One month from now we’ll be talking about NCAA Championships. Maybe I sound like a broken record talking about how quick the season goes by, but it sure is true. By now, teams are rounding into form and we’re getting a better idea of what postseason lineups are going to look like. All-around gymnasts might still be fitting in one more weekend of rest, but for the most part, we’re seeing everybody at full strength.
Before we get into what happened during week ten, here’s the One Thing We Learned…
B1G Parity
At this point, you’d have a better chance at winning the Powerball than predicting who the top-five — let alone top-three — teams are going to be at the B1G Championships in Iowa City.
Sure, Illinois looks like a favorite, but would anyone really be that surprised if they weren’t atop the podium when all is said and done?
From top to bottom, the conference is producing parity that we haven’t seen in years. I could point to a variety of upsets that have happened so far this season, but none were as intriguing as Iowa taking out Michigan in Ann Arbor this weekend (see full meet breakdown further below).
At the start of the season, Michigan was seen as one of the top teams in the conference (they still are), while Iowa was seen as a team that might be fighting for top-five consideration (they’re now pushing for title consideration).
Given the ever-changing and unstable condition of NCAA men’s gymnastics, I hope everyone can fully appreciate how awesome this season has been for all teams, but especially the B1G. We’re in for a fun final month.
Illinois @ Oklahoma
Oklahoma tamed their stiffest challenger so far this season on the way to a resounding Senior Day win and a new season-high.
The Sooners beat Illinois 425.7-415.7 thanks to huge performances from Yul Moldauer, Tanner Justus (MPSF Gymnast of the Week) and really the whole vault lineup.
The Illini put up a respectable fight. After leading two rotations in, Illinois’ rings and vault sealed their fate. Although the Illini performed well on the two events, their combined score (between the two events) was 6.1 less than OU’s. Still, Illinois got the closest of any team this season to OU in Norman, and they again had a performance that put them well within the NCAA podium picture.
That’s the biggest takeaway: Illinois had another solid meeting while their main Big Ten rival, Michigan, suffered a loss at home to Iowa. It stands to reason, then, that Illinois is now the team-to-beat in the Big Ten. Their win over Stanford looks a lot more legitimate now too.
Earning titles for the Illini were Michael Paradise on horse and Alex Diab on rings. They beat OU on horse as a team, and they put up huge season-highs on floor and high bar, where they scored a 72.1 and a 70.15, respectively. That high bar season-high is over three-and-a-half points better than their previous high of 66.6.
OU hit season-highs on floor, rings, p-bars and high bar. Earning titles were Moldauer on floor, vault, p-bars and in the all around and Levi Anderson on high bar. Also noteworthy was Justus’ all-around performance and Vitaliy Guimaraes’ surprise Yurchenko 2.5. Something similarly surprising, which came to my attention this weekend, is that OU has yet to hit 70 or above on p-bars — three other teams in the NCAA have. (In fairness, OU has been less than two tenths away from 70 a few times now.)
Illinois is up against Michigan and Penn State in State College on Saturday, and Oklahoma is at Navy. — Alex Wittenberg
Check out full results here.
Air Force @ Stanford
After suffering their first loss of the season, Stanford got right back to their winning ways with a 20+ point victory over Air Force.
Stanford posted their sixth straight score of 410+ as they continue to show how consistent they are. While it is not always fair to compare scores across the country, it is worth noting that the Cardinal are now ranked No. 1 in the country on four events (FX, SR, PB, HB) after their win over Air Force. Even more impressive, this latest showing was without Brody Malone.
Bryan Perla won another floor title with his 14.70 performance. Perla has emerged as someone who will very well be in the mix for a title come April and is currently ranked No. 3 in the country on this event. He also tallied a third place finish on vault (14.15).
Along with Perla, it seems the typical event winners for Stanford did it once again. Joey Ringer – PH (13.65), Josiah Eng – SR (14.9), Connor Lewis – VT (14.70), Blake Sun – PB (14.95) and David Jessen – HB (14.10). The Cardinal have a big score at the back of every lineup.
Air Force visited Stanford as part of a two meet weekend and it was definitely the highlight. Lukas Texeira, who has been awesome this year on high bar, was just edged by Jessen. Texeira’s 14.05 moved him to No. 2 in the country on the event.
Frankie Valentin had a great day tallying a third place finish on rings (14.10) to go along with fifth place finishes on pommel horse (13.20) and high bar (12.80). It was a solid day overall for the Falcons, but they would like to be closer to the 400 mark as they wrap up the season. — Ben Cooperman
Check out full results here.
Iowa @ Michigan
In the most talked about meet of the weekend, the Iowa Hawkeyes traveled to Ann Arbor to square off against No. 3 Michigan. Once the dust settled, Iowa came away with a razor-thin two-and-a-half tenth upset victory.
In speaking with Iowa head coach J.D. Reive at the beginning of the season, he made it clear that the team’s identity would be hitting cleanly. That of course means you might be sacrificing difficulty, but it seems to be working just fine. The Hawkeyes counted just three routines below a 13 — none of those three were lower than a 12.65.
They also had another key ingredient to a successful day on Saturday — a stud all-around performance. Bennet Huang led his team in a big way, securing a season-best 82.4. That performance included a meet-high 14.4 on VT.
A pair of other notable contributors for Iowa were Jake Brodarzon and Nicholas Merryman. Both competed on four events and neither of them posted anything lower than a 13.35.
The Hawkeyes had been having a stellar 2019 season prior to Saturday, but this upset should really open some eyes. If you have Iowa somewhere on your schedule the rest of the way, be careful, this isn’t the team you’re used to.
The Wolverines were winners of five events this weekend and still found themselves on the losing end in this one. When that happens it tells you two things: the meet was incredibly close and the losing side probably had to count a score in the 10-11 range. That was unfortunately the case for Michigan.
Despite the loss, I cannot say enough about how impressive Jacob Moore has been in the early stages of his NCAA career. His NCAA-high 15.3 on FX goes to show that he has not only All-American-level talent, but NCAA champion-level talent.
That was far from the only thing that Moore did on Saturday as he would go on to win the all-around with an 83.1. He added a runner-up finish on HB.
Other winners for the Wolverines were Mack Lasker on PH and Cameron Bock on SR and PB. The loss doesn’t do Michigan any favors in terms of their pursuit of a B1G regular season title, although it certainly doesn’t take them out of the running. — Logan Bradley
Check out full results here.
Minnesota/Nebraska @ Ohio State
This meet seemed all but over heading into the last event when the scoreboard shuffled leaving Minnesota on top over Ohio State and Nebraska.
Let’s get the judging out of the way first. The scoring was far better than the week before in Ohio, but it wasn’t perfect. If we can’t all agree on the execution scores of given routines, we can at least agree on difficulty scores on vault, right? Apparently not. Jake Bonnay did a nice kaz full (Start Value: 14.8) that was listed as starting from a 15.2. Justin Karstadt did a near perfect stuck (+.1) yurchenko double full (14.9 SV with the bonus) that received a 15.3 SV – much respect to the Minnesota coaching staff who requested the score be dropped four tenths. Bottom line: there is still some work to do.
After a tumultuous high bar rotation, Minnesota was down just under three points to Nebraska and more than five points to Ohio State. A stellar vault rotation to close out the meet resulted in a seven-and-a-half tenth margin of victory for the Gophers. They were led by Shane Wiskus’ (B1G Gymnast of the Week) second place vault that scored a 14.70. Karstadt’s aforementioned stuck double full sealed the deal (14.55).
Wiskus was spectacular in this one, scoring a career high 84.35 in the all-around. The peak of his performance came on high bar where he put up a clutch 14.35. Wiskus was joined by Karstadt and Shaun Herzog in the all-around. This trio could do some serious damage come championship season.
A lack luster 63.00 high bar rotation from Ohio State was unable to catch Minnesota’s 71.85 on vault. While not the outcome they were hoping for, the second place finish showcased a steadily improving Buckeye team. Alec Yoder had they type of performance that we’ve come to expect from him, winning both pommel horse (14.70) and p-bars (14.55).
Vault was a highlight for Ohio State where they put up a season high 71.50. They were led by Sean Neighbarger who tied with Wiskus for second place (14.70). Some of the freshman stepped up as well, including a 13.40 high bar set from Angel Leon that was good enough for third. Jesse Tyndall tied for third on floor with a 14.40.
The story for Nebraska was much the same as it was for Ohio State. Their 65.15 p-bars rotation to close out the competition left them in third place. There were still some bright spots for the Cornhuskers. Anton Stephenson won both floor (14.60) and put up the highest score of the season on vault (15.10).
Griffin Kehler continues to show he is a top high bar guy in the country where he grabbed second place with a 13.85. Evan Kriley has quietly been a rock for Nebraska in the pommel horse lineup all season; his 13.95 was good enough for a third place finish.
Minnesota left Columbus with two Big ten wins moving them to 2-2. Ohio State picked up their second win and a loss moving them to 2-2 as well. Nebraska now drops to 1-4. — Ben Cooperman
Check out full results here.
Cal @ Washington
In a rare Sunday evening meet, the Golden Bears of Cal traveled to Washington and defeated the Huskies by a roughly twelve point margin.
For Cal, each and every team event score represented an increase from the week prior including a season-best 70.35 on FX.
In a fashion that we’ve become accustomed to, Darren Wong paced his team with an 82.7 in the all-around. That was good enough for a title, as was his performance on PH. Having one of the best seasons that we’ve seen from a Golden Bear gymnast in recent time, the Canadian now sits at No. 4 in the NCAA all-around rankings.
While everyone loves a good all-around score, let’s not forget about the other key piece to Cal’s puzzle, Aaron Mah. Also a fellow Canadian, Mah racked up four (FX, SR, PB, HB) individual event titles — he won every event he touched, with the exception of PH.
Another well-deserved shout-out goes to All-American Kyte Crigger who posted five scores of 13.5+.
Washington said heck with the mid-370 scores en route to a season-best (by nearly seventeen points) team score. Nathan Tsuji was the star of the day giving Wong a run for his money with an 81.65. Included in his day was a share of the FX title.
Meanwhile, Jacob Jarrett was the other Huskie event winner with this yurchenko double full. — Logan Bradley
Check out full results here.
Penn State/Navy/Air Force/NorCal United @ Arizona State
Penn State coasted to a 10+ point win at Arizona State last Saturday, beating the home team as well as Air Force, Navy and NorCal United.
PSU scored a 402.1 in a meet that was judged more tightly than usual at ASU. Navy was second with a 390.2, and Arizona State was third with a 384.65.
Air Force had a poor showing and didn’t challenge any of the teams with which they’re typically rivals. A 57.7 on horse and a 60.95 on p bars were the low-lights for the Falcons.
NorCal United came in fifth with a 282.0.
Penn State had the top team score on horse, rings, p-bars and high bar. Earning titles for the Nittany Lions were Brennan Pantazis on floor, Stephen Nedoroscik on horse, Parker Clayton on rings and Sam Zakutney on p-bars and high bar.
Navy’s Lucas Beltran (ECAC Specialist of the Week) stuck his handspring double-front on vault to earn himself a title. Jordan Williams of ASU won the all around with an 80.50.
Penn State is home against Illinois and Michigan on Saturday. Navy is home against OU on Saturday, and Air Force is at Minnesota on Sunday. ASU and NorCal United are off this weekend. — Alex Wittenberg
Check out full results here.
Springfield @ Army
Competing at home, Army took care of business with an easy win over ECAC rival Springfield.
This round of “Matthew Davis vs. Cole Casanova” went to the rookie by just a hair (three tenths), with Davis putting up an 81.1. His impressive first season continued as he added another FX title, as well as one on SR. Casanova, on the other hand, was the winner on PH. At this rate, it’s possible that these two lead Army directly to an ECAC conference title.
The two other Black Knights who brought home wins for themselves were Graham Shaw on VT and Rex Scott on HB.
It certainly was not the day that Springfield envisioned. Just six days removed from their second-highest score of the season, the Pride regressed on four events, resulting in their third lowest total of the year.
Despite the rough day, things went well on PB where Jannik Haas and Stephen Lewis went 1-2, respectively, resulting in the team’s third consecutive score in the 63’s on the event. — Logan Bradley
Check out full results here.
William & Mary @ UIC
The Tribe took a trip to Chicago where they took down a surging UIC team.
William & Mary took a step back after going 390+ in three straight competitions. Their 381.60 was their second lowest score of the season. The Tribe still took five of six event titles with wins from Cutter Fugett – FX (13.50), David Watkins – SR (13.30), Colin Lillie – VT (14.30), Andrew Lyubovsky (ECAC Rookie of the Week) – PB (13.05), and David Allen – HB (13.10).
UIC was unable to get the win but still showed tremendous improvement from their earlier season efforts. Their 369.25 was almost seven points higher than their previous top mark and their second straight meet of 360+. Colin Schwartz took the pommel horse title with a 13.80 and Sam Montague took the all-around with a 74.75. — Ben Cooperman
Check out full results here.