Michigan won their fifth straight B1G title just two weeks before the NCAA Championships will take place in the same arena. Army was victorious and stopped arch-rival, Navy’s attempt at a seventh straight ECAC title. OU won their first MPSF since 2021 and...left their trophy behind in Colorado which is currently en route to Oklahoma thanks to a couple of dedicated gym parents.

B1G CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Big Ten Championships took place in Ann Arbor, MI on April 4 & 5. They were the only of the three conference championships to take place on podium and were the only championships to utilize a two-day format. This format is the same format for the NCAA Championships that will also take place in Ann Arbor in two week, and thus, may give Big Ten teams an advantage having already competed on podium in the arena where the national championships will be held.

Team & AA

Despite initially sitting in third place after the first rotation, Michigan quickly gained steam in the second rotation was dominant winning the team title by 6.9 points over Penn State. Paul Juda made is 2025 season debut in the all-around starting off strong on floor with the highest score of the night (14.250). The all-around batte between Juda and teammate Frederick Richard was close til the final rotation when Juda faltered and Richard shined. They finished 1- 2 in the all-around and helped lead Michigan to victory. Michigan's 330.750 was also the highest score of the weekend, and ultimately won them their fifth straight Big Ten Title. Penn State pulled the upset on Nebraska thanks to season-high scores by Ian Raubal on still rings and parallel bars as well as final rotation dismount sticks by Michael Artlip and Matt Cormier.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers rounded out the team podium led by Taylor Christopulos who was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Year and took bronze in the all-around. Nebraska took the highest scores of any team on Floor and Still Rings but it wasn't enough to overcome their poor performance on pommel horse. Illinois knew that they would be starting in a defecit having to start on still rings but quickly shot up the rankings after a stellar performance on vault led by Garrett Schooley's season high 14.7. Having to count a fall on high bar left them in a defecit but they ultimately finished strong on pommel horse tallying the second-highest score of any team.

Ohio State was never expected to win but they also weren't expected to be nearly fifteen points off of the lead. This was their lowest-scoring meet of the year with the exception of their first meet of the season. Despite a disasterous performance, there were some highlights including Kameron Nelson's season high on vault as well as Tyler Burgess' and David Ramirez's career highs on parallel bars and floor respectively. Ohio State will be looking forward to returning to the gym ready to have a redo in Ann Arbor in just two short weeks.

Event Finals

It was no surprise that Brandon Dang won pommel horse, Kameron Nelson won vault, and Joshua Karnes won parallel bars. They have each been ranked in the two on these events the majority of the season. There were several athletes in contention for the floor title with Jesse Pakele of Ohio State reigning supreme. Nebraska athletes swept the podium and took the top four spots on still rings led by Yanni Chronopoulos. Though Frederick Richard qualified in first to the high bar title, he chose not to compete in finals. Instead, teammate Evgeny Siminiuc took the high bar title with a score that equaled Richard's score from the team finals.

MPSF CHAMPIONSHIPS

The MPSF Championships took place in Colorado Springs, CO on Saturday, April 5, 2025 where the Sooners won their 20th MPSF title and first since 2021. The Sooners started on vault and led the competition from start to finish ultimately defeating three-time reigning champ, Stanford by .3 (a medium error). Neither team was perfect but Stanford ultimately could not capitlize on their over six points of difficulty advantage.

Air Force and California were never in the running for the team title but both experienced indiviual and historical success. Erich Upton won the all-around title, a first for Air Force. Patrick Hoopes won his first conference pommel horse title. For Cal, Jasper Smith-Gordon became their first vault champion since 1987.

Unlike the Big Ten Championships, there was not separate event finals. Taylor Burkhart topped the floor standings fresh off of his gold medal at the Antalya World Cup. Patrick Hoopes topped the pommel horse standings in an incredibly deep field including World silver medalist, Khoi Young. As long as he hit, there was no doubt that Asher Hong would be the MPSF still rings champion but Jasper Smith-Gordon was a bit of a surprise vault champion. Several athletes including Taylor Burkhart, Asher Hong, Erich and Upton are ranked higher than him in the national standings. His winning score of 14.25 was a season high for him as he peaked at the right time. Fuzzy Benas recently returned from injury to take the parallel bars title in a deep field and Emre Dodanli capitilized on his #2 standing in the nation to become the MPSF high bar champion.

ECAC CHAMPIONSHIPS

After Navy's dominant performance at the USAG Championships, many expected them to win their seventh straight ECAC Championships. However, Army came away victorious to win their first ECAC title since 2016.

Despite Navy's loss, their star, Isaiah Drake took home the all-around title. Greenville rounded out the team podium in third over a point ahead of Springfield. William & Mary and Simpson rounded out the team competition.

Article by: Kensley Behel

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