B1G Championships Preview
By Dall-E 3
Based on school mascots (The Illini mascot is the Belted Kingifsher)
Note: All rankings are by total score. Stick bonus included in D score. Home meets are in red. Does not include neutral deductions for injury substitution. Please point out errors if you spot any. “Watch lists” are based on scores so far this season, - which isn’t always a reliable indicator. “Watch lists” are in no particular order, and I’m sure I left some deserving gymnasts out. Listed average is average of all scores, not 4 score average. If I have no official information a gymnast is injured, he was put on the list.
The grey shading doesn’t mean anything other than I’m not smart enough to get rid of it. Please forgive the out of alignment photos and crappy Excel screenshots - I was born in the 1900s.
The storyline of the B1G Championships - anyone could win, and the battle for second and third will be fierce.
The favorite is probably Michigan, as Michigan has the highest overall difficulty and does well in execution, but as can be seen from the chart below, every single team in the B1G is represented in the top 10. Michigan has lost to both Ohio State and Illinois. Nebraska has beaten both of those, but lost to Michigan.
Michigan will likely compete the most difficulty, but no B1G team is so far behind in difficulty that they can’t win if they are the ones that hit.
Team and AA
Top 10 B1G team scores ranked by total score
Gymnasts to watch in the AA if they compete it (single scores used as most gymnasts don’t have that many scores):
Fred Richard (Michigan) - high 86.95
Paul Juda (Michigan) - high 86.2
Josh Karnes (Penn State) - high 82.85
Taylor Christopulos (Nebraska) - high 81.9
Tate Costa (Illinois) - high 81.75
Michael Artlip (Penn State) - high 81,4
Sam Phillips (Nebraska) - high 80.65
Matt Cormier (Penn State) - high 80.6
Garrett Schooley (Illinois) - high 80.1
Ian Raubal (Penn State) - high 78.7
Pierce Wolfgang (Michigan) - high 78.2
Events
B1G Top 10 FX ranked by total score
Nebraska leads the way on floor exercise, with three rotation scores over 70. The only team that doesn’t show up here is Penn State.Some gymnasts to watch on FX:Fred Richard (Michigan) - avg 14.25, high 14.6
Kameron Nelson (Ohio State) - avg 14.089, high 14.8Connor McCool (Illinois) - avg 14.07, high 14.7Paul Juda (Michigan) - avg 13. 988, high 14.35Taylor Christopulos (Nebraska) - avg 13.925, high 14.75Landon Blixt (Michigan) - avg 13.917, avg 14.45Luke James (Nebraska) - avg 13.864, high 14.6Sam Phillips (Nebraska) - avg 13.857, high 14.75Josh Karnes (Penn State) - avg 13.85, high 14.5Chase Mondi (Nebraska) - avg. 13.714, high 14.6Michael Fletcher (Illinois) - avg 13.756, high 14.3
Crew Bold (Michigan) - avg 13.69, high 14.05
Toby Liang (Nebraska) - avg 13.486, high 14.25
B1G Top Ten PH ranked by total score
Nebraska and Illinois (with Brandon Dang leading them) dominate, although I predict Michigan would have been higher had Fred Richard and Paul Juda competed more often.
Some gymnasts to watch on pommel horse:
Brandon Dang (Illinois) - avg 14.582, high 15.2
Fred Richard (Michigan) - avg 14.45, high 15.00
Paul Juda (Michigan) - avg 14.262, high 14.75
Will Hauke (Illinois) - avg 14.971, high 14.4
Kyle Walchuk (Michigan) - avg 14.925, high 14.3
Cooper Giles (Nebraska) - avg 13.971, high 14.7
Parker Thackston (Ohio State) - avg 13.737, high 15.25
Michael Jaroh (Penn State) - avg 13.83, high 14.7
Maxim Farkhadau (Illinois) - avg 13.25, high 14.6
Zach Granados (Michigan) - avg 13.467, high 14.6
Yanni Chronopolous (Nebraska) - avg 13.608, high 14.55
Travis Wong (Nebraska) - avg 13.458, high 14.3
Kevin Chow (Michigan) - avg 13.5, high 14.1
Taylor Christopulos (Nebraska) - avg 13.5, high 14
B1G Top 10 SR ranked by total score
Michigan is king of the still rings, led by Javier Alfonso. The nice thing about being really good at still rings is people (usually) don’t fall. There is probably a reason why China seems to stack its international teams with ring men (I don’t have data, something I’ve just noticed).
Some gymnasts to watch on SR:
Javier Alfonso (Michigan) - avg 14.38, high 15.1
Ashton Anaya (Illinois) - avg 14.267, high 14.85
Fred Richard (Michigan) - avg 14.075, high 14.35
Paul Juda (Michigan) - avg 13.883, high 14.45
Josh Karnes (Penn State) - avg 13.767, high 14.15
Donovan Hewitt (Ohio State) - avg 13.75, high 14.2
Chris Read (Michigan) - avg 13.738, high 14.35
Luke Esparo (Penn State) - avg 13.694, high 14.45
Rithik Puri (Michigan) - avg 13.5, high 14.35
Ian Raubal (Penn State) - avg 13.67, high 14.25
Akshay Puri (Michigan) - avg 13.614, high 14.2
Chris Hiser (Nebraska) - avg 13.65, high 14.2
Kameron Nelson (Ohio State) - avg 13.65, high 14.2
Matthew Underhill (Penn State) - avg 13.2, high 14.2
Asher Cohen (Nebraska) - avg 13.471, high 14.05
Nathaniel Warren (Penn State) - avg 13.644, high 14.2
Sam Phillips (Nebraska) - avg 13.633, high 13.85
B1G top 10 VT by total score
The teams are close together on this event. Penn State didn’t make the top 10, but is still capable of scoring 72 on this event. How this plays out will partly depend on who decides to compete their harder vaults.
Some gymnasts to watch on vault (I arbitrarily cut this off at anything lower than 14.6, otherwise the list would be twice as long):
Paul Juda (Michigan) - avg 14.888, high 15.1
Caleb Melton (Penn State) - avg 14.65, high 14.65
David Wolma (Michigan) - avg 14.638, high 14.9
Justin Ciccone (Ohio State) - avg 14.586, high 14.95
Amari Sewall (Illinois) - avg 14.578, high 14.9
Zachary Tidermann (Nebraska) - avg 14.55, high 15.00
Zach Snyder (Ohio State) - avg 14.536, high 15.00
Taylor Christopulos (Nebraska) - avg 14.531, high 14.85
Chase Mondi (Nebraska) - avg 14.521, high 14.85
Alex Nitache (Nebraska) - avg 14.517, high 14.85
Fred Richard (Michigan) - avg 14.48, high 14.9
Garrett Schooley (Illinois) - avg 14.325, high 14.75
Luke James (Nebraska) - avg 14.371, high 14.75
Evan Manivong (Illinois) - avg 14.35, high 14.7
Landen Blixt (Michigan) - avg 13.725, high 14.7
Michael Fletcher (Illinois) - avg 14.228, high 14.65
Josh Karnes (Penn State) - avg 13.68, high 14.65
B1G Top 10 Scores PB
Michigan is the strongest team on PB, although Penn State has competed close to the same difficulty (with the aid of Josh Karnes).
Some gymnasts to watch on PB:
Evgeny Siminiuc (Michigan) - avg 14.208, high 14.6
Josh Karnes (Penn State) - avg 14.163, high 14.9
Crew Bold (Michigan) - avg 14.09, high 14.95
Will Hauke (Illinois) - avg 14.075, high 14.65
Logan McKeown (Michigan) - avg 14.056, high 14.6
Fred Richard (Michigan) - avg 14.017, high 14.4
Ian Raubal (Penn State) - avg 13.55, high 14.55
Paul Juda (Michigan) - avg 13.75, high 14.45
Matt Cormier (Penn State) - avg 13.65, high 14.45
Sam Phillips (Nebraska) - avg 13.421, high 14.4
Tyler Rockwood (Ohio State) - avg 13.617, high 14.4
Vahe Petrosyan (Illinois) - avg 13.5, high 14.15
Michael Fletcher (Illinois) - avg 13.772, high 14.1
Taylor Christopulos (Nebraska) - avg 13.686, high 14.15
Caden Spencer (Ohio State) - avg 13.803, high 14.25
B1G top 10 HB scores ranked by total score
Michigan only shows up once, but that’s likely because Paul Juda, Fred Richard, or both were rested for many of their meets. Michigan could show up with the HB triple threat of Crew Bold, Paul Juda, and Fred Richard. Sort of the old days when the USA was good at HB and we showed up at Worlds with Chris Brooks, Jon Horton, and Danell Leyva in the rotation.
Some gymnasts to watch on HB:
Fred Richard (Michigan) - avg 14.617, high 15.3
Crew Bold (Michigan) - avg 13.6, high 14.7
Zachary Tiderman (Nebraska) - avg 13.707, high 14.65
Paul Juda (Michigan) - avg 13.517, high 14.6
Evgeny Siminiuc (Michigan) - avg 13.933, high 14.6
Caden Spencer (Illinois) - avg 13.579, high 14.35
Sam Phillips (Nebraska) - avg 13.35, high 14.3
Tate Costa (Illinois) - avg 12.975, high 14.3
Ryan Vanichtheeranont (Illinois) - avg 13. 739, high 14.25
Kazuki Hiyashi (Ohio State) - avg 13.3, high 14.25
Yanni Chronopoulos (Nebraska) - avg 14.2, high 14.2
Josh Karnes (Penn State) - avg 13.581, high 14.05
Logan Myers (Illinois) - avg 13.279, high 14.1
Taylor Christopulos (Nebraska) - avg 13.32, high 14.05
Jacob Harmon (Ohio State) - avg 13.413, high 14.05
The Big Picture
Roattonationals put together a projection of the highest team score possible if everyone got their high score in a single meet.
Michigan - 437.5
Nebraska 430.65
Illinois 428.1
Ohio State 427.2
Penn State 425.65
The most probably winner is Michigan, but all the teams are possible if they have a great day and some of the other teams….don’t.
Luck will have a large role in determining who finishes second and third.
The gamblers pick would be Nebraska (big payout if they win, as you would have to split it with a smaller pool of gamblers). Not that anyone would EVER gamble on men’s gymnastics.
Pretty good for a team who back in 2008 was slated to be cut.