Week 5 Recap
Pac-12 Invitational
As expected, Stanford dominated the Pac-12 Invitational hosted by the Huskies in Seattle. The Cardinal pulled off a 412.15 – the highest score in the nation so far this year. There wasn’t much gymnastics drama at the event as it was clear from the start of the competition how things would end up. Stanford was far and away the best team at this meet and continue to solidify their place as the best team in the country by a long shot. Cal was dominant over the two GymACT teams and Washington easily topped Arizona.
For most teams, floor and pommel horse were rough, but all picked it up for rings and the back three. Stanford put up the top two vaults runs of the season. Curran Phillips (15.20) and Zach Martin (15.05) took the honors on that event. On parallel bars, Stanford put up similarly impressive numbers including two 15.30s, one from Blake Sun and another from Phillips who tied to both earn their second titles of the day. Sun also took top honors on pommel horse with a 13.80. If there is a weak point for Stanford, it looked to be high bar where they put up a team score of just 65.15. Keep in mind, however, that some of Stanford’s top players including Olympian Brody Malone, and National team members Ian Gunther, Riley Loos, Colt Walker, Khoi Young, and Taylor Burkhardt were all left at home.
Cal (386.95) had a solid day too, but like most teams in the country, their scoring potential just cannot keep up with Stanford. Some highlights for Cal were the trio of mid-13s from Tyler Shimizu (13.70), Yu-Chen Lee (13.65), and Aidan Giusti (13.50). Yu-Chen Lee also showed out on parallel bars for a fourth place finish scoring a 13.90, and senior captain, Caleb Rickard, put up a 13.0 on high bar to claim third.
Washington (363.15) got off to a rough start on the first two events, but once rings rolled around, they picked it back up. Senior Oscar Hemmert put up a solid 12.80 to stop the bleeding for Washington. Other strong performances came from Xander Agate on floor (13.20), Hemmert on vault (13.50), Andrew Layman on parallel bars (12.80), and Bradley Stroud on high bar (12.30). Hemmert took second in the all-around by half a tenth with a 74.65.
Arizona Men’s Gymnastics, in the midst of a rebranding effort to evade Arizona State University athletic department policies, put up a 354.95. Jordan Williams showed his value to the AMG team by putting up a 74.70 to take home the all-around title and led the way for his team on pommel horse (12.00), Rings (12.95), and High bar (12.65). Christian Jennings put up a solid 13.70 on vault and Jonas Ilao showed his potential on parallel bars with a 12.90. Arizona Men’s Gymnastics will look to improve once the distraction from their rebranding effort is attenuated.
Each of the teams here showed that they have a lot more to offer than what the scores may suggest. Stanford exemplifies this based on the fact that they are leading the way this year by a big margin without an Olympian and five other national team members in their lineups. The battle this year looks to be for second place, while Thom Glielmi and Stanford put on a show of unbridled dominance.
Army @ Navy
Navy shattered their previous season high, posting a 397.25 to take down rival Army. The big takeaway from the competition is Isaiah Drake’s emergence as one of the premier all-arounders in the country. Drake posted an 82.15 in his first place performance, the second highest score in the NCAA so far in 2022. The freshman also won titles on three events (FX - 14.0, PB - 13.55, HB - 13.30). The Midshipmen are still the steady, clean, consistent team we have come to know under Kip Simons. Now, however, they have added a legitimate all-around threat, putting them within possible reach of day two qualification as a team at NCAAs.
In addition to the standout performance from their star freshman, Navy was able to sweep the remainder of the event titles. Ronan McQuillan led the way on a much improved pommel horse rotation, scoring a 13.75. Josh Williams won rings with a 13.85 while Connor Van Loo took vault with a 14.60. Finally, Riley Rose’s 13.30 on high bar captured him a share of the title with his aforementioned teammate.
After a huge 388.65 at the West Point Open, Army has come back down to earth. Their 379.55 is their second lowest mark of the season and well off what they are capable of. Fortunately, they will see Navy again next week and have a chance at redemption. Mathew Davis was back in the all-around, taking second place with a 78.35. Gabe Almeida, who has been great on pommel horse all year, took fourth with a 12.70. Franco Peirano also had a good day, scoring a 14.15 on vault to place third.
Ohio State @ Illinois
After a highly anticipated matchup between number five ranked Ohio State and number six ranked Illinois, the Illini prevailed, finishing in first with a 400.75.
On top of their team victory, Illinois was able to bring home five individual event titles. Defending NCAA Pommel Horse champion, Ian Skirkey, brought home the pommel horse title with a 14.45. The other event titles were won by Ashton Anaya on rings (13.85), Dylan Kolak on vault (14.60), David Pochinka on parallel bars (14.15) and Hamish Carter on high bar (13.60).
Illinois had many positives to walk away with from this competition, but they also had a few struggles which they will be looking to improve on. On most events, they were able to post about four consistent scores, but their fifth score seemed to struggle compared to the rest of the lineup. Furthermore, they had a tough high bar run, only posting a 63.05. However, the Illini are yet to see their star all-arounder, Michael Fletcher, back in the full swing of things, and his contributions later in the season should prove extremely valuable to the team.
Ohio State displayed most of their success on floor, rings, and vault, but sub-par performances on pommel horse and high bar left them walking away in second place and scoring about five points lower than their season high.
Although Ohio State faced some challenges, they also had a few standout performances. Kameron Nelson started off strong for the Buckeyes on floor, clinching the event title with a 14.35. Justin Ah Chow also had a strong day, posting a 13.70 on pommel horse and a 14.55 on vault. Moving forward, the Buckeyes are going to need to make some improvements on their execution if they want to start consistently breaking the 400 mark.
Penn State @ Nebraska
In a highly touted Big Ten matchup, featuring the likes of Simone Biles in attendance, Nebraska took down Penn State in Lincoln. Sam Phillips (1st - 14.00) and company came out of the gates strong on floor, posting a 69.05, taking the top four scores on the event, and building a lead of over a point-and-a-half after one rotation. Following a rough first pommel horse routine, the bleeding quickly stopped as Charlie Giles posted a first place 14.35 to lead the team.
Vault was the true game changer for the Huskers, adding three points to their lead on this rotation alone. Liam Doherty-Herwitz (14.70), Charlie Giles (14.55), and Taylor Christopulos (14.55) placed first through third. Dylan Leclair led the way on p bars, placing first with his 13.95 performance. Nebraska closed out the meet on high bar, hitting all five routines to notch an impressive win.
Penn State was unable to get the victory, but they broke the 400 mark in what was easily their best performance of the year. Michael Jaroh continued his impressive 2022 season, competing on five events and taking titles on both rings (14.35) and high bar (13.85). Josh Karnes (13.85) and Nate Warren (13.80) also had impressive showings on rings, placing second and third respectively. Ethan Dick remains a steady contributor for this young Nittany Lion team. His best event on the day was p bars where he placed second with a 13.85.
It is worth noting that this competition featured some questionable judging. On vault, Penn State’s Matt Cormier stuck a kaz one-and-a-half. Nebraska’s Donte Mckinney, put his hand down and took two steps on a yurchenko two-and-a-half. When comparing the two, it is tough to find a way to not score these at least five tenths apart, yet they were separated by just .15.
Heading into this meet, Nebraska averaged just about two points higher than Penn State on pommel horse, indicating that the degree of separation is not drastic between the two. The Cornhuskers had four falls to the Nittany Lions one, yet still beat them by over a point on the event. Regardless, Penn State did not do enough to win this meet, key falls down the stretch left them outside of striking distance.
Illinois Team Cup
Northern Illinois prevailed over UIC this past weekend at the Illinois Team Cup. David Dortmund’s big day fueled the over seven point win. Dortmund took the all-around title with a 75.30 to go along with three event titles (FX - 13.20, PH - 12.30, VT - 13.90). Micah Puckett also had a big day, placing second in the all-around and on two events (AA - 71.60, VT - 13.20, HB - 11.90).
Nick Smiley led the way for UIC, competing on five events and scoring above a 12.50 on all but one. Smiley also pulled down a pair of event titles on rings (12.70) and p bars (12.70). Levi Boluyt rounded out the event winners on the day with his 12.00 performance on high bar. Billy Hollis took on the bulk of the workload behind Smiley, competing on five events and finishing in third on p bars (11.90).
Contributions from Bailey Perez, Max Soifer, and Ben Cooperman.