Friday, April 18, and Saturday, April 19, No. 12 William and Mary men’s gymnastics competed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Men’s Gymnastics Championships at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. Although the Tribe has sent individual athletes to the event in each of the last three seasons, this season marked William and Mary’s first team appearance at the NCAA Championships since 2021.
The Green and Gold began competition Friday, when it participated in a qualifying session alongside No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 Nebraska, No. 5 Penn State, No. 8 Air Force and No. 9 California. William and Mary failed to make it to the finals as a team, scoring a session-low 307.691 points, but the Tribe sent a school-record five individual athletes into the finals, an accomplishment William and Mary director of gymnastics Mike Powell attributed to the mindset the team has cultivated in recent weeks.
“I think the team went out there and followed the theme that we’d been pushing and talking about,” Powell said. “Really just being proud of what they had accomplished, owning the fact that they belong on the biggest stage and being proud to show off what they can do on the biggest stage. Once they got comfortable and then settled into doing that, they showed it off and got rewarded with the spots in the finals.”
At the time of the team’s last NCAA Championships berth, William and Mary had recently reversed its decision to eliminate the men’s gymnastics program. The brief period of uncertainty surrounding the program’s future, along with the departure of an eight-man class of seniors in 2021, contributed to the Green and Gold’s four-year postseason drought.
Powell said, for the most part, the Tribe has not spent much time reflecting on the program’s near-death, but the completion of William and Mary’s rebuild is significant to graduate student Sam Lee, the only member of the team who was around for the 2021 season.
“I think it has [come up] a little bit in terms of reflecting,” Powell said. “The captains get a chance to reflect at the banquet and things like that. So it’s come up, but not as much as you would think. For Sam Lee, I think that the experience is particularly meaningful because he was a freshman that year. So this is sort of bookending his career. The last time that we made championships as a team was his freshman year, and now in his fifth year, it’s sort of come full circle, and he’s been with us on that whole journey.”
Friday, Lee advanced to the individual event finals on vault and parallel bars after adding a risky new dismount to his parallel bars routine. Lee had been pulling off the maneuver in practice for months, but he was not able to replicate the feat in meets throughout February and March. With Powell’s advice, he decided to bring the move to the NCAA Championships less than two weeks before the competition. The choice ultimately paid off.
“We tried using it starting in the middle of the competition season,” Powell said. “He had some trouble landing it, especially in competition. It had been going well in practice, but he struggled with it in the meets. So to just hit a solid routine and get through conference championships, we decided to back down to an easier dismount, hoping that that would help build some confidence, and then he could come into the championships and put it down, which he did.”
Lee was the only William and Mary gymnast to significantly modify his routine for the event. Powell said most of the Tribe’s athletes found success through the effective execution of their existing routines.
“For the most part, we really just executed really well,” Powell said. “[Junior] Ricky Pizem added a half twist on his vaults, and then any other upgrades that we made were in finals. Once the team had done really well, and we’d gotten the guys through the finals, [freshman] Luke Tully added a release move to his high bar routine to try to increase that difficulty in and move him up in the standings.”
Lee and Tully were joined in the finals by freshman Connor Barrow on vault, sophomore Niko Greenly on parallel bars and sophomore Evan Wilkins on floor and parallel bars. Powell said the four William and Mary underclassmen in the finals served as evidence of the program’s strong developmental record and bright future.
“That was a part of building this team over time,” Powell said. “We’ve had to work through the initial steps and help the guys realize just how good they are and how good the team is. And that was a part of being proud and owning the fact that they’ve earned their way to this level, and that they’re able to execute on the biggest stage with the best guys. So they deserve a lot of credit for owning that opportunity and owning their abilities and being able to go out and show off on the big stage.”
“Props to them, because this is what we consider the first step and not the last,” Powell said. “So we’re looking to continue building this team, and they’ll obviously play a big role in that, as they’re early in their careers, leaning on the upper classroom for guidance. We’re excited to see what we can do in the future.”
Powell specifically praised the progression of freshmen Barrow and Tully, who discovered the extent of their talents as the season went on. Powell said Tully’s growth process was steady and drawn-out, while Barrow could point to a single moment in which he realized he was NCAA Championship-caliber.
“When he stuck his vault, that was at Springfield [Feb. 16],” Powell said. “One of the long-time judges came up to us and said he thought that might be the best vault he’s ever seen. It was a huge moment for him and very concrete, and he put up a score that put him in our all-time record books. It was one of the top five scores in the country at that time in the season. So that was just a very concrete moment of, ‘OK, we are top-tier.’”
Barrow turned in a similarly impressive performance in the NCAA finals, scoring a 14.0 on vault to finish 20th in the nation. Tully finished 20th after putting up a score of 13.133 on high bar, Greenly tied for 25th with a score of 13.133 on parallel bars and Lee recorded scores of 13.433 and 13.966 to finish 20th and 22nd on parallel bars and vault, respectively. Wilkins was the Tribe’s highest finisher, coming in 19th on floor with a 13.466 and 27th on parallel bars with a 13.033.
With the season complete, Powell said the Tribe will take a brief break from training before implementing more difficult maneuvers into its routines in preparation for the 2025-26 campaign.
“Obviously, the guys who need it [will be] getting that rest and recovery from a long season and a lot of great work,” Powell said. “Then, it’ll be straight into thinking and planning for the future. Any changes that are coming to the rules, adapting to them and getting right back into training more and more difficult skills.”
