And another B1G Championship for Men's Gymnastics & Mikulak.
While most of us were otherwise occupied, the Men's Gymnastics Team won their second straight Big Ten Championship, generally considered the strongest conference for gymnastics. Sam Mikulak, defending B1G, NCAA and U.S. champion, successfully defended his title by a generous margin, winning 4 out of 6 events outright, scoring above 15 on all events and an almost unheard of score of 16 or over on two (high bar and parallel bars). (The scoring is unlike the traditional limit of a perfect 10, which the women still use. Enough to know that on the elite level a score in the 14.00's is good and above 15.00 is championship material.)
The bad news is that Stacey Ervin, who can actually beat the Mighty Mikulak on floor, tore his biceps on parallel bars, but, as seems to be traditional with these guys,* finished the event without those of us watching even aware of his injury until he was seen with a huge pack of ice around his arm. He obviously couldn't compete in any other events, but, as the Mitch McGary of the mat men, It didn't stop him from jumping around and cheering on his teammates. Adrian de los Angeles, Sam's runner-up in the NCAA all-around last year, was unfortunately injured early this year, and yet the team had the depth to win without their expected high scores.
*Sam Mikulak fractured both ankles in a meet in Puerto Rico after his freshman championship season and didn't know until later. He got taped up and kept going. But that's the reason he's only won three championships.
The individual event championships will be on BTN tomorrow afternoon, in case anyone else wants to multitask.
March 28th, 2014 at 11:42 PM ^
Great day for Michigan athletics.
March 28th, 2014 at 11:45 PM ^
Michigan is the definite favorite to win the National Championship again.
Oh, and by the way, they host the NCAA Championships at Crisler Center.
March 29th, 2014 at 12:09 AM ^
"Definite?"
I love the optimism, but it surprises me slightly. I was under the impression that Michigan (#4) wasn't even the highest (nationally) ranked team entering the Big Ten championships as it ranked behind OSU (#2).
Now I don't at all deny the silliness of ranking a still-undefeated returning national champ anything but #1, but the 2-3 teams ranked above us this week are bound to give us a run for our money.
Right? What am I missing?
March 29th, 2014 at 12:27 AM ^
as I posted below while you were posting. They're not opinion-based or based on wins or losses (Michigan is undefeated this season, including beating OSU face to face), but based on average scores as the average changes during the season. [See below for more detail about Michigan not using all their top gymnasts for every meet, so their total scores aren't as high as they could be, but high enough to win.]
But with two major team members injured and probably out for the NCAAs, it won't be as easy as it might have been. I think they also beat now-higher-ranked Stanford earlier this year, but they haven't faced Oklahoma, which is always a big gymnastics power. But they beat OSU convincingly again today, even without all their top scorers.
All these teams are really good and doing routines far more difficult (and risky) than ever before, making the NCAA tourney incredibly excicting live. And it's going to be in A2 with really cheap tix.
March 28th, 2014 at 11:47 PM ^
Got to love a B1G championship ring
March 28th, 2014 at 11:59 PM ^
2013-14 B1G Champions (so far)
- Men's Golf (B1G Match Play Tournament)
- Men's Basketball
- Men's Swimming & Diving
- Women's Gymnastics
- Men's Gymnastics
IMO, Michigan is going to pick up several more at the minimum by the end of the athletic season.
March 28th, 2014 at 11:59 PM ^
that Michigan has been dropping in the polls. How does that happen? They've dominated pretty much every meet they had this year.
March 29th, 2014 at 12:11 AM ^
Michigan has not only dominated pretty much every meet this year, they're undefeated. But OSU was ranked higher the last couple weeks even though Michigan beat them face to face, because Michigan has been without several of their top gymnasts at many events, either because they had to skip meets because of national team commitments (Stacey Ervin, Adrian de los Angeles & Sam Mikulak) or because of injuries (ADLA and now Ervin). And even when they were available to compete, some of the other gymnasts were given a chance to compete to build depth and give the others a rest. I guess that strategy worked, because someone had to step into Ervin's place tonight in his other events. Some nerves from those who stepped in, but not as nervous as they might have been if they hadn't already had a chance to be in competitions, getting confidence and experience.
So Michigan has done what was needed to win, rather than run up maximum scores and wearing out or injuring the team (which still happens, unfortunately) so they're good for the tourney season. The NCAA won't be a slam dunk without both Ervin and de los Angeles, but now the team has shown they're up for it.
That's 17 all-time Big Ten championships for Men's Gymnastics, and 370 total championships recognized by the conference in all sports:
Michigan-370
Illinois-237
Ohio State-203
Wisconsin-191
Indiana-169
Minnesota-162
Iowa-106
Michigan State-96
Northwestern-74
Penn State-74
Chicago-73
Purdue-71
Nebraska-7
Go Blue!