Team Captains: Paul Juda, Zach Granados, Lais Najjar

Record: 22-3, 3-1 Big Ten Conference (Co-Champions)

Big Ten Championships: 1st of 5 (330.750)

NCAA Championships: 1st of 6 (332.224)

A banner season for the University of Michigan men’s gymnastics team, 2025 ended with the team’s fifth straight Big Ten Championship and seventh NCAA Championship. Fred Richard was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Championships for the third straight year, while head coach Yuan Xiao was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the fourth straight year. Overall, seven Wolverines combined for 17 All-America honors and a pair of Big Ten and NCAA individual titles. The Wolverines played host to both the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Championships at Crisler Center.

Team Highlights

• U-M earned its seventh overall NCAA Championship, and first since 2014, with a team score of 332.224 in the team finals. Richard took home the all-around title while Paul Juda took home the parallel bars title. The finish marked the eighth straight season the Maize and Blue has finished in the top five and fourth straight in the top three.

• At Big Tens, the Wolverines earned their fifth straight team title, a pair of individual titles and eight medals. Five straight titles is the longest streak for Michigan since winning six straight from 1961-66. Richard was crowned Big Ten All-Around Champion for the third straight year, the first time a Wolverine has won three straight since Rick McCurdy from 1969-71. Senior Evgeny Siminiuc took home silver on the parallel bars in addition to the high bar title.

• The Maize and Blue started strong, handily defeating both Greenville (299.450) and Simpson (287.400) with a score of 310.900 to open the season on Jan. 11. The team fell 321.700-316.600 to Illinois at the Windy City Invitational before bouncing back to top Springfield and Army.

• Michigan stumbled to open Big Ten competition, dropping the conference opener on Feb. 1 at Penn State, 319.000-313.900. The Wolverines led for the majority of the meet, with the Nittany Lions pulling ahead following vault. A big rotation on parallel bars allowed U-M to retake the lead, but falls on the high bar to close out the meet were costly and allowed PSU to secure the win.

• The Wolverines returned to their winning ways with a decisive 322.100-315.450 victory over Illinois at home on Feb. 8 before finishing second of three at Oklahoma on Feb. 15.

• U-M took a month-long break from NCAA competition following the tri-meet in Norman, Okla., with Richard and Javier Alfonso representing Michigan at the Winter Cup. Richard finished second in the all-around, third on the parallel bars and high bar and fifth on floor exercise to lead the pair’s effort.

• Michigan returned to NCAA competition with Ohio State at home on March 15, defeating the Buckeyes 328.100-322.000 on Senior Day. The team is undefeated at home since March 9, 2019, at Cliff Keen Arena.

• The Wolverines clinched a share of the regular-season title at Nebraska to close out the regular season with an NCAA-leading team score of 335.950. The conference crown is Michigan’s fifth.

Individual Highlights

• Richard’s NCAA all-around title is his second in the event and fourth overall individual title. With Juda’s parallel bars title, 22 Wolverines have combined for 46 NCAA individual titles.

• Head coach Xiao was named Coach of the Year by the College Gymnastics Association, while Jordan Gaarenstroom and Juha Tanskanen were named Assistant Coaches of the Year.

• The Wolverines combined for 17 All-America honors, with Richard earning the citation in the all-around and all six events. He is the first gymnast in NCAA history to earn seven All-America citations in a single season.

• This year’s All-America haul brings Michigan’s all-time number to 292 and is the fifth straight year the Wolverines have combined for double-digit All-America honors (11 in 2024, 10 in 2023, 11 in 2022, 13 in 2021).

• Richard (all-around) and Siminiuc (high bar) took home individual titles at the Big Ten Championships, marking the sixth straight year U-M has claimed at least one individual conference title. Siminiuc also picked up silver on the parallel bars, with Juda (silver, all-around), David Wolma (silver, vault), Zach Granados (bronze, pommel horse), Solen Chiodi (bronze, vault) and Pierce Wolfgang (bronze, high bar) also earning hardware.

• The Wolverines earned 32 event titles in the regular season.

Honors & Awards

Paul
Juda

Fred
Richard

Evgeny
Siminiuc

Carson
Eshleman

Rithik
Puri

Charlie
Larson

David
Wolma

NCAA

All-America: Carson Eshleman (high bar), Paul Juda (all-around, floor exercise, parallel bars, high bar), Charlie Larson (floor exercise), Rithik Puri (still rings), Fred Richard (all-around, floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, high bar), Evgeny Siminiuc (parallel bars, high bar), David Wolma (vault)

College Gymnastics Association

Coach of the Year: Yuan Xiao

Assistant Coaches of the Year: Jordan Gaarenstroom, Juha Tanskanen

Gymnast of the Week: Fred Richard (March 27)

Rookie of the Week: Carson Eshleman (Jan. 15), Aaronson Mansberger (March 19, March 27)

Specialist of the Week: Charlie Larson (March 27)

Big Ten Conference

Medal of Honor: Paul Juda

Big Ten Gymnast of the Championships: Fred Richard

Big Ten Coach of the Year: Yuan Xiao

All-Big Ten First Team: Paul Juda, Fred Richard, Evgeny Siminiuc

All-Big Ten Second Team: Solen Chiodi, Zach Granados, Pierce Wolfgang, David Wolma

Big Ten Sportsmanship Award: Paul Juda

All-Big Ten Freshman Team: Solen Chiodi, Aaronson Mansberger

Gymnast of the Week: Fred Richard (Feb. 11, Feb. 18, Feb. 25, March 25)

Big Ten Freshman of the Week: Carson Eshleman (Jan. 28), Aaronson Mansberger (Jan. 21, March 18, March 25)

Big Ten Specialist of the Week: Charlie Larson (Feb. 18, March 25)

Academic All-Big Ten

Javier Alfonso, Gr., Master of Management

Landen Blixt, Jr., General Studies

Kevin Chow, So., Business Admin

Zach Granados, Jr., Information Analysis

Jake Islam, So., Sport Management

Alex Istock, So., Business Administration

Paul Juda, Gr., Master of Accounting

Logan McKeown, Sr., Computer Science

Lais Najjar, Sr., Computer Science

Robert Noll, Jr., Business Administration

Akshay Puri, So., Biomedical Engineering

Rithik Puri, Sr., Biomedical Engineering

Chris Read, Sr., Applied Exercise Science

Fred Richard, Jr., General Studies

Kyle Walchuk, So., Materials Science & Engineering

Pierce Wolfgang, So., LSA Undeclared

Will Young, So., Mechanical Engineering

Bowers is just the sixth Sooner athlete to receive the prestigious award, joining former gymnasts Kelly Garrison (1987, 1988), Maggie Nichols (2019) and Anastasia Webb (2021), and softball’s Keilani Ricketts (2012, 2013) and Jocelyn Alo (2022).

The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by the CWSA for the past 49 years to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports and signifies “the best of the best in collegiate athletics”. The winner of the sport award becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious 2025 Honda Cup, which will be presented on CBS Sports Network on June 30 at 6 p.m. CT.

“I am so extremely grateful to be the Honda Award Winner for the sport of gymnastics,” Bowers said. “Winning this award is truly a dream come true and I couldn’t do it without the people who support me the most, and this incredible university I get the pleasure to represent every single day. Thank you to my coaches, teammates and family members who push me to be the best version of myself every day and help me realize I am capable of things I didn’t even think I was capable of.”

Bowers, a two-time Honda Award Finalist, has been one of the most decorated athletes to compete at Oklahoma. A part of three national title teams, Bowers was the 2025 NCAA All-Around Champion, becoming the fourth Sooner in program history to earn the title. She was the 2025 SEC Gymnast of the Year and has been named the conference gymnast of the year for two straight seasons after earning Big 12 Gymnast of the Year in 2024. After conference realignment, Bowers was the only athlete who earned gymnast of the year in two different conferences in back-to-back seasons.

After earning first team All-America honors on all four events and in the all-around, the only athlete in the nation to do so, Bowers finished her career as a 16-time NCAA All-American. She also garnered four All-SEC honors in Oklahoma’s first year in the league.

An AAI Award Finalist, Bowers further cemented herself in the record books at the 2025 NCAA Seattle Regional. In the regional final, she earned not one, not two, but three perfect 10s in the same meet for the second time in her career. When Bowers achieved the feat in 2024, she was one of just five gymnasts to earn three perfect scores in one meet. When she did it for a second time, she became one of one. No other gymnast in NCAA history has earned three perfect 10s in more than one meet. The senior now has 12 career perfect 10s which ranks second all-time in program history.

“I am so proud to be a Sooner and so grateful for every opportunity this university has given me in and out of the classroom,” Bowers continued. “Huge congratulations to my fellow finalists Audrey Davis, Jade Carey and Aleah Finnegan. All of you are such incredible athletes and people and I have been blessed to share this journey and be nominated for this award with all of you. You should all be so proud of yourselves and your careers as well. I am so honored to win such a prestigious award and I thank you all again. Boomer Sooner forever!”

Bowers was chosen by a vote of administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools. Finalists included teammate Audrey Davis, Oregon State’s Jade Carey and LSU’s Aleah Finnegan. Bowers will look to become just the second Sooner to win the Honda Cup as Keilani Ricketts won in 2013.

The CWSA, entering its 49th year, has honored the nation’s top NCAA women athletes for their superior athletic skills, leadership, academic excellence and eagerness to participate in community service.  Since commencing its partnership in 1986, Honda has provided more than $3.4 million in institutional grants to the universities of the award winners and nominees to support women’s athletics programs. 

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