Big Ten Crowns Men's Gymnastics Individual Champions
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Big Ten capped off its 2026 Men’s Gymnastics Championships on Saturday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb., as it handed out six individual event titles. In addition, University of Michigan junior Fred Richard was named the Gymnast of the Championships, while Wolverines head coach Yuan Xiao was chosen the Big Ten Coach of the Year by a vote of the conference coaches.
Earlier this week, Richard was also named Big Ten Men’s Gymnast of the Year for the second time, while Ohio State’s Parker Thackston was named Specialist of the Year. Penn State’s Shaun Smith claimed Freshman of the Year honors.
Richard scored his fourth consecutive Gymnast of the Championship award after winning his fourth straight Big Ten All-Around title on Friday night.
Xiao was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the fifth consecutive season after leading the Wolverines to their sixth straight team title on Friday. This also marks the fifth straight Gymnast of the Year honor and seventh consecutive Coach of the Year accolade for the Wolverines,
Ohio State’s Chase Davenport-Mills claimed the floor exercise title with a score of 13.825, the second consecutive year a Buckeye has won the floor exercise after Jesse Pakele won in 2025.
Illinois’s Brandon Dang won his third consecutive pommel horse gold, posting a score of 14.850, Dang is the fourth Illini to win three golds in the event, joining Harry Koehnemann (1939-41), Ben Newman (2003-05), and current Illinois head coach Daniel Ribeiro (2008, 2010-11).
Nebraska’s Asher Cohen’s score of 14.125 was good for gold in the still rings. Cohen’s gold is the second in a row for the Huskers after Yanni Chronopoulos win gold in 2025.
Chase Pappas from Michigan earned gold on the vault after posting a score of 14.150. This marks the first vault gold for the Wolverines since Anthony McCallum in 2016.
Nebraska’s Nathan York bested teammate Caden Clinton for post on the parallel bars with a score of 14.275. York is the second Husker to win gold in the event, joining Anton Stephenson in 2018.
Carson Eshleman’s 14.200 on the horizontal bar was good for Michigan gold. This is the fourth gold for Michigan in the last five years in the event, as Eshleman joined Paul Juda (2022), Richard (2023), and Evgeny Siminiuc (2025).
A total of 21 gymnasts earned All-Big Ten honors following their performances at this weekend’s conference meet, including six from Michigan, five from Nebraska, four from Ohio State, and three each from Illinois and Penn State.
Click here to view complete results from tonight's individual championship events .
The 2026 Big Ten men’s gymnastics individual award recipients and all-conference honorees can be found below.
2026 BIG TEN MEN’S GYMNASTICS HONORS
Team Champion: University of Michigan
Gymnast of the Year: Fred Richard, MICH
Specialist of the Year: Parker Thackston, OSU
Freshman of the Year: Shaun Smith, PSU
Coach of the Year: Yuan Xiao, MICH
Gymnast of the Championships: Fred Richard, MICH
ALL-BIG TEN FIRST TEAM
Brandon Dang, ILL
Garrett Schooley, ILL
Carson Eshleman, MICH
Chase Pappas, MICH
Fred Richard, MICH
Asher Cohen, NEB
Max Odden, NEB
Nathan York, NEB
Chase Davenport-Mills, OSU
David Ramirez, OSU
Kellen Ryan, PSU
Landon Simpson, PSU
ALL-BIG TEN SECOND TEAM
Sam Phillips, ILL
Aaronson Mansberger, MICH
Akshay Puri, MICH
Pierce Wolfgang, MICH
Caden Clinton, NEB
Luke James, NEB
Jacob Harmon, OSU
Parker Thackston, OSU
Matt Underhill, PSU
BIG TEN SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD HONOREES
Sam Kaplan, Illinois
Zach Granados, Michigan
Jack Critz, Nebraska
Jesse Pakele, Ohio State
Landon Simpson, Penn State
Click here to view 2026 Big Ten Men's Gymnastics Team Championship recap and results.