Week 10 Recap
Michigan @ Illinois
This dual meet was arguably one of the most exciting of the year thus far. Through four events, the Illini looked like they were cooking up an upset as they held a strong three point lead. But after a disastrous parallel bar run, the Wolverines were able to make an unprecedented seven point swing and run away with a 411.85 victory over Illinois’ season high 408.40.
Floor was a back and forth battle, with Michigan slightly edging out the event win with a 69.25 over Illinois’ 69.00. Hamish Carter secured the event title with a 14.35. This was just the start to Carter’s successful night in the all-around where he placed second behind Paul Juda (85.00) with his 83.90.
On pommel horse, the Illini put on a dominating performance by scoring a 69.45, the highest team score of the season by over one-and-a-half points. Ian Skirkey once again walked away with the individual title with his 14.35. With the exception of Marcus Shears (14.05) and Paul Juda (13.95), the Wolverine’s struggled on horse, counting three falls. This set them back five points but a strong run on rings helped them slightly close the deficit. Chris Read won the title with a 14.05. The Illini’s Ashton Anaya was close behind in second place with a 14.00. Vault was a similar story with Michigan gaining back four tenths.
With a strong lead and momentum on their side, Illinois put up arguably one of their most regrettable runs in the past several years with a 61.75 p bars rotation. They had only one score breach the 13.00 mark which was catastrophic compared to Michigan who had every score above 13.35. Evgeny Siminiuc led the way with his 14.30. At this point, the Wolverine’s gained a sizable lead that was too much for Illinois to close on high bar. Juda once again captured the event title with his 14.45 and Carter finished second with a 14.25.
Army and Nebraska @ Air Force
At the Air Force Field House this past Saturday, the Cornhuskers routed both of their opponents with a season high 410.50. All three teams benefitted from some favorable judging, nonetheless, Nebraska solidified their status as a top team in the Big Ten, with zero scores below the 400 mark all season.
Senior and Nissen Emery Award Finalist, Charlie Giles, was the star of the day for the winning team. Giles won all three events he competed on, scoring a 14.65 on floor, a 14.25 on pommel horse, and a 14.95 on vault. The senior has really come into his own in his final season as a Husker and will be in All-American contention on all three events come April. Dillan King led the way on p bars with a career high 14.25. Sam Phillips claimed the last of the hardware for Nebraska, winning both the high bar title (14.00) and the all-around (82.35).
With far and away their best performance of the season, Air Force put together a 398.80, over 18 points higher than their previous best. What changed? The elimination of the outlier scores below the 10.00 mark that plagued them earlier in the season. The lowest score on the day for the Falcons was a 12.25. Garret Braunton paced this team, flashing how talented he is, placing second in the all-around with an 80.60.
Braunton also captured the lone title of the day for Air Force, scoring a huge 14.30 on the event. While it wasn’t his best day, Oliver Zavel was still able to post a 14.45 on floor, good enough for fourth place. Despite inflated scores across the board, there is no denying this was a significant step in the right direction for the Falcons, and they may just be peaking at exactly the right time.
Rounding out the trio was West Point, posting their second highest score of the season (387.50). Mathew Davis was able to capture third on the day on rings with a 13.70 in his four event showing. Franco Peirano shined on vault (4th - 14.60) while Zachary Mitchell put together a great p bars set (4th - 13.40).
Navy @ William & Mary
After some time off, Navy traveled to visit William & Mary, where they beat the home team with a 389.85. Head Coach Kip Simons has clearly been utilizing load management to keep his athletes healthy and rested in the long season. This week it was Isaiah Drake who was on the sidelines. Through all of this, the Midshipmen have still been able to take care of their opponents while showcasing their depth. They could surprise a lot of people when they display their best, well-rested lineups in the postseason.
Syam Buradagunta has come into his own on floor in 2022, capturing yet another event title with a 13.30. Josh Williams continued his fantastic senior season, tying for second on floor (13.15) and taking another rings title (14.30). Josh Wendeborn won pommel horse (13.10), Nehemiah Baker won vault (14.45), and Cash Buske took the final title for Navy on the day with his high flying high bar routine (13.60).
While they were not able to secure the win, Senior Day was still a successful outing for the Tribe. Christian Marsh made the most of his final home performance, placing second in the all-around (76.50) and pommel horse (12.95) while his team posted their highest score of the season (381.85). Another senior, Christian Gulotta, secured fourth on pommel horse with a 12.60. Finally, Aidan Cuy continued his streak of solid all-around performances, capturing the title with a 76.75.
Springfield @ Penn State
Penn State featured some watered down lineups on Senior Day, taking care of business easily against Springfield. In a low pressure scenario, this meet was a great opportunity for this team to put together a complete competition; that did not happen. Things went off the rails quickly after three falls on pommel horse and a first routine collapse on rings.
Unlike a top team in the Big Ten like Nebraska who has floated above the 400 mark in every competition, Penn State has only broken this barrier a single time in 2022. With their 395.30 on Saturday, they proved that once again they are a capable 400 team if they can hit, even without some of their top routines in the lineup. Michael Jaroh, the MVP of this team and typical five event contributor, took a bit of a rest and only competed on two events. He won them both with a 13.50 on pommel horse and a 13.75 on p bars.
Andres Perez Gines, a key contributor for this team on p bars and high bar, was also a positive in this competition. The senior took second on both of these events with a 13.55 and a 13.70 respectively. Penn State needs more of this from their whole roster if they want a chance to compete heading into their final regular season matchup.
Springfield continued their upward trend with a 378.70. This is a good outcome considering they were forced to count a few rough scores on pommel horse, including a 9.00. Outside of this rotation, they were very consistent across the board.
Jakarie Williams continues to impress on floor, he took third with a 13.40. Felix Kriedemann stepped up for Matt Davis’ team on p bars with another third place finish (13.15). Finally, Kyle Lukaesko continued his run of great high bar performances with a 13.15 fourth place finish. He is someone to watch out for come ECACs.
Stanford @ Cal
In yet another battle between Bay Area rivals, the Cardinal took home the victory 411.30 to 389.60. Stanford rested some of their heavy hitters, including Brody Malone, who is slated to compete in Germany for Team USA this week along with freshman Khoi Young. Because of the slightly diminished lineups for Stanford, their team score was lower than we have seen from them this season. Cal also had a rather underwhelming performance on senior night compared to what they have put up in past meets this season. Pommel horse seems to have been the culprit for the bears this weekend.
Strong floor routines from both teams got the meet underway. Stanford’s Bryan Perla took home the crown with a 14.70 – one of the highest floor scores we’ve seen this year. Other than a few standout performances, pommel horse was a struggle for both teams. Khoi Young put up a huge 14.55 to highlight the event and take home the title. Will Lavanakul was the high scorer from Cal, taking home third on the event with a 13.35.
Rings was a different story, however, Stanford’s Thomas Lee claimed yet another title with a 14.20 and Stanford ran away with the event victory claiming each of the top five spots. Cal stayed right within their season ranges on rings and Yu-Chen Lee put up a 12.90 to lead the way for the Bears.
Stanford boasts the strongest vault team in the country and broke the 73-mark led by Khoi Young’s 14.90. For the second time on the day, Stanford claimed all of the top five slots. David Rauchwerger put up a 14.30 to lead the way for Cal.
Parallel bars is another exciting event for Stanford who put up a 70.95 to Cal’s 65.90. Colt Walker showed a 14.90 to take home the title over his world-class teammate, Curran Phillips’ 14.60. Cal showed strong and consistent routines on parallel bars but their difficulty was not enough to challenge Stanford on the event. Yu-Chen Lee put up a strong 13.85 which was good enough for fourth place. If there is one place where Stanford’s depth is lacking, it’s high bar. Cal took home the team title on high bar with a 64.00 to end senior night on a high note. Ian Gunther took home the title on the event with a 13.45.
Ohio State @ OU
Oklahoma’s 408.40 helped them walk away with an easy home victory against Ohio State’s 399.05. It wasn’t the Sooners strongest performance of the season but it was enough to help them retain their 15 year home win streak. Ohio State was holding their ground through the first four events, but struggles on parallel bars and high bar held them back from finishing the competition closer to that of OU.
Vitaliy Guimaraes dominated the floor exercise with a season high 14.85. Luckily, Kameron Nelson and Jesse Tyndall were able to hold things close for the Buckeyes with their respective 14.30 and 13.95. On pommel horse, Trevor Cummings dominated the scene with his 14.60. His score once again proved why he is the top ranked horseman in the nation. Donovan Hewitt and Tyndall carried the Buckeyes momentum into rings where they went one, two on the event. Alan Camillus and Fuzzy Benas put up consistent 13.60s for the Sooners. In the fourth rotation, Daniel Simmons' huge handspring double front vault helped him land the event title.
Parallel bars is where the competition really began to swing in the favor of Oklahoma. Both Raydel Gamboa and Zach Nunez captured season highs with their 14.05 and 13.75 performances. Ohio State’s Domenic Sciulli led the team and finished second with a 13.85. On high bar, Jack Freeman matched that of his Winter Cup performance a few weeks back with a 14.50. He is proving himself as a top contender on the event in the NCAA with his clean combo of tkatchevs and consistently stuck dismount. Kazuki Hayashi (13.75) and Jesse Tyndall (13.70) put up a strong fight for Ohio State but a struggling fifth routine ultimately hurt the team event score.
Iowa @ Washington
At home for an unprecedented fourth time this season, the Huskies fell to Iowa 379.55 to 370.15. Neither team lived up to their potential, however, there were many encouraging performances. Iowa’s Carter Tope took home the All-Around crown with a 77.30, followed by Washington’s Andrew Layman (76.65).
On floor, both teams put up solid gymnastics but struggled to find their landings. Amari Sewell easily soared to the top of the leaderboard with a 14.15 to claim the title. One rough set for Washington put the huskies in a hole early in the evening. Iowa exploited the Huskies’ struggles on pommel horse by claiming the top three spots on the podium. Carter Tope took the horse title with a 12.50.
Because the meet was a double dual in which the Washington women took on San Jose State, the competition between men’s teams went in a unique order. After pommel horse, they moved to parallel bars and high bar. Washington made a comeback on parallel bars, defeating Iowa by over two points on the event. Washington freshman Xander Agate took the title with a 12.80. Iowa turned around on high bar and erased the comeback that Washington had made after parallel bars. Evan Davis won the high bar title with a 13.20, followed by James Friedman (13.15), and Amari Sewell (13.05) to give Iowa the top three spots on the podium.
In closing the meet out on rings and vault, Iowa continued to take advantage of mistakes from Washington. Both teams have strong rings squads, but a fall from Washington and a clean run of sets from Iowa enable the Hawkeyes to increase their lead. James Friedman took the title on the event with a 13.75. The meet ended with an inconsistent run of vaults from both teams. Iowa and Washington counted two falls each. However, Iowa’s Amari Sewell (14.70) and Washington’s Andrew Layman (14.40) stepped up to place first and second on the event and ended the meet on a high note.
Moving into postseason, both teams will look to clean up their routines and increase their hit percentage. The talent of these two teams should have them both easily pushing into the mid 380’s. As Iowa and Washington prepare for a long GymACT postseason that culminates in mid-May, look for them both to improve significantly.
Contributions from Bailey Perez, Max Soifer, and Ben Cooperman.