2021 USA National Championships and Pan Am Games Recap
The final sprint to Tokyo kicked off this past weekend, with the NCAA represented at both USA National Championships in Fort Worth, Texas and Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Stanford’s Brody Malone highlighted USA Championships with a dominant win over the rest of the field, while every single athlete in the senior session who competed alongside him is either a current, former, or future NCAA athlete. Paul Juda’s second place performance in Brazil unlocked an individual spot in Tokyo, allowing for the United States to bring along a medal contender in addition to the four man team.
Current NCAA Athletes
About a fourth of this year’s Championship field was made up of current NCAA gymnasts. Stanford carried five gymnasts along with athletes from Oklahoma, Iowa, Minnesota and Arizona State.
The star of the show was 2x NCAA Individual Champion, Brody Malone, who can now add USA National Champion to his already impressive resume. Day one of competition, Malone posted a huge 86.25 all -around score which was led by his stuck 14.70 vault. His strong prelims performance gave him a 2.6 lead heading into the second day. On day two of competition Malone started on parallel bars, where he scored a 12.70 after an unfortunate fall. His slip-up quickly opened the door for the rest of the field to hop back into the competition, but Malone was quick to close that door on high bar, where he put down a 15.05 set. It was arguably one of the best routines the world has seen in the 2021 season. After high bar, Malone continued to post big score after big score, ultimately leading him to his first USA National Championships title. Everyone will be excited to watch Malone in two weeks at the Olympic Trials where we can expect to see him once again sending and hitting big routines.
Behind Malone was his teammate Brandon Briones who garnered a fourth place finish. Briones is arguably the most slept-on gymnast in the US. Somehow Briones’s name never seems to be in the talk, yet he consistently posts great all around scores and finishes at the top of the field. Every time he’s on the equipment he looks solid, powerful, and confident. His strong performance this past weekend put him only a few tenths shy of a third place finish. He also had a fourth place finish on high bar as well as fifth place finishes on floor, rings and vault. After his third place NCAA finish and now a fourth place finish at USAs, Briones has put himself in the picture as a possible contender for Tokyo.
A couple more notable performances come from Ian Gunther and Gage Dyer. Gunther’s eighth place finish was able to land him a spot on the Senior National Team, and a ticket to the Olympic Trials in two weeks. His strong parallel bars performances, tailored with the unconventional Roethlisberger dismount, landed him a fourth place event finish. Gage Dyer had himself a successful weekend with second place finishes on floor and vault. Dyer’s day one vault run was one of the highlights of the weekend. Not only did he perform a stuck kaz double full, but he followed it up with a huge stuck handspring double front. After Michigan gymnast Paul Juda earned the US an extra spot for Tokyo, the idea of Dyer being sent as a specialist is now a real possibility.
Former NCAA Athletes
Yul Moldauer took the lead for the post graduates, taking second in the all-around behind Malone. The Oklahoma alum was consistent across the prelims and the finals, scoring and 83.60 on day one and an 84.35 on day two. Moldauer specifically shined on parallel bars where he took the title and proved himself as someone who can shine on this event on the world stage. Sam Mikulak had a shaky competition in prelims but stormed back up the rankings day two to finish third. Mikulak’s 84.95 was the second highest score of the weekend even with a pommel horse routine far from his ceiling. The Michigan alum also secured the high bar title, edging out Brody Malone by a tenth. Allan Bower continues to be quietly consistent, rounding out the top five and finding the podium on pommel horse.
Three more former NCAA athletes shined on individual events. Eddie Penev showed his dominance on floor to take the national title, posting a 15.00 in the finals. Stephen Nedoroscik scored a pair of 15.10s on pommel horse to secure first place. The former Nittany Lion proved he can hit and if he executes to the best of his ability, could be an olympic medal contender on the event. Rounding out the event winners was Alex Diab who dominated rings and scored a high of 14.95 on day one.
Incoming NCAA Athletes
The field of junior competitors at this past weekend’s USA Championships boasted a slew of future NCAA athletes including the likes of 18-year-old champion, Joseph Pepe, a Nebraska commit. Pepe easily took the crown and earned himself a spot on the senior development national team. Incoming Michigan gymnast, Rithik Puri also showed his potential as he took home the junior crown on pommel horse with a two-day total of (25.30) on the event. Other highlights for future NCAA athletes came from Vishal Mandava, Navy, with second and third place finishes on floor and rings respectively, Michigan’s Dave Wolma second vault and Cameron Lee third on parallel bars.
In the senior division, four incoming freshmen qualified to compete on the big stage. Taylor Burkhart (15th), Ian Lasic-Ellis (17th), Nick Kuebler (21st), and Khoi Young (22nd), all Stanford commits, showed that the future is bright for the Cardinal. Based on their performances in the senior division, had these four opted to compete in the junior division, they would have stolen the show. At the conclusion of the competition, Burkhart, Young and Pepe were added to the Senior Development team.
Pan Am Games
Cameron Bock, Vitaliy Guimaraes, Paul Juda, Riley Loos, and Donnell Whittenburg represented Team USA in Brazil this past weekend and took the silver medal behind the home team. Juda was the highlight as his second place 83.00 in the all-around secured the United States a specialist spot at the olympic games. Coming off a dominant MVP performance in his 2021 NCAA campaign, it was no surprise that the Michigan standout scored big on the world stage.
Stanford’s Riley Loos, who won the 2021 Winter Cup, came in fourth with an 82.15. Vitaliy Guimaraes out of Oklahoma took fourth with an 81.65 while Michigan’s Cameron Bock came in fifth with an 81.20. All five of the gymnasts that represented the US in Rio have secured spots at Olympic Trials.
Rob Survick
In August of 2020, ASU assistant coach, Rob Survick, was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Since that moment, Rob has been fighting for his life. On the first day of competition,ASU superstar, Kiwan Watts, donned a blue uniform with a ribbon inscribed with Rob’s name to bring light to the cause. It is clear the ASU family is behind Rob and the CGA encourages all of our followers to do what they can to support Rob and the ASU family in their fight as well.
Rob has been a stalwart of the gymnastics community since his time as captain of the ASU team from 1998-2002. Since then, Rob has been the head coach of the junior Sun Devils program and an assistant coach for the ASU team throughout their 16 year Collegiate Championships winning streak. Rob was also the junior coach of Youth Olympic vault champion Brandon Briones, who is currently a standout at Stanford and is on his way to Olympic trials after placing fourth at this weekend’s USA Championships.
Rob has given so much to our community and now is a time in which he could use our help. Currently, Rob is organizing efforts to get representatives to sponsor HR3537, the ACT for ALS. To learn more or to help Rob with his fight, visit iamals.org.