Judah captures NCAA all-around and vault titles, leads Michigan to third place
04/16/2022 23:09:00
//Scott Kemps
» Paul Judah won the individual all-around and vault titles and earned six All-America accolades.
Michigan placed third in the team competition with a season best 414.490 behind Stanford (423.628) and Oklahoma (414.555).
Six Wolverines earned a total of 11 All-America citations.
Site: Norman, Okla. (Lloyd Noble Center)
Event: NCAA Championships (Finals)
UM finish: 3rd place of 6 teams (414.490)
Next UM event: Season over
• Complete results (PDF) | Photo gallery
NORMAN, Oklahoma. — Youth Paul Judah of the University of Michigan men’s gymnastics team won a pair of NCAA titles, winning both the all-around and the vault as the Wolverines placed third as a team at the NCAA Championships Saturday, April 16 at Lloyd Noble Center of Oklahoma.
Judah took the all-around victory with an 85.298 and scored 15.000 on vault on his way to tying Sam Mikulak’s modern-era school record of six All-America honors. He also placed in the top eight on high bar (second, 14.566) and parallel bars (fourth, 14.366) in addition to finishing eighth in floor exercise and high rings.
Judah’s win was UM’s first all-around title since the 2014 season (Sam Mikulak) and first overall title since Anthony McCallum in 2019 (vault). The all-around victory is the sixth in team history, while the vaulting title is the sixth.
Michigan earned three more top-three finishes. Senior Jacob Moore scored a floor exercise of 14.633 for a second-place finish Javier Alfonso took third place on horizontal rings with a 14.366, and second Evgueni Siminiuc placed third on parallel bars with a score of 14.400.
Other All-America citations have been awarded to juniors Adam Wooten high bar (seventh, 14,000) and rookie David Wolma on vault (eighth, 14.566).
The All-America haul of 11 gives the Wolverines 244 in program history and double digits in each of the last two seasons (13 in 2021).
UM (24-3) held second place for most of the competition, holding a narrow lead over host Oklahoma until the fifth rotation on the fixed rings, when the Sooners passed the Wolverines and took a lead of just over a tenth of a point (.133) in the final rotation. The Wolverine vault group compiled a 71.299 to 71.231 for the Oklahoma floor group, but UM couldn’t make up the difference, finishing third by a narrow .065 margin with a season-high 414.490.
Stanford ran away with the competition, leading wire to wire with a 423.638 to claim the team title by more than nine points over runner-up Oklahoma (414.555).
Tweet of the meeting
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— Michigan Gymnastics ?? (@UMichGym) April 17, 2022
The encounter concludes Michigan’s 2022 campaign, highlighted by a Big Ten championship and a conference regular season title, as well as Judah being named Big Ten gymnast of the year. Interim Head Coach Yuan Xiao was named Big Ten Coach of the Year, and the 11 All-America citations are the fourth in school history.