Week 4 #NCAAMGym Recap Presented by TURN
What happened this past weekend in the world of NCAA men’s gymnastics? Look no further than the #NCAAMGym Weekly Recap, presented by TURN.
Stanford Open
Any time that the top two ranked teams in the nation face off, NCAA fans know that they are in for something special. In Week 4 of the 2020 season, the Stanford Cardinal and the Oklahoma Sooners went head-to-head for the first time since last season’s NCAA Championships where Stanford ended OU’s four-year dominance. In a three-way battle that also featured Bay Area rivals Cal, Stanford came out on top with a massive 420.05, the highest team score of the season.
Incredibly enough, the Cardinal’s Week 4 team total was not only nearly 12 points higher than the Sooners’, it was also almost five points higher than their championships score from last season. Stanford scored the highest on five of the six apparatus and showed zero signs of weakness.
Along with posting the highest team total of the season, Stanford recorded the highest event totals of the season so far on vault (73.9), parallel bars (71.65) and high bar (68.75). The performances from Stanford’s all-arounders and individual specialists were also impressive. All four all-arounders managed to score above an 82. Freshman standout Brandon Briones collected the title with an 84.4, which was also the second-highest recorded score of the season, behind Shane Wiskus’s 84.6 last week. Ian Gunther’s 14.05 on pommel horse, Brody Malone’s 13.95 on rings and 14.9 on vault, Blake Sun’s 15.2 on parallel bars, and Briones’ 14.4 on high bar were all enough for individual titles. Stanford will look to continue its hot streak of wins as they travel across the bay to Berkeley for the third time this season to compete at the Pac-12 Invitational.
Although the Sooners were unable to take down Stanford, they still put up an impressive 408.2 team score. which was the third-best score of Week 4. Stellar performances and massive scores on floor (73.35) and vault (72.9) seemed to get Oklahoma close to the Cardinal, but several weak showings and errors on pommel horse, rings and parallel bars quickly distanced them from the reigning NCAA champions.
Highlights for Oklahoma included colossal floor routines from Gage Dyer (14.95) and Vitaliy Guimaraes (15.2) which helped the team record the highest floor score of the season so far. Both gymnasts showed incredible difficulty and were able to stick every one of their passes. Dyer also showed his expertise on vault as he recorded the second highest score (14.85) of the night behind Brody Malone. The Sooners are off this weekend and host Iowa on Feb. 8.
For the California Golden Bears, Week 4 was a major step forward as they improved on their previous team score by 15 points and posted a 400.7. Even though they were able to post their season-best scores on all six events, their biggest improvement came on their first rotation, pommel horse, where they scored more than six points higher than last week (64.05). Surprisingly, only Stanford scored higher on pommel horse than Cal, and they were only 0.35 ahead of the Golden Bears. After getting off to a wonderful start, the Bears put up an average performance on rings, followed by a notable 70.9 on vault. Although they had a couple of mistakes on parallel bars and high bar, Cal still did significantly better than their previous two meets on these events. Darren Wong had the highest score from the team on parallel bars (13.55) and high bar (13.85).
The Golden Bears ended their impressive night with an incredible floor rotation (71.15) where all five of the counting scores were above a 14.0. Wong led the way with a 14.45 along with his classmate Yu-Chen Lee who was just behind him with a 14.25. Senior Jonathan Wang added a 14.2 on floor, which helped him record a career-high all-around score of 79.65. Cal will be hoping to continue in the right direction as they host Stanford, Washington and Arizona State at the PAC-12 Invite.
Ohio State @ Penn State
The Nittany Lions bounced back from their disastrous performance a week ago, improving their team score by over 15 points to beat Ohio State by the smallest of margins. Just how small was that margin? Sam Zakutney, who is nursing an ankle injury, was not supposed to do a dismount off of parallel bars. He ended up sticking a double pike, earning a D (.4) for the value of the skill, .5 for the element group, and .1 for the stick. That one point right there gave them just more than the nine tenths they ended up winning by.
It was not a perfect day for Penn State, but it was enough to get the job done. The main takeaway from this one is just how vital the aforementioned Zakutney is to the success of this team. The senior took home the parallel bars title with a 14.35 and clinched his team’s win with a 13.15 on high bar without doing a dismount. It is a good sign that Zakutney is getting healthier, but Penn State is going to need some help in the fierce Big Ten Conference for as long as he stays on the sidelines.
Pommel horse was once again the difference-maker as Penn State scored a 68.4 even with quite a few falls in the lineup. Stephen Nedoroscik (15.35), Nick Mock (14.45) and Favian Valdez (13.75) all hit their sets to place first through third. Something to watch out for is a noticeably weak Nittany Lion’s rings lineup, a rarity for a Randy Jepson-coached team. They posted a 66.4 this past weekend with Isaac Hammet taking another title (13.95). This may not be cause for concern considering how weak the NCAA is on rings as a whole. Parker Clayton returning to the lineup is a huge upgrade as well, if he can get healthy.
Ohio State was unfortunate to come up just short and fall to 0-1 in the conference on the young season. There were still many bright spots for Rustam Sharipov’s team, including the emergence of Jesse Tyndall, Angel Leon and Justin Ah Chow as an impressive trio. Tyndall placed first on floor (14.45), second on high bar (13.6) and third on parallel bars (13.9). Leon grabbed the high bar title with a 14.25.
Ohio State’s Jesse Tyndall.
If it were not for Briones out on the west coast, Ah Chow would be the front-runner for Freshman of the Year. He had another great performance highlighted by a fourth-place finish on vault (14.2) and second-place finish on parallel bars (14.3). He will be one to watch as this season unfolds and he starts to steal some event titles.
The Buckeyes only have two meets under their belt but they look to be headed in the right direction. Led by their young trio and featuring one of the top pommel horse lineups in the country, this team could shock some people down the road. They were unable to get the job done in State College but Ohio State is going to be a handful for teams in Big Ten play.
Iowa @ Nebraska
Nebraska is the best team in the Big Ten. The numbers say so, their finish last season predicted it, and their home opener against Iowa on Sunday proved it.
The Huskers put up a 409.85 for the top score in the Big Ten so far. They were steady and energized throughout the tumble-rumble meet and had huge showings on parallel bars and pommel horse, where they’re ranked No. 1 in the country. One of their best guys, Jake Bonnay, only competed floor — where he nonetheless shined — so the potential for this team is huge.
That said, Nebraska lags behind the rest of the Big Ten in total difficulty score, according to CGA research. They’re about six points behind Illinois, and this could crimp the Huskers’ success later in the season if other teams match the consistency and poise they have shown so far. Nothing is stopping Nebraska from upgrading, of course.
Iowa themselves had a strong day in Lincoln. The Hawkeyes scored a 402.95 for an almost 10-point improvement over their score at Windy City. It wasn’t a judging thing, either. Iowa looked like a different team, with breakout events and rallying routines. It’d be a mistake to count the Hawkeyes out of the race for a Big Ten title.
Briefly to that point: this could very well be the closest Big Ten conference we’ve seen in years. Nebraska may be leading, but Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois have all been close to one another. Iowa demonstrated potential on Sunday we didn’t know they had, and Penn State and Ohio State were within a point of each other. It’s anyone’s game.
Back to Iowa. They had explosive floor, vault and high bar rotations. Halfway through the meet, it looked like they would end up closer to the Huskers than they did. They were hampered late by a middling parallel bars performance, and a rough rotation on pommel horse earlier in the meet cost them, too.
But the Hawkeyes looked like a cohesive, confident team ready to take on Minnesota at home next weekend. Leading their success at Nebraska was Bennet Huang, who scored 80.25 all-around. Evan Davis, who bounced back from a poor horse performance, and Carter Tope also had strong showings. Davis was second on floor and high bar.
Iowa swept the vault podium with a couple stuck landings. Mitch Mandozzi led the charge with a 14.6 and Huang and Noah Scigliano were right behind him. Brandon Wong won rings (13.8).
Nebraska, for their part, took individual titles on four events. Bonnay won floor (14.65); Charlie Giles and brother Cooper went one-two on horse (14.3, 13.85); Mitch Tyndall took parallel bars (14.3) with teammates Evan Hymanson and Dillan King on his heels (14.2, 14.1); King also won high bar (13.85).
The Huskers travel to Champaign to face a frustrated Illinois team hungry for a victory. It’s one of the biggest matchups this weekend.
Illinois @ Minnesota
Let’s start at the end for a change.
Going into the sixth rotation last Friday, the Fighting Illini held a four-and-a-half point lead over Minnesota. Assuming the Gophers would score near 70 on vault, the Illini needed around a 65.6 or higher on parallel bars to win the meet; one with Big Ten regular season implications. Minnesota, with a strong performance, had scored 70.15 on parallel bars, so a high-65 seemed well within reach for the Illini.
But Illinois ended up with a 63.65, ceding a victory 402.8-400.9 to Minnesota that seemed nearly assured for the Illini after the first three rotations.
The Gophers and the Illini were close on rings, but Illinois separated themselves on floor and horse. They had a three-point lead over their Big Ten opponent on pommel horse and a one-and-a-half point lead on floor. After three, they were up by over five points.
Minnesota was able to stanch the bleeding on the fourth and fifth events, but momentum still seemed to be on Illinois’ side. The Gophers finished the meet with a 70.05 on vault as parallel bars turned into the Illini’s undoing.
For Minnesota, the win was vindication of their goals of a Big Ten title and a spot on the NCAA podium. After a more-than-rocky start in Colorado a few weeks ago, the Gophers seem to have turned their fortunes around. They showed the Big Ten they were a contender at Windy City, and at this meet they showed the conference that it wasn’t a fluke.
Shane Wiskus set the pace for the Minnesota squad. He put up an 84.6 for the country’s top all-around score. He also collected titles on floor (14.65) and parallel bars with the first 15 of the season on the event (then followed by Stanford’s Blake Sun).
Senior Timmy Kutyla and sophomore David Pochinka also had strong showings. Kutyla took the high bar title with a 13.85, and Pochinka put up a big 14.6 on parallel bars for second.
Illinois senior Sebastian Quiana led his team with a solid four-event performance, and the Illini picked up three event titles. Michael Paradise, back to his usual form, won horse with a 14.85. Danny Graham won rings with a 14.35, and Hamish Carter claimed the vault crown with a 14.6. Freshman Connor McCool placed second on floor.
The Illini need to figure out their parallel bars situation if they want to hold strong against Nebraska this weekend. They host the Huskers Saturday. Minnesota travels to Iowa Saturday to face the Hawkeyes and UIC.
William & Mary @ Navy
Navy’s hot start kept on going this past weekend as they notched their second-straight score over the 400-mark. It was another consistent performance for a team that is shaping up to have no apparent weakness. The lowest event total for the Midshipmen all day was a 65.85 on parallel bars. Through three weeks of competition they are ranked in the top-10 on every event, highlighted by an impressive No. 3 ranking on pommel horse.
Navy took five of six event titles with Lucas Beltran (FX — 14.05), David Toussaint (PH — 13.9), Josh Williams (SR — 14.0), Max Gerber (PB — 13.55), and Giovanni Gambotese (HB — 13.45) all taking first-place finishes. A solid all-around performance put them at a 402 for the day, even with shaky rotations on vault and parallel bars.
It remains to be seen whether or not Navy can keep up this impressive pace. It seems they have a strong hold on the ECAC as they continue to pick off opponents with relative ease. The Midshipmen will face a real challenge when they head to Columbus at the end of February to try and take down the Buckeyes.
William & Mary was unable to come within striking distance of first place but saw an increase in their team score for a second week straight. Their 384.45 put them almost seven points above their opening performance, even with a rough pommel horse rotation where they posted a 59.2. The best news for the Tribe in this one was the return of Tomas Palma who took third place on floor with a 13.5.
Other highlights for William & Mary included a first-place finish on vault from Colin Lillie (14.25) and another great performance from Andrew Lyubovsky who took second on parallel bars (13.5), third on high bar (13.25) and first in the all-around (77.25). All-in-all, it was a good day for the Tribe as they’ve shown improvement each week.
Army @ Springfield
Army overcame a minor disaster on pommel horse to secure a narrow win against Springfield on Sunday.
The Black Knights posted a 382.65 for a one-and-a-half-point win over the host team. They were forced to count a 57.35 on horse — their lowest score by more than six points on the event this season — but excelled with season highs on parallel bars and high bar.
Army earned event titles on four of six events and were led by standout sophomore Mathew Davis, who earned titles on floor (14.3), rings (13.6), parallel bars (13.8), high bar (13.9) and in the all-around (79.55). Army’s Jacob Nauman was second on vault (14.05), and the Black Knights swept the high bar podium with second- and third-place finishes from Alejandro Suarez (12.9) and Darrel Yamamura (12.8).
Army’s biggest improvements came on rings and parallel bars. Their 64.2 on rings and 62.4 on parallel bars were roughly four-point increases from the week earlier. Army takes on Navy in Annapolis Saturday.
Springfield’s 381.1 was their best score of the season. The Pride were buoyed by season-highs on pommel horse, parallel bars and high bar and claimed the top team scores on horse, vault and PB.
The Pride had two event winners. Stephen Lewis, who had a solid day all-around, won horse (13.1), and John Murphy took vault (14.2). Dominic Romalho was second on floor (13.7), Jack Vollo placed second on horse (13.0), and Christian Wilkey Jr. was runner-up on rings and parallel bars.
The meet was overall a significant improvement for Springfield, but one event that didn’t see an increase was floor. The Pride counted four 12s on floor, and their 63.15 was a season-low. Springfield is off this weekend.
