Week 3: #NCAAMGym Recap
What happened this past weekend in the world of NCAA men’s gymnastics? Look no further than the #NCAAMGym Weekly Recap.
Ohio State vs. Navy (Virtual)
Ohio State 397.2000 @ Navy 382.0000 (Virtual)
Virtius Archive
Ohio State (397.2) came away with a commanding victory over Navy (384.0) this weekend in a matchup over Virtius. Ohio State seems to have settled into the season well as Navy made their 2021 debut.
Starting out on floor, the Buckeyes were led by Freshman Kameron Nelson and Junior Jesse Tyndall who put up great sets scoring 14.25 and 14.3 respectively.
On pommel horse, Trevor Cummings showed that he belongs in the conversation regarding this year’s top pommel horse workers in the NCAA. He scored a 13.8 for the second week in a row and is currently ranked 3rd in the nation on the event.
Led by Max Andryushchenko (13.2), the Buckeyes rings team was consistent this week and is stronger than the numbers show. Ohio State can score 2-3 points higher on rings – be on the lookout for that improvement as the season progresses.
The Buckeyes continued to impress on vault this week with yet another 70+ team score highlighted by a slew of clean 14.8 vaults and a booming handspring double front out of Angel Leon.
Parallel bars and high bar were rough for the Buckeyes, but Jesse Tyndall came through with a 13.5 and a 13.3 on the two events respectively to close the meet out for Ohio State.
Ohio State will take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers this weekend at home in Columbus.
Navy had some struggles during their first competition of the year. This meet was a great opportunity for the Midshipmen to get used to the virtual format and compete against a formidable opponent in the Ohio State Buckeyes. Shining a light for Navy this week were freshman Syam Buradagunta and senior Travis Keller.
In his first ever outing, Buradagunta led the Midshipmen on floor 13.3, held them steady on pommel horse 12.3, and contributed a very clean vault 13.8. Keller continued to show his importance to head coach Kip Simon’s program with a 13.25 on floor, a 14.0 on vault, and a 13.15 on parallel bars. Navy will undoubtedly improve in the coming weeks as they prepare for the All-Academy Championships on Saturday, February 13th.
Army vs. Oklahoma (Virtual)
Army 375.1000, Oklahoma 413.4000 (Virtual)
The Oklahoma Sooners are showing no signs of slowing down. With their 413.40 - 375.10 victory over Army, OU has now hit the 413 mark three times to start the season. To put this in perspective, only two other teams have gone over the 400 mark even once (Michigan and Illinois). While we still have not seen Stanford compete, it is getting harder to think that Oklahoma is not the top team in the country.
Both Vitaliy Guimaraes (82.85) and Spencer Goodell (81.15) had strong showings in the all around, placing first and second respectively. Guimaraes also took the rings (13.80) and high bar (13.75) titles to cap off a strong day. Gage Dyer continues to impress, posting huge scores on floor (14.95) and vault (14.75) to handily win both titles. Freshman, Zach Nunez, is emerging on pommel horse where he took first in this competition with a 14.00.
The Sooners consistency is what continues to be remarkable, a staple of all Mark Williams coached teams. The 2021 group is now ranked first as a team on every event in the country except high bar, where they are second.
Army bested their debut performance by almost 20 points, a sign that this team is heading in the right direction after a shaky start. The return of Mathew Davis was huge for them. He competed in the all around and posted a 77.40, a great start but a score he is very much capable of improving upon. Other highlights for the Black Knights included a fourth place finish on pommel horse from Matthew Martin (13.35) and a fifth place finish on vault from Michael Aquino (14.05).
Pommel horse and high bar remained tough spots for Army where they went sub-60 as a team on both events. Improvements here would easily prove them capable of hitting 380+.
Georgia United vs. Northern Illinois (Virtual)
Georgia United 227.8000, Northern Illinois 336.3000 (Virtual)
Georgia United fell short to Northern Illinois in their inaugural competition. Adam Hutchinson had a great day for United, taking the event titles on both p bars (11.90) and high bar (11.50). They will have one more competition this year against UIC where they will look to improve on their debut and fill out some more of their lineups.
Northern Illinois notched their first win of the season, improving on their previous team score by over 25 points. David Dortmund was the catalyst, taking home the all around title (71.80) to go with first place finishes on pommel horse (12.10) and vault (13.40). Malcolm Moore (FX - 12.40) and Zach Cipra (SR - 11.70) also took home two more event victories on the day for NIU.
Iowa @ Minnesota
Iowa 393.6500 @ Minnesota 387.0500
Iowa took the title of this dual meet with a score of 393.650, topping Minnesota’s 387.050.
Iowa started off their season with a series of falls on pommel horse. After working off some of the first event rust, the Hawkeyes made their way to the floor exercise and were able to put up the two highest floor scores in the competition by Bennet Huang (14.10) and Stewart Brown (14.10). They were able to carry this momentum into vault where they were led by the event winner, Amari Sewell (14.50). The Hawkeyes scored a 71.35 on the event making them the second ranked vault team in the NCAA. The Hawkeyes also had successful performances on rings and parallel bars which were led by Evan Davis (13.850) and Carter Tope (13.900). Although they were successful on the individual level, Iowa will need to focus on their consistency if they are going to want to improve their team score for when they take on Illinois on February 13th.
Minnesota started their competition off on floor with strong routines from Colten Dee, Mike Moran and Garrett Kasiski who placed 3rd, 4th and 5th on the event. The Golden Gophers made their way to the pommel horse and were able to sweep the podium with performances from Noah Duran (1st), Mike Moran (2nd), and Andrew Hyde (3rd), but their team score on this event, 61.950, isn’t going to hold up in the later stages of the season. On the remaining four events, Minnesota struggled as they were unable to get hit streaks going during their event runs. However, Donte McKinney closed the competition out by performing a huge high bar set that landed him a 13.70, good for the third best score in the NCAA. Minnesota has the opportunity to redeem themselves this weekend as they travel to face off against Ohio State.
Arizona State vs. Cal (Virtual)
Arizona State 380.9000, California 384.8000 (Virtual)
In their first showing of the season the Golden Bears took the win in what was the closest battle of the year thus far. Cal and ASU both fought hard and went back and forth throughout the meet showing that there is some serious competition in the typically well dispersed PAC-12.
Standout performances from Cal came from Yu-Chen Lee, Caleb Rickard, and Noah Newfeld. Lee did a phenomenal job on the day and came away with the title on floor (13.6) and Rings (13.15). Caleb Rickard had a solid day on floor (13.0), pommel horse (12.1), vault (14.35), and high bar (12.95) to help the Bears stay ahead of the Sun Devils.
In his first showing for Cal, Noah Newfeld showed that he’s someone that Head Coach JT Okada can rely on. Newfeld competed on 5 events for a 12.81 average on the day. He placed 3rd on pommel horse, 2nd on rings, 3rd on parallel bars and 4th on high bar. This is good news for Coach Okada as Newfeld will be a strong replacement for the talented senior class lost to graduation last year. Cal’s next opportunity will come against Army this weekend in yet another virtual dual on Saturday, February 6th.
The Sun Devils had a strong day too. They were led by the duo of Kiwan Watts and Anthony Mills. Mills won the All-Around contest with a 76.3 and Watts won vault (14.6), parallel bars, (13.7), and high bar (13.55) to keep ASU in the running to take down the Bears. Another standout performance for the Sun Devils was the vault of Vinnie Colosimo (14.5). These Sun Devils seem ready to battle it out this year and will challenge some of the top teams going forward. Arizona State’s next opponent is Temple, whom they will face in a virtual matchup on Valentine’s Day.
Illinois @ Penn State
Illinois 399.1500 @ Penn State 399.3000
The Nittany Lions were able to close a 2.35 point deficit during the last event to score a 399.300, edging out Illinois’ 399.150.
Although this competition was tighter than either team would have liked, Penn State was able to show drastic improvements since we last saw them compete. They increased their team score by 15.65 points since their week 1 competition. Much of this was led by successful performances from their freshman class. Freshman, Matt Cormier, won the floor title with a 14.35 and T-1st on vault. Cormier was backed by his classmates, Robbie Shamp (FX - 14.20), Ethan Dick (PB - 13.65), and Michael Jaroh (PB - 13.40). As these freshmen gain more NCAA experience, Penn State should be set up for a successful rest of their season. However, the Nittany Lions have some weak spots such as the pommel horse where they only scored a 63.000. If Penn State wants to make a run for the B1G title, they are going to have to start hitting more routines.
Penn State will be taking on Nebraska at home on Sunday at 1pm ET.
Illinois closed the competition with a 62.6 on parallel bars and a 65.4 on horizontal bar which ultimately cost them the team title. Nonetheless, Mike Fletcher had a strong performance on three events for the Illini placing 1st on PH and scoring a career best of 14.00 on the floor exercise. A couple of Fletcher’s teammates followed his lead including Ian Skirkey (PH - 13.60) and Hamish Carter (HB - 13.75). Adding to the Illini’s success was Danny Graham who won the still rings title for the second week in a row scoring a 14.20. Luckily, Illinois has this week off and the opportunity to tune up their parallel bars and horizontal bar lineups.
Contributions from Bailey Perez, Max Soifer, and Ben Cooperman.