Week 3 Recap
Navy Open
In their second meeting of the year, Penn State and Navy came down to the last couple of routines, this time in Annapolis. Heading into the final rotation, the Nittany Lions held a lead of just nine tenths over their host. Ethan Dick hit a clutch 14.15 p bars routine to solidify the lead and take the title over the Midshipmen, 385.85 to 384.20.
The return of Michael Jaroh added a huge boost to this Penn State team. The sophomore competed four events in his 2022 debut, averaging a 13.78 and taking the still rings title with a 14.20. The aforementioned Ethan Dick also had a huge day, winning parallel bars to go along with a title on vault (14.35). Despite great scores from top performers on their best events, the Nittany Lions were held back by a couple of disastrous scores. A 9.30 on floor and a 9.05 on pommel horse weighed down their team score. In the five-up, five-count format, big mistakes can put a team way behind where they had originally been pacing.
Navy did everything they could in their final rotation to catch up to Penn State, but it just wasn’t enough. Five great high bar sets brought them to 65.05 on the event, over two points higher than the next best team. Giovanni Gambatese took the title here with a 13.60. Freshman, Isaiah Drake, continues to impress. He finished right behind Gambatese on high bar (13.25) and took first place on floor (13.85).
Points were left on the table on pommel horse. Ronan McQuillan took the title with a 13.35, but the next best score behind him for Navy was an 11.60. A 56.60 is well off where the Midshipmen can be here and will be their number one priority to clean up moving forward.
Navy and Penn State have competed against each other and teams ranked below them in CGA’s power rankings through the first three weeks of the season. As 2022 rolls on and the two face stronger opponents, it will be interesting to see if they are in a class together behind the pack or can hang with some of the other teams in the Big Ten.
Springfield rounded out the top three in what was a regression from their season opener. They too counted a score in the 9s and a few scores in the 10s. Very low scoring routines will hold back their potential significantly and until these are weeded out, the Pride will have a tough time getting into the 380s. Dominic Ramalho had another great day, competing four events and averaging a 13.05.
William & Mary and Temple rounded out the top five at the Navy Open. Aidan Cuy competed in the all-around for the tribe, taking first place (73.30), improving on his debut by almost two points. Temple’s Zac Raymond took second with a 68.65.
Air Force @ OU
Meeting for the second time this season, OU and Air Force showed down in Norman. Oklahoma easily took down the Falcons 401.50 to 365.65. By the looks of it, the Sooners tested out a few new faces on the competition floor and took the opportunity to rest some of their higher scoring athletes who are recovering from injuries. Air Force had a much-improved performance over their season opener as they were able to fill out a full lineup for this competition.
Mark Williams’ Sooners managed a day without any disastrous performances, however, a lot more can be expected out of this team. Strong routines on floor came from Spencer Goodell (14.15) and Emre Dodanli (14.10). High scores on pommel horse were hard to come by, but freshman, Raydel Gamboa, took the charge and led the sooner pommel squad with a 13.15 for a team score of 63.65 – a number that will likely be much higher by the end of the season. Rings was a similar story but this time it was Fuzzy Benas who took control and put up at 13.55 to bring Oklahoma’s rings tally to 66.55.
As always, vault (71.75) was clean, high scoring, and consistent for OU. Parallel bars was also a solid event in which freshman phenom Fuzzy Benas showed out with a massive 14.40 for the event title and a team score of 67.20. High bar was the only place where the Sooners had a rough performance but a 13.65 out of Raydel Gamboa was a bright spot there. So far, week after week Benas and Gamboa are showing their value to Mark Williams and the Sooners. These two are clearly going to be difference makers come postseason.
While Air Force had a much better outing than their first performance this season, there is still a lot to improve upon. A floor score of 58.95 with execution scores all below 8.0 shows that there is a lot of potential in this Falcon floor squad that has yet to be realized in competition. The pommel horse rotation could have been a solid one for Air Force, but a missed routine that scored in the 8s ruined that possibility.
Rings is where the Falcons found their rhythm. A team score of 62.30 led by a 12.75 from Jacob Becchetti sparked Air Force. Vault was another strong rotation where Head Coach Josh Loeser’s team put up a respectable 68.05. There were more troubles on parallel bars, but a 13.15 from Oliver Zavel highlighted the event. High bar also presented some challenges, however, Garrett Braunton’s 12.9 closed out the competition on a high note. While the scores from Air Force may not look like it, they are putting up high level gymnastics that will score well once they are able to put it all together.
NY Alliance @ Ohio State
Ohio State was able to capture the victory in this matchup with a 399.15, but more importantly, they were able to improve upon their team score from the previous week by nearly 11.5 points.
The Buckeyes kicked off their competition on floor where Kameron Nelson’s 13.85 was enough to take home the individual title. Although Nelson captured the event title, a 66.50 team score is several points short of what they should be looking to score on this event. However, they rallied back on pommel horse with the help of Trevor Cummings (14.60), Andrew Brower (14.10), and Justin Ah Chow (13.95). These big scores helped them post a 67.50 as a team. Unfortunately, they had to count a 11.650, but if this score is exchanged for a 13.5+ later in the season, they could become one of the best horse squads in the nation.
On rings, Jesse Tyndall (14.35) and Donovan Hewitt (14.20) led the way, helping the team close out with a 64.70. The vault title was captured by Dexter Roettker’s 14.60 and p bars title by Andrew Brower’s 13.95. The Buckeyes struggled on high bar, only posting a 64.50. The biggest takeaway from this competition is that Ohio State’s fourth and fifth scores need to be better. They put up about three solid scores on every event, but struggled to put together a lineup of consistent scores.
NY Alliance closed out the competition with a 280.30 after being short-handed on two events. Ethan Rio and Adam Burger took the bulk of the load for NY Alliance by competing in the all-around. Casey Cassara was also one of the team's strongest competitors by capturing the highest score for his team on floor and vault. NY Alliance should see an improvement in their team score once they are able to put together a full lineup.
Contributions from Bailey Perez, Max Soifer, and Ben Cooperman.