Men's Gymnasts of the Week – Jan. 28-29, 2023

NCAA Gymnast and Rookie of the Week
Fred Richard – Michigan
See below for accomplishments

NCAA Specialist of the Week
Ignacio Yockers – Oklahoma
See below for accomplishments

Gymnast of the Week
Fred Richard – Michigan

• Earned two individual event titles and finished second on a third apparatus to help No. 6 Michigan defeat No. 5 Ohio State on Jan. 28 in Ann Arbor, Mich.
• Won both the parallel bars (14.850) and the high bar (14.650)
• Placed second on the pommel horse (14.050)
• Captures his first Big Ten Gymnast of the Week award

Freshman of the Week
Parker Thackston – Ohio State

• Won the pommel horse title for No. 5 Ohio State in a Jan. 28 dual meet at No. 6 Michigan
• Posted a personal-best score of 14.100
• Ranks fourth nationally on the pommel horse this year with an average score of 13.967 and two scores of 14.000 or better
• Earns his first Big Ten Freshman of the Week award

Gymnast of the Week
Jojo Buselmeier – Army
Sophomore Jojo Buselemeier won the all-around, parallel bars, and horizontal bar titles this past weekend, leading the Black Knights to a victory over Springfield. Jojo’s 13.25 on parallel bars was a season-high and his 13.4 on horizontal bar was both a season-high and career-high. Buselmeier also placed second on rings with a season-high 13.4 and scored a season-high 12.9 on floor exercise.

Specialist of the Week
Connor Van Loo – Navy
Van Loo continued his standout senior campaign as he won both the floor exercise and vault on Saturday against William & Mary. He cruised to 0.25 margins of victory on both apparatus. On the floor exercise, his 5.3 (highest difficulty) routine earned a 8.15 execution score for an overall 13.45 score. He repeated his winning formula on the vault with the highest execution score (9.65) for his 4.9 vault for a 14.55 overall score.

Rookie of the Week
Sam Kaplan – Springfield
Kaplan finished second in the all-around competition against Army as he topped his previous best all-around mark by over two points. He posted a career-best score on the floor, rings, and high bar on the afternoon and tied for third in the competition on the pommel horse.

Gymnast of the Week
Khoi Young – Stanford
Stanford sophomore Khoi Young (Bowie, MD) finished third overall in the all-around at the Stanford Open (Jan. 28) with a career-best 84.000, including the top score in the collegiate field. Young won the floor title with a career-best 14.400 and the high bar crown with a career-high 13.750. He also finished second overall on vault with a 14.950, while posting a career-best 14.450 on parallel bars for third overall. This is the third career MPSF weekly award for Young.
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Specialist of the Week
Mark Berlaga – Stanford
Stanford sophomore Mark Berlaga (Palo Alto, CA) won the still rings title at the Stanford Open with a career-high 14.750 – besting a field which included national team members Asher Hong, Riley Loos (2022 national champion on rings) and Ian Lasic-Ellis. Berlaga now ranks No. 6 in the nation on still rings with an average of 14.067. This is the first career MPSF weekly award for Berlaga.

Freshman of the Week
Ignacio Yockers – Oklahoma
Oklahoma freshman Ignacio Yockers (Tulsa, OK) posted the highest pommel horse score in the nation (14.800) and won the event to lead the Sooners to a home-opening win over No. 7 Illinois and No. 8 Air Force (Jan. 28). He won the event by .350 points and his score was the best nationally this season by the same margin. This is the first career MPSF honor for Yockers.