Week 11 Recap
Illinois, Navy, and Rocky Mountain @ Air Force
After a decent first half of the season, Illinois has come into form since the Winter Cup break, cashing in two scores of 405+. The pace was kept this past weekend as the Illini posted a season best 416.00, the second best score in the country so far this year. Justin Spring’s team hit all thirty routines that were saluted for the team score on Saturday and were led by a 69.70 pommel horse rotation, the best in the NCAA of 2022.
Ian Skirkey, who got off to a shaky start to the season, has completely flipped the script. Skirkey led the fantastic pommel horse rotation with a huge 15.40, the highest score in the NCAA of the season on that event, besting his own 15.30 from two weeks ago. The next four pommel horse scores were all taken by the orange and blue, the lowest coming in at a 13.40. Floor was also a highlight rotation with Connor McCool’s second place 14.55 leading the way. A 71.35 on the event is the third highest in the NCAA this year.
Parallel bars has been the Achilles heel for Illinois in some big meets this year, costing them victories that were well within their grasp. That was far from the case in Colorado as they took the second through sixth spots in the competition, led by Will Hauke’s 14.15. Obviously this was an excellent competition from start to finish for Illinois, but what has been the true catalyst for their recent emergence? Hamish Carter.
Carter has enjoyed a great career, but 2022 has been excellent for the UK native. Not only has he been one of the best high bar workers in the country, he has now posted his second straight all-around score of 82+. Carter’s 82.90 easily captured the title on Saturday. Illinois is peaking at exactly the right time and they now have a legitimate all-around threat to carry them to the next level.
Navy took the second spot in this competition with a 397.10, their second highest score of the season. Isaiah Drake returned to the lineups and he was fantastic. The freshman competed on four events, averaging a 14.04, and taking event titles on both vault (15.00) and high bar (13.65). Josh Williams continued his streak of excellent rings routines, easily taking first place with a 14.40. Williams is now ranked third in the country on the event and is very much in All-American contention.
The Midshipmen have struggled a bit on parallel bars this season where they are currently ranked number eleven. Dhiren Lutchman was a bright spot for them here on Saturday where he took first with a 14.20. Navy still had to count two scores on the event below the 12 mark, keeping them from breaking the elusive 400 barrier.
Third place went to the host team, Air Force. Early season woes are officially behind them as the Falcons broke the 390 mark once again with a 392.60. Head Coach Josh Loeser has a trio of all-arounders carrying the bulk of the workload; all three looked great once again. Garret Braunton took second (79.45), Erich Upton third (79.35), and Oliver Zavel fourth (78.70).
Zavel also took the lone event title on the day for the Falcons with a huge 14.60 on floor. Air Force’s struggles at the beginning of the season were largely due to outlier scores crippling their team total. They were forced to count a 10.05 on high bar in this one, but these types of figures have largely disappeared from the scorecard.
Rounding out the deep field was the lone GymACT representative, Rocky Mountain. They took a bit of a step back from their previous season high but were highlighted by Nathan Yearous. Yearous posted a 74.50 in the all-around, good enough for fifth.
Penn State @ Michigan
The Wolverines secured another B1G win this past weekend as they hosted Penn State for their final regular season competition of the year. With Paul Juda at the Cairo World Cup event, Michigan saw a big drop in their team score, only posting a 408.40. However, it was still enough to top the Nittany Lions’ season-high 401.80.
The competition started out tight on floor, with Michigan posting a 68.35 over Penn State’s 67.80. Matt Cormier took home the event title with a 14.60. On pommel horse, Chase Clingman stole the show (14.20) with Cameron Bock behind in second place (13.90). Bock’s 13.900 should be a big confidence booster for the seasoned competitor who is just starting to make his mark again after recovering from an elbow injury.
Michigan once again had a strong day on rings, breaking the 68 mark. Chris Reid and Javier Alfonso tied for the event title with a pair of 14.20s. Cormier once again led the way for Penn State on rings with a 13.80. Along with his strong floor and rings performances, he also walked away with the all-around title (81.45). His teammate, Michael Jaroh, was close behind in the AA with a 81.15. Their strong all-around performances proved to be the spur that helped Penn State break the 400 mark for only the second time this season.
Through vault, the competition remained pretty tight, but a sub-par performance on parallel bars by Penn State drastically shifted the results. With the exception of Jaroh, the rest of the Nittany Lions scored lower than Michigan’s top five. The number five individually ranked Evgeny Siminiuc once again captured the event title with a 14.35. Siminiuc also put up another 14.35 on highbar to help Michigan close out the competition on a high note. However, Crew Bold was the true star of the high bar where he posted the NCAA season high with his huge 14.70.
The competition ended with Michigan celebrating a share of the Big Ten Regular Season Title, yet they no doubt have more work to do, with the Big Ten Tournament in sight.
Nebraska @ Ohio State
Heading into this contest with the Big Ten regular season on the line, both teams knew that they would need to perform at their best to secure a share of the yearly honor. Ohio State pulled off an upset over Nebraska at home on senior night to take home a share of the title 407.35 to 406.65.
This unbelievably close contest could have gone either way going into the last rotation. Ohio State let up a significant lead on the parallel bars and the Huskers were within a point of the Buckeyes. High bar was the deciding factor in this competition and it came down to the wire. Nebraska’s 67.35 team score on the event was just not enough to push past Ohio State. The Buckeyes closed out their regular season on a high note with momentum heading into the postseason.
A less than stellar start for Nebraska on floor put them in a hole early. Jesse Tyndall led the way for Ohio State scoring a 14.25 to put his team in the lead by nearly a point after the first rotation. Despite a career high score of 14.90 on pommel horse from Charlie Giles, the Buckeye pommel squad managed to extend their lead over Nebraska to nearly three points after two rotations.
On the third event, rings, Ohio State’s superior start values were what made the difference, and the Buckeyes continued to extend their lead. Nebraska stopped the bleeding on vault but were still almost five points behind heading into the fifth rotation.
High level routines and consistency across Nebraska’s parallel bars lineup allowed the Huskers to make up four points heading into the final rotation. Sam Phillips (14.00), Dillan King (13.90), and Dylan Leclair (13.90) posted big numbers to lead the way for the Huskers. Jesse Tyndall’s 14.35 was enough for the day’s event title and stopped Nebraska from making a full comeback going into the final event.
Both teams put up very strong high bar rotations with no missed routines. However Nebraska’s team win on the event was not enough to overtake the Buckeyes and the Buckeyes ended the regular season with a share of the Big Ten regular season team title. Jesse Tyndall out dueled Sam Phillips in his final regular season routine at Ohio State to secure the victory.
Springfield @ Army
Number twelve ranked Springfield impressively took down number ten ranked Army in this head-to-head match up. Springfield posted a season-high 381.95 which beat Army’s 375.75 by several points. This was exactly the momentum the Pride needed heading into the postseason, and quite the opposite for the Black Knights.
Army started out strong on floor with senior Mathew Davis capturing the event title with his 13.60. However, the tides quickly turned on pommel horse after Army posted a disastrous 55.25 compared to Springfield’s 62.80. This deficit proved to be one the Golden Knights could not overcome the rest of the competition. Felix Kriedemann won the horse event title with a 13.20. Colton O’Brien (12.95) and Juan Gomez (12.90) secured second and third place finishes for the Pride.
Springfield continued their speed on rings (61.20) and vault (69.45) where they edged out Army on both events. Dominic Romalho put up a strong 14.30 on vault to secure another event title for the Pride. The Black Knights were able to bounce back on parallel bars and high bar where they won both event titles as a team. Zachary Mitchell won parallel bars with a 13.20 and Davis took home his second event title of the night on highbar with a 12.90.
Cal @ OU
In an MPSF matchup, Cal visited Oklahoma to close out the regular season for both teams. Oklahoma took the senior night victory scoring a massive 414.20 to take down Cal 396.00. OU tied their season high score while Cal showed that they are capable of taking on some of the likes of Navy and Penn State.
In typical OU fashion, the Sooners got off to a huge start on floor, posting a 69.00 team score on the event where freshman Emre Dodanli and Fuzzy Benas both put up a 14.20 to share the event title.
Both teams struggled a bit on pommel horse. OU has had trouble putting together elite pommel horse squads for a couple of years now and this showing was in line with what OU is used to producing as they put up a run of hit routines. Cal, however, is capable of much more on the event. Zach Nunez took home the event title for Oklahoma with a 13.90.
Oklahoma came back strong on rings with a team score of 68.80 highlighted by Spencer Goodell’s 14.05. Cal’s consistent 64.40 is what we’ve come to expect from their ring’s squad; Yu-Chen Lee led the way with a 13.25.
Both teams had huge vault runs. OU put on a clinic to score 72.55 in which Fuzzy Benas stuck his vault to score a 15.00. Cal’s 69.00 on the event is a big score for them as they attempted some higher valued vaults than we’ve seen from the Bears this year. Jelani Sweet’s clean 14.20 was the top score for Cal on the event
While OU showed consistency on parallel bars, Cal struggled on the event. The Sooner’s 68.5 team score, highlighted by a 14.25 from Fuzzy Benas, is encouraging as they head into the postseason. Cal has put on stronger displays on the event in past competitions, however, Noah Newfeld’s 14.05 is a good sign for the Bears.
To close out the competition, OU flexed its high bar muscles to show a 68.40 team score on the event. Jack Freeman’s 14.05 took the event title and solidified OU’s rank as the number one high bar team in the country. Cal was solid on the event, but a 63.75 team score was not enough to bring Cal anywhere near OU’s team score.
Overall, both teams had many encouraging performances to close out the regular season as they look forward to MPSF Championships and NCAAs. Notably, OU was without Vitaly Guimaraes this weekend as he was busy winning gold with Team USA at a world cup event in Germany. In addition, Raydel Gamboa only competed on one event. This bodes well for OU as their stars returning to lineups in the postseason will have a big impact on the Sooners team score.
Georgia United and Temple (Virtual)
Temple took care of Georgia United with ease in a week 11 virtual matchup. The Owls were able to put up four routines per event while GU was limited to just two or three competitors per rotation.
Zac Raymond took the lone event title on the day for Temple with a 12.70 pommel horse set. Zach English was the standout performer for Georgia United, winning titles on rings (13.05), vault (13.55), p bars (13.40), and high bar (12.35). Jaimin Rasmussen took the final title of the day with a 13.00 on floor.
Contributions from Bailey Perez, Max Soifer, and Ben Cooperman.