Michigan clinches fourth consecutive Big Ten Championship

University of Michigan's men's gymnastics team clinched its fourth Big Ten Championship title on Saturday (April 6) at the State Farm Center in Champaign III. This is the fourth consecutive and 21st overall Big Ten Championship win for the Wolverines.

The Wolverines produced a superb performance in the tournament courtesy of their stars, Fred Richard and Gabrielle Stephen. Richard claimed his second consecutive Big Ten all-around title amassing a point tally of 83.900.

He made sure that a Michigan gymnast won the all-around title in the championships for the fifth consecutive time. Richard was followed by Taylor Christopulos and Josh Karnes with 83.100 and 83.000 points respectively.

Besides Richards, Paul Juda and Landen Blixt too produced a superb performance at the meet. They ensured a season-high 73.300 points in the vault exercises that earned the Wolverines a 3.3-point lead in the meet.

The Wolverines amassed a tally of 418.100 points followed by Illinois, who chalked up 413.750 points. Nebraska, Ohio State, and Penn State clinched the third, fourth, and fifth positions with point tallies of 407.350, 406.550, and 404.050, respectively.

Wolverines were trailing in the competition after the first three rotations. However, come the second half of the meet they stepped up and blew past Illinois and Nebraska. This championship victory secured the second four-peat in the history of the Wolverines, the first time being in the 1960s.

Michigan State University reaches the finals of the NCAA Gymnastics Regional Finals

Nikki Smith

The No.10 ranked Michigan women's gymnastics produced a dominating performance to reach the Gainesville Regional Finals with a point tally of 197.475. They finished second just behind Utah (197.825). This victory also marked 100 career wins for their head coach Mike Rowe.

After the victory, coach Rowe in the post-match opened up about her thought process in the game. She stated:

"Really happy with the results today, We didn't need to be perfect today, but I think we did a good job of just doing what we needed to do to get it done and be ready for Sunday."

Nikki Smith, a sophomore produced a superb performance for the Michigan side with 39.675 points and also finished top of the charts in the all-around event. This is just the third all-around tournament for Smith in the season and she hasn't disappointed since then.

Michigan will be facing up against Utah, No.4 ranked Florida and No.13 ranked Missouri in the Gainesville Regional Gymnastic Finals on Sunday. The top two teams from the finals will earn the ticket to compete in the NCAA Championships which is scheduled for later in this month.