Week 8 Recap
Winter Cup
Once again, Winter Cup reminds the gymnastics community of how important NCAA programs are to the success of USA on the international stage. University of Oklahoma’s Vitaliy Guimaraes made his season debut in the all-around and impressively walked away with the individual title on Friday night. Joining Guimaraes in the top-5, and clinching their spot on the Senior National Team was Khoi Young (Stanford), Asher Hong (Stanford), Yul Moldauer (Oklahoma) and Colt Walker (Stanford). A current, former, or future NCAA athlete won every event:
Floor - Ian Lasic-Ellis, Stanford University
Pommel Horse - Khoi Young, Stanford University
Rings - Alex Diab, University of Illinois (Former)
Vault - Asher Hong, Stanford University (Future)
Parallel Bars - Curran Phillips, Stanford University
High Bar - Jack Freeman, University of Oklahoma
Several key competitors were missing from the competition including Brody Malone, who was competing at the Cottbus World Cup, Shane Wiskus, and Stephen Nedoroscik. Over the next few days, the Senior National Team will be solidified and it can be nearly guaranteed that 100% of the team will be made up of future, current, and former NCAA gymnasts.
Cottbus World Cup
A massively successful outing in Germany for Stanford Senior, Brody Malone, resulted in three world cup medals, adding to his ever growing collection of international hardware. Malone arrived in Germany planning to show routines on four events and made a statement in doing so. After the two days of qualifying, Malone sat in first place on high bar, second place on parallel bars, and qualified into both the pommel horse and rings event finals. During event finals, Malone secured his spot on the list of strong American pommel horse workers by taking home the bronze medal on that event.
In his final two performances in Cottbus, Brody put up a 14.466 on parallel bars which was good enough for the bronze medal. He closed out his time in Europe with a 14.700 on high bar to take home the gold. This seasoned veteran continues to impress and these victories on the international stage only add to the momentum that the Stanford team has been building throughout the season.
Penn State junior, Ethan Dick, also competed at the Cottbus world cup for New Zealand. Unfortunately, he failed to qualify into any finals, but he placed 29th on floor, and 24th on pommel horse. This is great international experience for Dick who has been an integral part in Penn State’s lineups this season.
Rob Survick Invitational
2022 was off to an uncertain start for Arizona State. They competed limited lineups as they were engaged in a battle with the University over use of the school name. It seems that those conversations have come to an end and ASU has rebranded to Arizona Men’s Gymnastics and the Sun Devil Classic, to the Rob Survick Invitational. Last weekend’s competition was in support of Rob Survick, Arizona coach who was diagnosed with ALS. Please consider donating here.
With the standoff with Arizona State University behind them, Arizona Men’s Gymnastics delivered their first complete performance of the year, tallying a 377.50 to take first place. Jordan Williams and Hunter Brunett both competed on all six events and paced the team newly donned in blue and white. Williams placed third in the all-around with a 75.90 to go along with first place honors on high bar (13.05). Brunett won the meet with a 76.65 and peppered the leaderboards with second and third place finishes on multiple events.
Jackson Harrison had a tremendous day, winning two of the three events they competed on (FX - 13.40, VT - 14.10). Vincent Colosimo took the final event title on the day for Arizona, scoring a 13.20 on p bars. All in all, it was a welcome homecoming for the host team; back on track to challenge at the top of the GymACT.
Returning to competition for the first time in three weeks, Washington made the most of the opportunity, taking second place with a season high 370.00. Oscar Hemmert showcased his position as MVP of this team, putting together a terrific all-around performance to place second (75.90). Coming in just four tenths behind Hemmert was his teammate, Andrew Layman, taking fourth place. Jameel Ali added an event title on rings (13.40) to cap off a great day for the Huskies.
In a battle for third, SC United just barely beat out Rocky Mountain 345.00 to 343.10. Lorenzo Tassinato took advantage of the day, showcasing himself as someone to watch out for in the GymACT. Tassinato took fifth in the deep all-around field with a 75.15 and placed third on pommel horse (12.20) and took a share of the p bars title (13.20). Rocky Mountain’s highlight came from Nathan Yearous who took sixth in the all-around with a 73.40.
Rounding out the competition was Georgia United, scoring a 256.30. They had some great routines on the day including Zack English’s 12.30 on pommel horse and Blake Rogers’ 12.0 on high bar.
Springfield @ William & Mary
In a virtual dual, the Tribe took down the Pride 380.80 - 369.30. A season of struggles for William & Mary seems to be turning around with a season high score to best Springfield, a team capable of scoring in the mid-380s. Consistency is the name of the game in this era of collegiate men’s gymnastics and one or two bad performances can have a significant impact on the outcome of any given contest. It seems that this past weekend, Springfield was the unfortunate victim of the unforgiving five-up, five-count format in which every routine counts.
A season high at home for William & Mary brings some wind back into their sails after a rough start to their 2022 campaign. Most notably for the Tribe was their ability to remain consistent. No scores below an 11 were shown for their team, which gave them a huge leg up over the Pride, who had their fair share of scores under that benchmark. Aidan Cuy continues to be a leader for Mike Powell’s team. Cuy brought home high scores for William & Mary on floor (13.05), vault (14.10), and parallel bars (13.65), the latter two of which he took home the event titles for the day. Christian Marsh also put up big numbers for the Tribe with a 12.50 on pommel horse, a 13.55 on rings and a 13.30 on parallel bars. Marsh took home the title on Rings after sticking his triple back dismount.
For Springfield, too many errors, some from even their most reliable athletes, led to their downfall this weekend. The Pride is loaded with talent shown on all events. Springfield athletes took home the event crown on floor (Charles Kramer, 13.40), pommel horse (Juan Gomez, 12.95), and vault (Jakarie Williams, 14.10). High scores from the pride beyond their event champions were David Handron’s 13.30 on rings for second place, Christian Wilkey’s 13.25 on parallel bars for third place, and Felix Kreidman’s 12.90 on high bar for second place, just a half tenth out of first. Moving forward, Coach Matt Davis will need to reign in the consistency of this team in order to give them a shot at taking down other worthy ECAC adversaries.
Both teams have a high level of potential, but will need to show up in big ways come ECAC championships if they wish to take down Army. In the ECAC it seems that Navy will be too much for any other team to handle but there is definitely a battle for second.
Contributions from Bailey Perez, Max Soifer, and Ben Cooperman.