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Illinois Men's Gymnast Brandon Dang Wins National Title

Illini men's gymnast Brandon Dang won the NCAA championship in the pommel horse event on Saturday
Jared Shlensky|
Brandon Dang competes in the pommel horse on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024 during the Winter Cup Men s Day 2 Competition at the Kentucky International Convention Center.
Brandon Dang competes in the pommel horse on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024 during the Winter Cup Men s Day 2 Competition at the Kentucky International Convention Center. | Clare Grant/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Add Brandon Dang to the list of individual champions to come out of Illinois. Dang is the first Illini gymnast to win the pommel horse event (14.700) and is Illinois gymnastics' first national champion since 2024 after he took home the title Saturday in the NCAA Men’s Gymnastics National Championships, staged this year in Champaign.

Who is Brandon Dang?

Dang, a junior, entered the competition as something of a favorite to win the pommel horse national crown. He was a perfect 7-0 during the regular season on the pommel horse and had recently won the Big Ten title.

Dang was recently named to the USA Gymnastics senior national team after becoming the Winter Cup pommel horse champion in February, but this title is arguably a much bigger accomplishment.

Why, you might ask? Because he had never won it before.

Dang won the Big Ten Title on the pommel horse last year as a freshman, but came up a tad short of a national title – even if he did earn All-American honors last season. Still, this year Dang was a man on a mission, and by all rights it was mission accomplished after he won it all.

NCAA Men’s Gymnastics National Championships team results

As a team, the Illini finished fifth out of six teams at the championships. Stanford won the team national title with 329.85 points, followed by Oklahoma, Michigan and Nebraska.

And considering how much the Illini struggled as a team during the regular season, it may have come as a bit of a surprise that Illinois finished ahead of Ohio State. The Illini finished the regular season with a 2-7-1 record (0-4 in Big Ten competition) and lost twice to Ohio State head-to-head.

So despite struggling predominantly as a team during the regular season, the Illini did finish ahead of a. Buckeyes group that had beaten them multiple times earlier in the year.

Multiple Illini gymnasts earn All-American honors

Lee may have been Illinois' only national champion, but he wasn't the only Illini gymnast to earn All-American honors or a medal.

Senior Tate Costa finished third on the floor and was named an All-American in two events (pommel horse and floor), while Preston Ngai (still rings, all-around), Sam Phillips (horzitional bar) and Garrett Schooley (vault) also finished as All-Americans.

Looking ahead to next year's Illinois men's gymnastics outlook

Dang will be the Illini's top returning gymnast after winning the title Saturday, but he isn't the team's only impact performer expected to be back. Of all the Illinois gymnasts who earned All-American status, only Costa and Phillips are set to graduate.

So it's quite clear that Illinois returns some talent and will have a decent chance of finishing even better as a team next season.

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Jared Shlensky
JARED SHLENSKY

Jared Shlensky is a contributing writer for On SI and a freelance play-by-play broadcaster. Jared was previously a sports betting writer for Yardbarker, an On-Air YouTube Personality for the Sports Geek and a minor league play-by-play broadcaster.

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