Paul Juda, a Stevenson High School graduate and a graduate student on the University of Michigan men’s gymnastics team, hoists the trophy after the Wolverines won the NCAA National Championship on April 19.
Courtesy of Christina Merrill, Michigan Photography, University of Michigan
Gymnastics also can be a game of inches.
Had University of Michigan graduate student Paul Juda, from Stevenson High School’s Class of 2019, hopped an inch or two farther right landing his vault, Michigan likely would have been NCAA runner-up to Stanford for a third straight year.
But on the final attempt on the final rotation at the NCAA Championships for men’s gymnastics April 19 at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., Juda kept his left foot in the landing area and clinched the Wolverines’ seventh title and first since 2014.
Juda’s score of 13.966 pushed Michigan past five-time defending national champion Stanford by 0.163 points and sent the Wolverines into celebratory frenzy.
“The score comes up and it doesn’t feel real,” said Juda, calling from Tampa, Fla., where he was “hanging out with my in-laws, kicking it,” his master’s degree in accounting to be finalized in days.
“You’re hugging your brothers, you’re screaming and everybody’s going crazy, and you’re like, ‘I can’t believe we did it.’ And then that trophy comes over and it gets really emotional.”
It got more emotional. After winning the team championship and an individual title on parallel bars, Juda, 23, dropped to a knee in Crisler Center and proposed to his girlfriend of five years, former University of Michigan gymnast Reyna Guggino.
“I just truly believe in the power of having somebody by you that pushes you to be the best version of yourself, who knows your buttons, knows how to push them, knows when you’re not giving enough,” said Juda, a first-generation American whose parents, Ewa Bacher and Jozef Juda, immigrated from Poland.
“I think without that kind of support I wouldn’t have had half of the things I’ve done while I’ve been here. Because I wake up and I want to be the best version of myself for her,” Juda said.
That meant acing his least-favorite event, parallel bars, and winning it with a score of 14.200. Juda also placed second in all-around to teammate Fred Richard, sixth on high bar, and sixth on floor exercise.
“Actually at the (bars) competition I ripped open my hand on that event, on that routine, and I said, ‘I’ve got to deal with this. What, am I going to back out of the competition now?’ So when they called out my first place, I lost it.”
As he said, “time and opportunity meets luck and preparation.”
Juda finished 22nd on vault, but with the championship on the line, for one last time at Michigan he rose to the occasion.
“I’ve visualized going last, I’ve visualized putting the entire competition in the palm of my hand to seal it. I knew what that pressure was going to be like,” he said.
“You simulate that enough in your head and by the time the moment comes you’ve done it a thousand times. So you just get up and turn your brain off and go on autopilot.”
Juda emerged as a Team USA star at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, helping the United States to its first men’s gymnastics team medal, bronze, since 2008. Last week he was named Michigan’s male recipient of the Big Ten Medal of Honor.
In addition to two Big Ten gymnast of the year awards, 15 All-America citations, four individual national titles and the 2023 Nissen-Emery Award as the best collegiate men’s gymnast, Juda is a two-time Academic All-American, a five-time Academic All-Big Ten winner and a Big Ten Scholar of Distinction.
Juda promised his mother that after a long, whirlwind schedule, this summer would be “filled with golf, food and relaxation.” Later, he’ll use his master’s in accounting, graduate degree in real estate development, business certification in sales and marketing, and bachelor’s degree in psychology.
He also will be a “vocal supporter of gymnastics,” he said.
“This program, this sport, creates the best student-athletes in the country. They’re dedicated, they do thankless work and they execute at a high level,” Juda said.
“I said it (in my) NCAA speech when I had the opportunity to speak at the banquet on behalf of all student-athletes: If we apply ourselves like we did in the gym for the last four years, we’re going to be wildly successful.”
Team USA from left to right Brody Malone, Asher Hong, Fred Richard, Paul Juda and Stephen Nedoroscik celebrate their bronze medal during the men’s artistic gymnastics team finals round at Bercy Arena at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
AP
