NCAA Championships Recap
Photos: Jessica Frankl
The 2023 season culminated with an electric championship final. Stanford stole the show from the very first event. The Cardinal started on vault with a stuck landing from sophomore Taylor Burkhardt that scored a (15.0). This vault was followed up by a Ri Se Gwang performed by the one and only Asher Hong who received a (15.33) for his effort. From there Stanford went on a tear, putting up the highest team scores of the night on parallel bars, floor, and rings in addition to vault. The Cardinal put up a final team score of (422.458) to win their fourth straight NCAA team title, capturing 12 All-American honors.
Michigan was not far behind. The Wolverines put up a (419.889) to finish second, led by superstar freshman, Fred Richard. Michigan opted to start on pommel horse - traditionally a challenging event. This put the Wolverines in an early hole but they were able to climb out after big rings and vault rotations. As the back half of the meet closed out, Michigan fought hard and were the top scoring team on high bar. The Wolverines brought home 10 All-American citations.
The biggest story of the night was that of the Illinois fighting illini. In his first year as head coach, Daniel Ribeiro took a team that was barely expected to qualify into the super six and mentored them to a podium finish. Illinois put up a season high score of (415.59) by missing only one routine and truly peaking at the perfect time. It was clear that something special was happening with Illinois as they entered their final event, pommel horse. The Illini saved their best event for last and took home the top score on horse to slide ahead of Oklahoma and into third place. En route to this highlight performance by the Illini, 9 All-American honors were earned.
Oklahoma had a rough year of injuries but the strong coaching staff headed up by Mark Williams led the Sooners to a fourth place finish, which considering the adversity is quite a feat. Oklahoma’s star Sophomore duo of Raydel Gamboa and Fuzzy Benas were not able to compete. These two finished 3rd and 5th in the all-around at the 2022 NCAA championships. Oklahoma pushed through and managed a strong (414.024) and took home 4 All-American honors.
The Huskers pulled off a fifth place finish in what was the highest scoring NCAA team final in years. Their superstar, Taylor Christopulos came through with a huge performance to lead Nebraska to a team score of 412.427. A couple of uncharacteristic falls provided a challenge for the Huskers down the stretch but overall the NCAA final was a strong performance and 5 All-American citations traveled back to Lincoln.
The Nittany Lions came out of the gates on fire during qualifications, but were forced to utilize the same lineup of 10 athletes during the final. Without a day or rest between the competition, the Penn State team had a lot of athletes with high workloads over the weekend. The finals competition was not quite as solid as the qualification day, but Penn State still put up a big 412.057 performance to finish 6th and receive 8 All-American honors.
In the individual All-Around competition, Michigan freshman Fred Richard led the way with an (85.998) followed by Nebraska captain and 2023 CGA MVP winner, Taylor Christopulos (84.116). CGA Rookie of the Year Asher Hong rounded out the podium with an (83.932) for third. Other All-Around All-American recipients were Josh Karnes (Penn State), Matt Cormier (Penn State), Kameron Nelson (Ohio State), Michael Fletcher (Illinois), and Isaiah Drake (Navy).
The 2023 NCAA Championship individual event winners are as follows:
Floor: Nick Kuebler (Stanford)
Pommel Horse: Ian Skirkey (Illinois)
Rings: Ashton Anaya (Illinois)
Vault: Asher Hong (Stanford)
Parallel Bars: Fred Richard (Michigan)
High Bar: Fred Richard (Michigan)