Big Ten Men’s Gymnastics Week 12 and 13 Recap: Nebraska, Illinois split regular season title

As the final competitions of the Big Ten men’s gymnastics regular season concluded, two Big Ten Regular Season Champions emerged.

Illinois and Nebraska beat out Penn State and Ohio State in Weeks 12 and 13 to finish 3-1 in the conference and split the title. Illinois just barely edged out Penn State during the Nittany Lions’ senior night.

Illinois appears in prime position to prevent Michigan from taking four consecutive Big Ten Championship titles. Nebraska also won a close competition against Ohio State in Columbus, finishing out their season tied with Illinois atop the Big Ten.

Both Nebraska and Ohio State posted their season-high team scores in the final regular season matchup and appear to be peaking at the right time. Michigan was on a bye in both Week 12 and Week 13. With strong finishes to the season from all of the Big Ten teams, the Big Ten Championship is shaping up to be a highly contested competition. 

#4 Illinois @ #6 Penn State

Final score: Illinois: 406.500 – Penn State: 405.950

Illinois

With Illinois’ third Big Ten head-to-head matchup win, the Fighting Illini secured part of the Big Ten regular season title. Depending on Nebraska’s finish at Ohio State, the Illini could have won outright or tied with the Cornhuskers for the title. This ended Michigan’s streak of four regular season wins.

Illinois started the competition strong with big routines from Connor McCool and Michael Fletcher, who both tied for the event title with 14.300 scores. Despite having some mistakes from co-captain Tate Costa, the Illini came out with a more than 1-point advantage on the first event.

Illinois expanded their lead on the pommel, where they are ranked No. 1 in the Big Ten. Behind Brandon Dang’s 14.750 score, the Illini added 2 additional points to their lead. Will Hauke and Sebastian Ingersoll also executed stellar routines, coming in second and third with a 14.100 and 13.900, respectively. The Illini took four of the top five places on the event and are arguably the most dangerous pommel squad in the NCAA. Illinois’ lead started to fall on rings, where they posted a 65.050 team score. Despite hitting his routine, Ashton Anaya put up a season-low score of 13.550 (his only score below 14 this year) but was still the top score for the Illini. A pair of scores in the 12s allowed Penn State to jump back into the competition. 

The competition remained tightly contested on vault as the Illini nearly tied Penn State’s vault score. Vaulting star Amari Sewell won the event title with a 14.750 score on his massive Kas 1.5. Evan Manivong also posted a strong 14.500 on the same vault. Illinois seized control of the parallel bars, taking four of the top five spots on the event. Hauke and Vahe Petrosyan came in second and third on the event with scores of 14.000 and 13.750, respectively. Costa was close behind his teammates with a 13.700 score.

Illinois nearly let their 3-point lead go in the final rotation. Although the Illini hit most of their routines, form errors prevented most of their lineup from scoring above 13.400. With that said, Ryan Vanichtheeranont closed out the competition with an event-winning 14.000. Vanichtheeranont is now ranked sixth in the NCAA on high bar and will be in contention for the Big Ten event title in two weeks. 

“We know that somebody will hit 30/30 at Big Tens, and if we want a chance at that title, it has to be us, so it’s about these next two weeks, finalizing a lineup of guys who are going to hit 100% for us because four falls is just too many for us to be competitive. But we showed we can be incredibly tough and gritty when the other team has momentum and we are faced with adversity, rebounding with the next set every time there was a fall. Super excited to be at home for Big Tens, and trust we will be ready for it,” McCool said following the competition. Illinois has been in the driver’s seat for the conference title all season and looks to be one of the top threats to take the Big Ten Championship crown from Michigan. 

Penn State

In their final home competition of the season, Penn State fell to Illinois in a highly contested matchup. Penn State was without key competitor Matt Cormier due to injury from last week’s matchup with Michigan. Cormier’s recovery will be vital to Penn State’s chances to contend in the conference.

Penn State started the competition with solid scores on floor from Josh Karnes and Michael Artlip. Both executed clean routines but landing deductions throughout the rest of the lineup put the Nittany Lions into a deficit. This deficit grew on pommel horse, where Penn State put up another low team score of 66.250. Michael Jaroh did execute a strong pommel routine, posting a 13.700, and followed by teammate Josh Karnes who hit his routine for a 13.450. 

Penn State roared back on rings, where they took advantage of mistakes from Illinois and strongly executed their routines. The Nittany Lions took the top three spots on rings, led by Luke Esparo’s 14.150 which gave him two consecutive ring titles. Ian Raubal and Nathaniel Warren came in second and third, respectively, with scores of 13.950 and 13.800. Penn State also edged out Illinois on vault, posting a 71.800. Karnes and Landon Simpson drilled their 2.5 twisting vaults for 14.650 and 14.600 scores, finishing second and third, respectively. Karnes continued to dominate on parallel bars with a 14.650 score. Similar to vault, Karnes stuck his double front dismount and won the event by over half of a point. With that said, a few uncharacteristic falls from Jaroh, Raubal, and Ethan Dick allowed Illinois to regain control of the meet. 

Penn State did finish the competition strong, making up approximately 2.5 points in the final event, nearly catching Illinois for the victory. The Nittany Lion high bar lineup took four of the top five positions on the apparatus and all scored above 13.600. Penn State will need to limit their falls at the Big Ten Championship if they want to repeat their second place finish from the 2023 season.

Prior to the meeting, Cormier said “I’m gonna have to take it day by day. Hopefully, for NCAAs, I can give it everything I have, but at the moment, I’m just trying to stay safe.”

With Cormier likely at limited capacity, Jaroh, Raubal, and Karnes will need stellar days for Penn State to contend with the best of the conference. 

#5 Nebraska @ #7 Ohio State

Final Score: Nebraska: 418.200 – Ohio State: 414.200

Nebraska

In their final competition of the regular season, Nebraska claimed a share of the regular season title and posted their highest score of the season. Nebraska stayed in control of the competition on the road, with their stars dominating their respective events. 

The Cornhuskers started red hot on floor, posting their season high of 71.200 on the event. Four of the five competitors in their lineup scored above a 14.000, highlighted by Samuel Phillips and Chase Mondi’s career high scores. Phillips and Mondi placed second and third on the event with scores of 14.750 and 14.600, respectively. 

Nebraska carried the momentum to pommel horse, where they posted an NCAA-high 71.700 on the pommel with nearly all of their lineup scoring above 14.000. Cooper Giles and Yanni Chronopoulos highlighted their lineup, placing second and third with scores of 14.700 and 14.550, respectively.

The lead grew to nearly 6 points following a strong rings rotation. Asher Cohen led the Cornhuskers on rings with a 13.950 score for second place on the event. Travis Wong and Phillips tied for third on the event with 13.850 scores. Luke James highlighted the vault rotation as he nailed his Kas 1.5 vault for the event title with a 14.750 score. Taylor Christopolus and Zac Tiderman also landed their 2.5 twisting vaults for 14.500 and 14.550 scores, respectively.

The lead got cut from 6 points to 2 points following the parallel bars rotation, where the Cornhuskers had some large deductions. Despite the mistakes, Cole Partridge still posted a strong 13.750 on the event to close out the rotation. 

In the final rotation, the Cornhuskers pulled away and finished the meet in style, hitting all of their routines and earning a team score of 69.150. Phillips won the high bar rotation with a career-high score of 14.300. Christopolus closed out the victory with a 14.050 on the event, sealing a 418.200 team score and the Big Ten regular season title. 

The Cornhuskers are storming into the postseason and will be neck-and-neck with Illinois and Michigan at the top of the conference. 

Ohio State

Despite the loss in their season finale, Ohio State posted their top team score of the season, with new competitors showing their postseason potential. Co-captain Kameron Nelson tied his career high in the first rotation on floor with a 14.800, which earned him the event title. Chase Davenport-Mills also nailed his floor routine, earning a career-high 14.300. 

After a rocky start to the season on the pommel, the Buckeyes posted a strong 69.100, including three career high scores. Michael Ngyuen delivered a flair-heavy routine, scoring his career high of 14.200. The biggest highlight of the event was Parker Thackston’s crisp pommel routine, including a Bezugo, Sohn, and clean E flops for a massive 15.250. Thackston has steadily climbed the pommel rankings this year and is now in form for the postseason. 

Despite large highlights in the first two rotations, the Buckeyes found themselves in a 3-point deficit that would continue to grow on rings. With that said, Donovan Hewitt nailed his strength-heavy rings routine for the event title, earning a 14.050. Nelson also nailed his set, sticking his double-twisting double back dismount for a 13.800.

Ohio State started to crawl back into the competition on vault where they earned a 72.500 team score. Justin Ciccone, who has become a stick machine for the Buckeyes on vault, stuck his sixth Roche vault of the year for a 14.700 score. However, the biggest highlight was from Zach Synder, who landed a clean Kas double for his second event title of the season on a 14.750 score. 

The Buckeyes brought the deficit to just over 2 points in the fifth rotation, where they posted their season-high score on parallel bars (68.550). Jakob Murray and Kazuki Hayashi led the way on the event, placing second and third respectively with scores of 14.250 and 14.200. With that said, mistakes on high bar prevented a full comeback. Hayashi and Caden Spencer led the Buckeyes in the final rotation with 14.250 and 13.850 scores, respectively. The Buckeyes finished the day with their highest team score of the season – a 414.150

“We are peaking at just the right time to make a move in a week. I’m so proud of my team for stepping up after a rough start, taking responsibility for themselves and their gymnastics,” Hewitt said after the meet. If the Buckeyes can piece it all together at Big Tens, they could play spoiler in Urbana-Champaign.