The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1520409
14 THE WOLVERINE ❱ JUNE/JULY 2024 ❱ INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS ❱ Student-Athlete Of The Month Sophomore Men's Gymnast Landen Blixt Landen Blixt, a native of Fowlerville, Mich., added a Big Ten floor exercise title and first-team All-Big Ten nod to his career accolades this year. It all came from a different mental approach to his second year in Ann Arbor. Blixt joined the "Conqu'ring Heroes" podcast with Jon Jansen to discuss how football star quarterback J.J. McCarthy influenced his preparation. "I feel personally what's been different for me is I was able to prepare mentally better, if that makes sense," Blixt said. "I was able to start my visualization earlier [with] meditation, almost how [former Michigan quarterback] J.J. McCarthy does, and that kind of put me in the right headspace to compete and be there when my team needs me the most. "It has not always been a part of my routine. I struggled with pressure for a while. When I was younger, doing club meets, it was very individual. I didn't have a team win on the line. Not a lot of people were expecting me to perform when I needed to. When I became part of something bigger than myself on a team, it was a lot of pres- sure right in the beginning. So, my freshman year, I was kind of going into it blind. I was able to compete very well, but this year was a total change with that." Blixt's step forward in competition also spilled over into his academic pursuits, where he earned Academic All-Big Ten honors for the first time in his career. "I worked with my athletic counselor, and he helped me a lot with getting through that mental block of everything," Blixt said. "I would say it's something I had to learn because growing up it was very individual, but I love the team aspect of it. " Blixt says he has learned to become a better teammate this season and that pro- gram success is something he takes much more seriously. "It's exhilarating, especially this past year in Big Tens," Blixt said. "The first day was team finals, the second day was individual finals. Even though I won one of the events (floor exercise) in the individual finals, I almost did the same routine in team finals, and it felt just that much more important because it's for the team. "It's something bigger than yourself. With the team, it's just a whole new experi- ence that I love, and everybody on the team, we support each other, especially the coaches. Everyone wants what's best for everybody else." — Anthony Broome Blixt won the Big Ten floor exercise title to help the Wolverines claim their fourth straight Big Ten team championship. The squad also finished as runners-up to Stanford in the NCAA Championships. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETICS MICHIGAN'S TOP PERFORMERS Men's gymnastics graduate student Paul Juda: The Deerfield, Ill., na- tive took home the NCAA individual title on floor exercise and finished as runner-up on vault, total- ing four All-America hon- ors at the NCAA team and individual finals April 20. Juda led the way, helping the Wolverines finish second of six teams at the event with a 419.689 score. Juda has now won four NCAA titles in his career — floor in 2023 and '24, plus all-around and vault in 2022. Women's golf senior Monet Chun: She was named the Big Ten's Golfer of the Year and a first-team all-conference honoree. She's the second player in U-M history to win the honor, joining Ash- ley Lau (2022). Chun's first- team accolade is the sec- ond in her career (2021). She was a second-team se- lection in 2022 and 2023. She's one of two Wolverines to earn All-Big Ten recognition each year of their careers, with fifth- year senior Hailey Borja being the other. Women's gymnastics graduate student Sierra Brooks: The three-time captain capped off her storied career by finishing second on floor exercise at the NCAA individual finals April 18, scoring a 9.950 and earning first-team All- America honors. She also posted a 9.8625 on the vault. She ends her run as a Wolverine with eight first-team All-America selections. Men's tennis senior Jacob Bickersteth: The West Bloomfield (Mich.) High product was named Big Ten Player of the Week April 10, compiling a 4-0 record in Michigan's sweeps of Indiana and Purdue to stay unbeaten in conference play. Bickersteth posted 2-0 records on the week in both singles and doubles. At that juncture, Bickersteth and partner Gavin Young, a senior, had won six straight matches, marking the longest dou- bles winning streak of the former's career. — Clayton Sayfie