)
- Evgeny Siminiuc (Michigan)
- Will Hauke (Illinois)
- Michael Jaroh (Penn State)
- Caden Spencer (Ohio State)
High Bar
- Fred Richard (Michigan)
- Josh Karnes (Penn State)
- Crew Bold (Michigan)
- Evgeny Siminiuc (Michigan)
- Zac Tiderman (Nebraska)
- Ryan Vanichtheeranont (Illinois)
- Caden Spencer (Ohio State)
