Week 10 #NCAAMGym Recap
Arizona State @ Washington
Arizona State 373.2000 @ Washington 358.9000
ASU took down the Huskies in Seattle 373.20 to 358.90. UW finally put up a team this year but even with a strong freshman class, the loss of last year’s seniors, Connor Petellin and Daniel Gordon, were felt. The Sun Devils put on a typical display of consistent, strong gymnastics led by Kiwan Watts and Anthony Mills.
Watts won four event titles for the day on floor (12.95), pommel horse (13.20), parallel bars (14.00), and high bar (13.05) in yet another show of his dominance over the GymACT conference. The other two event titles were won by Ben Bloom, the senior captain from Washington, on rings (13.15), and Anthony Mills on vault (14.15). Bloom went on to win the all-around (72.10) despite a high bar routine that included falls on three different releases. UW freshman, Andrew Layman, showed that he is the future of UW men’s gymnastics, placing second in the all-around (70.35) while posting a massive vault (13.95) for the Huskies for 2nd on the event.
The Sun Devils clearly have an edge on UW on parallel bars and high bar as ASU posted the top four scores on each event respectively. Unless Washington can pull it together on the last two events, their shot a pushing ASU out of the #1 spot in the GymACT standings remains thin.
Army vs. Japan (Virtual)
Army 369.5000 (Virtual)
In a year of many firsts, Army had the pleasure of competing against Niigata University in the first ever international virtual dual meet. Army came away with the win scoring 369.50 to Niigata’s 359.30. Neither team had their best performance, but the allure of an international meet was not lost. Army was coming off of a quarantine, and Niigata was competing at 9am in order to accommodate the time constraints necessary to allow the meet to happen.
Pommel horse and high bar seem to be the two events that teams are struggling with this year. Army has not been immune to those challenges, scoring 56.65 and 55.55 on pommel horse and high bar respectively. Mathew Davis led the Army team, as he usually does, taking home the rings title (13.90), and the floor title (13.05). Matt Martin and Jacob Nauman claimed the pommel horse (12.85) and vault titles (13.95).
Niigata is just starting their season and the inconsistency of early season meets plagued the team. High difficulty was attempted and will likely pay off for this talented team in later contests, but today too many missed routines led to a loss. Genta Namimatsu is clearly the leader of this team putting up a 16.00 start value floor routine and averaging close to 15.00 start values on the other 5 events. Hibiki Nagasawa took home the parallel bars title (12.90) and his teammate, Yuito Matsuo took the crown on high bar (12.35).
Army was slated to have two other competitions this week, but one was postponed due to power outages. Army has been through some serious adversity in the second half of this season with the quarantine due to COVID and power outages in their contest with Air Force. We will see how they handle this adversity heading into ECAC Championships.
Michigan vs. Ohio State (Virtual)
Michigan 408.3500, Ohio State 397.9500
The Michigan Wolverines were able to pull away early in this competition and it helped them garner a win over their rival, the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Michigan started on the floor exercise with a performance they will be looking to drastically improve upon. Their highest score was by Nick Guy who scored a 13.95. Cameron Bock was the only all-arounder of the competition and after a hoppy floor he wasn’t able to get back on track for the remainder of the competition, with the exception of rings. Although it was not Bock’s ideal performance, we know he is a great competitor as we saw by his winning performance at Winter Cup. Once Bock irons out his routines again, Michigan will see a large jump in their team score from him alone.
On pommel horse, Markus Shears and Paul Juda shared the event title by scoring a 13.90. Michigan dominated on rings scoring the top five scores of the competition ranging from 13.50-14.45. They totaled up a huge 69.45 as a team on the event. Vault was a big struggle and they were only able to score a 69.70. On parallel bars and high bar, Paul Juda led the team by scoring respectable scores of 14.20 and 14.10. It wasn’t Michigan’s best performance, but impressive runs on pommel horse and still rings is good news for the Wolverines heading into the postseason.
Ohio State was able to put up two to three strong scores on each event but struggled to execute the remaining routines. On the floor exercise, Jesse Tyndall led the way for the Buckeyes, capturing the event title with a 14.05. On pommel horse, Justin Ah Chow put up a big 13.80 and was followed by Andrew Brower’s 13.600 and Trevor Cummings 13.40. As a team, they struggled on the still rings, only scoring a 64.75. This was the event that swung the competition in favor of Michigan.
The Buckeyes had the opportunity to reel back in the Wolverines on vault, but two scores in the mid 13s didn’t help them gain any ground back. On parallel bars and high bar the Buckeyes couldn’t stay consistent. It led them to team totals of 64.50 (PB) and 64.550 (HB). The Buckeyes had been showing hope as one of the better teams in the B1G, but this competition was a minor setback to that. There is still time to fine tune, and they will be looking to do so before heading into the postseason.
Air Force vs. Army (Virtual)
Air Force 377.3500, Army (Virtual) Virtius Archive
No one really knew how feasible competition was going to be heading into the 2021 pandemic influenced season. While there have been some interruptions, Virtius and safety protocols have allowed for teams to get through ten weeks of competition thus far. Unfortunately, this matchup introduced another first with Army being unable to finish the competition due to a power outage.
Air Force was able to compete and posted a respectable 377.35. They struggled to open the meet on floor, scoring a 57.65, counting a 9.90 and two additional scores in the 11s. The Falcons hit their stride quickly thereafter, but could have walked away with a season high with even an average performance on floor. Frankie Valentin had a standout performance, winning pommel horse (12.95), rings (13.15), and high bar (13.00).
Michigan @ Penn State
Michigan 414.2000 @ Penn State 400.4500
Each week, Michigan seems to widen the gap between themselves and the rest of the Big Ten. They took down Penn State this weekend in University Park by a margin of almost 14 points to finish their regular season conference schedule with a perfect record.
Paul Juda put up what was easily the best performance by an individual we have seen all year. While his 86.35 was still lower than his opening performance high water mark against UIC, what he did this weekend against a Big Ten rival makes this score much more impressive. No other gymnast has even hit the 85 mark in 2021, a true testament to Juda’s dominance. It’s worth looking at the entire stat line from this one:
1st FX - 14.65, 2nd PH - 14.20, 3rd SR - 14.30, 1st VT - 14.70, 1st PB - 14.95, 2nd HB - 13.55
Cameron Bock was also impressive as usual, taking second in the all around with an 82.95. Michigan’s roster does run deeper than their impressive standout duo. Adam Wooten (13.65) and Thomas Paul (13.50) took second and third on high bar, where the Wolverines now rank number one in the country.
Penn State had one of their better showings this year, posting a 400.45. The Nittany Lions struggled out of the gate, scoring 66.65 on floor, one of the easier events to hit the 70 mark on. Pommel horse was great outside of a 10.05 that brought down their team total significantly. The pace picked up after that and a great finish on p bars and high bar is worth highlighting as Penn State has struggled to close out meets this season.
The freshman class seems to have shaken off some of their midseason struggles. Matt Cormier was able to hit his p bars and high bar sets to score a 13.50 and a 12.55. Michael Jaroh was great as well, competing on five events and averaging a 13.86. There are positive takeaways from this meet for Penn State and if they can eliminate the large mistakes and maintain the steady pace from their freshman, they can be a top three team at Big Ten Championships.
Nebraska @ Iowa
Nebraska 406.6500 @ Iowa 406.7000
This turned out to be one of the most exciting competitions of the year with Iowa topping Nebraska by half of a tenth.
The Hawkeyes started on the floor exercise with a strong 69.10 team score. Bennet Huang took the floor title with a 14.30. Huang carried this momentum throughout the rest of the competition where he posted an 83.10 in the all around. Evan Davis also had a successful day in the all around, scoring an 82.05 for the Hawkeyes. On pommel horse, Iowa put up three scores in the mid 13s which helped them land a 65.90. The Hawkeyes had a similar tone on rings and were able to put up a 67.15.
On vault, Stewart Brown took the event title by sticking a huge kaz full and a half which scored a 14.90. His teammates Amari Sewell and Bennet Huang came in second and third on the event. Carter Tope led Iowa on parallel bars with a 13.85. It wasn’t their strongest event of the competition and they scored a 66.30 as a team. The Hawkeyes closed out the competition on high bar with a 66.15, enough to take the win in this competition. This was Iowa’s best performance of the season scoring a 406.70. This is what the Hawkeyes were looking for heading into the B1G championship.
The Huskers finished this competition with a 406.650, significantly lower than their last competition. Sam Phillips led the Huskers on floor with a 14.30 and was closely followed with a 14.20 from Taylor Christopulos. On pommel horse, Evan Kriley’s 14.10 and Charlie Giles’ 13.90 landed them first and second place finishes on the event. With the exception of Dylan Young’s 13.90 on rings, the Huskers struggled as a team, counting three scores of a 13.00 or lower. Rings hurt Nebraska in the team score and had them chasing down Iowa the rest of the meet.
Parallel bars was the start of the Husker’s comeback. Evan Hymanson led the way with a 13.95, which was the highest of the competition. A couple more successful routines from Dillan King and Dylan Young helped them score a 67.15 as a team. Nebraska closed out the competition with a strong 67.75 on high bar. King won the event with a 14.20 and Phillips followed in second with a 13.75. However, their parallel bar and high bar runs weren’t enough to catch Iowa in this tight matchup. Before heading into the postseason, the Huskers will be looking to do some fine tuning so they can be pushing scores around the 410 mark, which we’ve seen them do multiple times throughout this season.
Oklahoma @ California
Oklahoma 404.7000 @ California 390.6000
OU and Cal faced off in Berkeley for Oklahoma’s final MPSF matchup before conference championships. A rough day for the Sooners (404.70) resulted in a victory as Cal put up their best performance this season, cracking 390 for the first time (390.6).
The Sooner’s last regular season meet was rather atypical of teams led by Mark Williams. A lack of consistency was prevalent throughout the meets and especially on pommel horse (62.85) and high bar (63.30). The pommel horse rotation was saved by Zach Nunez (13.65), who has had a very impressive rookie season. The high bar rotation was highlighted by Jack Freeman (13.80). Freeman and Nunez took home those two event titles respectively.
Nissen Emery award finalist Matt Wenske also had a strong day to lead the Sooners over Cal as he took home the all-around title (80.70). Wenske took home the rings title (14.05) as well. In addition, a big parallel bars rotation (68.65) helped carry OU over Cal. Cesar Gracia (14.30) was the event winner.
The Golden Bears had nothing short of a spectacular performance in Haas Pavilion. A strong start on floor (66.10) led by junior standout Yu-Chen Lee (14.00) carried throughout the meet. Lee competed on every event but pommel horse, scoring a five event average of (13.52) to lead Cal. Kyle Abe, Caleb Rickard, and Noah Newfeld also put up big performances. Abe had a five event average of (13.15), Rickard won vault with a massive (14.60), and Newfeld had a five event average of (12.95) to lead Cal on rings and parallel bars.
Cal has one more regular season contest against Stanford before they take on the rest of the MPSF at conference championships.
Springfield @ Army
Springfield College 371.6000 @ Army 378.0500 (Virtual)
Army closed out week ten with a win over Springfield, scoring a 378.05, their highest mark of the season. Jacob Nauman was excellent on floor and vault. He took second on the former with a 13.10 and first on the latter with a 14.25. His teammate, Kalvin Kingshill, took the floor title with a 13.25. Matthew Martin was able to take first on pommel horse with a 13.55. Mathew Davis, the workhorse for the Black Knights, captured the rings title (13.00) and won the all around (77.15).
Dominic Ramalho has emerged as Springfield’s number one and put up another solid performance this past Sunday. He took first on p bars with a 13.20 and finished second in the all-around behind Davis with a 75.15. The final title on the day for the Pride came from Kyle Kukaesko with his 12.70 performance on high bar.
Contributions from Bailey Perez, Max Soifer, and Ben Cooperman.